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Gooseflesh appears unbidden, but I stay motionless, even when the sharp tip draws blood near my collarbone. Just like then, I refuse to give him the satisfaction of my reaction.
He sighs.
“It’s never as enjoyable when they aren’t awake to play.” Dvain’s voice is even more revolting than the other man’s.
When he eventually retreats, it is all I can do not to be sick with relief. The other man coughs uncomfortably.
“Ambassador, we need to discuss next steps. You don’t think he will come here looking for her? This was a mistake.”
“It is in hand, Lord Odger. You need to remain calm and follow my direction.”
Odger.
He was the one who spied on me, who brought me here.
But what do he and Dvain have to do with one another?I try to think on what Einar has told me. Both have worked for his family for generations. They have any number of ways to be connected, a history even the king may not know about.
“If he goes to your estates first, he will find nothing.”
“And if he comes here?” I can sense Odger’s pacing, feel the anxiety rolling off of him in waves.
“He most assuredly will. Clearly, he doesn’t trust me anymore, which is why he didn’t tell me she was alive. I only need the girl to wake up so I can find out exactly how much she knows and what she’s told him. But when he comes here, he will find nothing. This room is soundproof,” Dvain says matter-of-factly.
“I would ask why you need a soundproof basement, but I’m not sure I want to know.” Odger sounds unsettled.
“My business is my own,” Dvain responds in a lethal tone.
“What makes you think he won’t just kill us both, even if he hasn’t found her?”
There is a long pause before Dvain answers.
“Because Einar is bound by his own code of honor. He would never kill an unarmed man. And they haven’t been together long enough to form a real bond,” he says as if he’s questioning how true that statement might be. “And if I’m wrong, well, I have plenty of methods of protecting myself here.”
They continue speaking for a while, and my brain snags on small things that I try to store away for later. Waves of tremors work their way up from my toes to my thighs, slowly alerting me that my limbs are regaining sensation. That’s when I register the cold metal cuffs around my wrists and ankles.
I force down the nausea that comes from being shackled by this man, again, and instead focus on the feeling coming back to my body.
And then, the twitching begins.
First my fingers. Then my feet. Then, spasms begin in my knees and arms. I have no control over them, nor any part of my body, but my mind is clear. Usually, that part comes last.
The sound of my clinking chains is a haunting melody that plays through the spasms. Dvain and Odger still in their conversation long enough to observe me. Once they are satisfied with whatever they see, they go back to discussing their route to Bondé.
Though my mouth is riddled with cuts from the shards of glass, I am grateful for the small amount of anthracite I was able to ingest. It’s likely the only reason I am coherent.
The minutes stretch on as I rack my brain for ways out, for any thought of how to escape this. Though Einar knows about the pin I keep in my hair, I doubt these men do. As soon as I have the opportunity and strength, I can try to pick the locks holding me here.
But not until they give me an opening. I know Dvain. And I know that his cruelty will ramp up if he knows I’m awake enough to remember it. I cannot take the risk of testing the shackles or the length of my chain until I am alone.
Until I have regained the strength I will need to kill him.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Einar
“Who had access to her tea?” I question Leif as I storm to the stables.
It’s no coincidence that she was taken the day after the alchemist arrived, but he couldn’t have done this alone. Whoever did this knew her schedule. They knew that Leif brought her breakfast, and that he took Khijhana out.
