Page 53 of His Noble Ruin

“No, you won’t.”

“What?” she asked as she tossed the shell. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I’ll get you out,” I said, surprised at my bold statement.

She stared at me, forgetting the shell and letting it clatter to the floor. Her brown eyes turned intense. “What makes you say that?”

“I broke into the Academy, didn’t I?” I tried to put the conviction into my words.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said, smiling in spite of her cynical tone. “If you can get yourself out, maybe I’ll believe you.”

I leaned against the brick wall of my cell. I wasn’t sure why I’d regained enough hope to make extreme promises, but somehow, I meant what I said.

A jangle of keys echoed down the hall. Two guards stopped in front of my cell.

I stood to face them.

“This is her?” one guard asked, looking me up and down.

“She matches his description,” said the other.

One pulled out his keys and unlocked the gate to my cell. The metal hinges swung open with a screech.

Cait stared open-mouthed. I didn’t want her to worry for me, so I winked at her as I imagined Al would’ve done.

The guards pulled my arms behind my back and locked handcuffs onto my wrists before taking me down the hall. Al gave me a thumbs-up as I passed. I didn’t know who was here for me, but I hoped whoever it was might banish rather than execute me.

They took me down the hall, up the stairs, and through a door into a room that seemed enormous compared to the cell I’d been in. A blast of fresh air wafted through an open window, almost as shocking as the initial stench from when I’d first arrived at the prison. I breathed it in deeply, feeling like I hadn’t taken a proper breath in days. My eyes squinted against the bright light, but I opened them wide when I realized who stood in front of me.

“Sir Brennin,” said the short Law Enforcer who I’d threatened with my knife. Twice. “Are youcompletelycertainthis is the prisoner the king requested?”

I pulled against the guards’ hold and bent into a grateful bow—the first one I’d ever given the heir of Cambria.

When I lifted my head and met his eyes, he blinked a few times, then nodded. “Yes. She is.”

I could only smile at him, though I realized how awful I must have looked and smelled in my filthy sack of a dress. Graham, on the other hand, was practically regal with his jet-black suit and neatly combed dark hair. Something seemed different compared to the first time I’d seen him dressed this way. I didn’t know what, but it almost made me want to bow again.

“The king’s orders.” Graham gave the Law Enforcer a scroll.

The man unraveled it, revealing an elaborate black signature next to the Brennin seal. He studied it carefully, frowning. “I feel compelled to warn you that this woman has been proven dangerous. Is Imperator Brennin aware of the details, sir?”

“Yes,” said Graham. “That’s why he insisted on questioning her himself.”

I realized, with impressed surprise, that he was lying. The king was in no condition to meet with criminals.

“But she’s a suspected assassin, sir! She was carrying knives!”

Graham nodded solemnly. “He’s read the news.”

“Does he know she attempted to use her weapons on a Law Enforcer—on more than one occasion?” The short man glared at me and brushed his hand over his throat.

Graham kept his eyes on the Enforcer. He hesitated before nodding.

“Sir, you should also know that we have found no evidence of a Bryn Yarrow in Cambria. No records of birth, schooling, or rank.”

Graham’s eyes flitted to mine briefly, betraying a trace of surprise before his face returned to neutral.

Please,I thought. Please don’t give up on me.

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