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“Deal. We welcome everyone.”
A smile curved his pale lips. “Even albinos?”
“Everyone.”
“Good.” He crouched near me, peering around the barrel. “I’ll create a distraction. You get in there and rescue your man. Come out the same way—I’ll lead the guards away from here.”
“Okay.”
“Be swift, Robin.”
I nodded once.
He jumped out from behind the barrel without giving me warning. “Hail!” he called across the street, even as I stayed hiding, wondering if I could trust this man.
I recalled what I’d told Tuck when things started to feel out of my control. “I’ve been putting faith in strangers for a long time now, and I’m realizing it’s what we have to do to move forward.”
This was no different. I wouldn’t judge him for how he looked, just like he didn’t judge me for how I looked, as a woman in a group of ruthless men.
“Don’t you sorry sacks of shit know there’s a battle going on in the town square?” Dan the Dove called out loudly.
One of the guards grumbled, “Great, got another drunkard from the tavern. Round him up, eh?”
I peered over the rim of the barrel. One of the guards was hesitantly approaching Dan.
Then his face twisted, halfway across the street. “Wait. I recognize you.”
Dan threw his arms out. “Oh? Aye. I was set to be executed oh . . . thirty minutes ago?”
Both guards gasped, raising their spears.
Dan laughed like a maniac, his voice cackling, and took off down the street.
“Fuck!” the guard at the door yelled. “Get him!”
The soldiers left their posts to pursue the albino man, chasing him around a corner.
Leaving me a wide-open, unguarded door to waltz right through.
I SNUCK DOWN A HALLWAY, eyes peering around every corner and empty cell I passed. The jailhouse was eerily quiet. No guards—they were all either at the town square or chasing my new, unexpected ally.
I held a dagger in my hand, out in front of me. In close quarters, I needed a blade, not my bow. My fingers wrapped tight around the hilt until they were white as Dan the Dove’s skin tone. Arm bent, not outstretched, as Will had taught me, so I could jab tight and quick if anyone jumped out at me.
My pace was glacial. My stride was short, shuffling, trying to make as little noise as possible. The quietness unnerved me. I could only hear the blood rushing in my ears, to the same tempo as my thudding heartbeat.
Then I heard the first sounds of a scuffle—rustling.
Down the hall to my left, in a random cell.
The sounds picked up as I inched closer and screwed up my brow in confusion. I wasn’t sure what I was hearing. It was a soft slamming sound, like someone punching a wall over and over again.
Then I heard a voice, cruel and hectic, and its suddenness caused me to jerk still.
“You think I would give you the easy way out with death, you cur? No, I’ll make you suffer. Just how you made Imogen suffer.”
My heart stopped in my chest.
Imogen.
