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“Come and meet them.” I knew my direct requests could scare him away, but I didn’t have time for hints. “Show them you’re not your father. Make an alliance and prevent the war.”
“What could I offer them in exchange?” He picked up the wire and poked at the handcuffs again. “If the Academy supports my mother, I won’t even be king, and the treaty would be useless.”
“You’ve forgotten what I told you. The citizens will take you a lot more seriously when they find out you saved their lives. They willinsistthat you become king.”
He held on tight to my wrists with one hand while he struggled with the wire in the other. “And what if I fail? No one will want me as king if it looks like I ran away with an outlaw.”
I swallowed. His fears were certainly valid. “Tell them you were kidnapped, and you escaped from the clutches of the evil assassin, Bryn Yarrow.”
“I don’t know. I’ll need some time to think about this,” he said.
“There isn’t time.” I wasn’t supposed to tell him too many details in case he told the Academy about the attack, but I needed all the leverage I could get. “They’ll launch the boats in twelve days if we don’t make it to Tramore by then, which means we need to leavenow.”
His hands paused, resting on mine for a moment. “If the rest of your people want to fight, why don’t you want the same?”
“Not all of us think violence is the answer. My father and I would rather see a peaceful solution.”
“So you’re a diplomat,” he said, with just a hint of a question.
“You could say that.”
He looked me in the eyes. “You keep surprising me, Miss Yarrow.”
You’ve surprised me more.
“I think it’s time to start calling me Bryn,” I said.
“Well . . . Bryn,” he said, pausing as if to feel the name on his tongue. “You’re free. Sort of.”
I looked down and realized Graham had released the lock. He slid the cuffs apart and pulled them off my wrists.
“I can’t believe you actually did it!” I grabbed both his hands in gratitude, then rubbed my freed wrists. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “You’re welcome. Now you better hide while a maid prepares your bath.”
* * *
When I’d washedthe prison stench away in his personal bathroom, I changed into some fresh clothing Graham had left me. I didn’t care that they were his shirt and trousers. They were clean. And since he was about the same height as me, they fit well enough.
I opened the door that led into his bedroom.
Graham sat on a chair reading the stolen Academy book. When he saw me, he set it down. “My curiosity got the best of me. I had to know what compelled you to risk your freedom to steal this book. It must be incredible.”
“I don’t know if it is,” I said. “I didn’t mean to steal it.”
He laughed. “Very funny.”
I frowned. “I’m serious.”
“How can you break into the Academy and accidentally steal a book?” he asked.
“It’s very difficult,” I said. “It can only be accomplished by the greatest of idiots.”
He laughed as if he still believed it was a joke. “All right. You don’t have to tell me. You have the right to a few secrets.”
Good. I needed a few, but the book wasn’t one of them.
I sat on the chair beside his. “You should be reading my other book. It will come in handy for you.”
