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I leaned in and whispered, “Who’s to know?”
Capitulation, to be sure. The randy motherfucker changed his mind forthwith. With a healthy growl, the sod dropped his poleax. He grabbed and swung me around, pressing me into the wall.
I ejected a fake groan, to which he flashed his incisors. “You like playing captive, eh?”
Verily. Alas for him, it should be known by now: I liked playing the captor more.
His paws grappled for the straps of my leather pants.
“Ah, ah, ah.” I produced a corked skin from the inside of my cloak and ran the tip over his mouth. “Let’s make this more interesting.”
In good faith, I tipped the skin and drank, letting some of the wine drizzle down my chin for effect. The man watched through glazed eyes. From prior experience, this move had enticed many men who’d relished the opportunity to lick the alcohol wetting my lips.
The guard accepted the skin and guzzled with abandon. I gave him a wily, close-mouthed smile, leashing my temper as he landed on his knees and focused on my cock—before going cross-eyed and flopping sideways onto the stones. My grin dropped and then curdled into a sneer. I spit out the wine, tainted with the same sleeping draught the princess had used on Nicu. When I’d sought him out, the Court Physician had mused and mumbled something about potentially widespread insomnia.
From the reek of mead, the guard had exceeded his threshold a while ago. Hopefully, he would believe he’d been snoozing on the job—it wouldn’t be the first time—and dreaming of me whilst an intruder had stolen into the dungeon. If not, I would spin my best words to convince him I hadn’t been here.
My fingers prickled. Fortunately for this prick, I hadn’t merely stalked behind him, braced his skull, and snapped his neck with a single twist. Even now, the prospect appealed to me. However, getting out of this unscathed and without leaving a trace behind would protect Briar from a death sentence.
Still, the daggers waited inside in the harnesses under my clothes. If I had to, I would be quick and quiet.
Around the corner, voices guffawed and hooted, chains scraping the floor as the sources paced. The prisoners couldn’t see what had happened, but they’d heard the hints of a disturbance. For this original reason, I had lowered my voice and cut the guard off from identifying me within earshot.
I wrenched the guard’s keys from his buckle and stepped over his limp body. I strode to the row of cells, the dark preventing the other inhabitants from seeing me. They sounded too far gone, either in madness or despair, to try anyway.
In one cell, a bundle rested on the floor. Cursing, I thrust each key into the lock. Naturally, it would be the last one that finally worked.
Ripping the door wide open, I vaulted inside, sank beside Nicu, and drank in his slumbering face and curled fists. My hand brushed through his matted hair. “I’m here, my love. Papa’s here to take you home.”
“Mmmfff,” he mumbled.
Briar’s cloak swaddled him. I secured his form in the garment, scooped him into my arms, and propped him upright so that his head nestled in the crook of my neck. My nostrils inhaled the scents of powder and sunlight.
I’ve got you now.
Grasping my son, I turned to find the princess’s silhouette peeking at us from the alcove. Because I’d taken longer than expected, she must have come to see if I needed help. The angle hid her from everyone’s notice but mine.
I admired her standing there with a small but solid stature, every bit the Royal and more than that. Far more.
In verse, I couldn’t have conjured a braver person. Briar knew nothing of combat, nor did she have the physical training for it. This land would condemn her for helping me, for believing in something most people didn’t.
Yet she was here.
She knelt and rifled through the watchman’s clothes for weapons. Unfortunately, all he wielded was the poleax, which was too tall and heavy for Briar to bother with.
I strode to her. Balancing Nicu with one arm and snatching the dagger affixed to my spine, I pressed the weapon into her hand. I curled her fingers around the hilt, illustrating how to hold it. If we survived this, I would teach her later how to impale an enemy. For now, I had two darlings to protect, and this dagger would provide backup in case I failed to rip our opponents in half first.
Briar stared at me. She thrust out her chin, accepted the sheathe I also gave her, and fastened both objects to the belt of her skirt.
We cinched our hoods, preventing them from blowing off our heads and revealing us.
Whilst sprinting up the stairs and out of the murk, Briar predicted, “They’ll sound the alarm once the guard wakes up, or once the other warden returns.”
“For a born child?” I countered, scanning an adjacent passage crocheted in cobwebs. “To them, Nicu’s not valuable enough to rouse the citadel and lower town.”
After checking the hallway, we slipped along the passage, then down another shaft leading to the tunnel I’d often taken to visit Jinny and Nicu. One hundred paces later, a muffled gong shuddered through the air.
We stopped. Our gazes shot toward the ceiling, arrested by the tolling of the bell tower. The princess leveled me with an I-told-you-so look.
