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I barely knew this man, and what I did know of him came from our brief monthly meetings outside the Court of Love, in which I’d spill my secrets for him to carry back to Razak. That was the extent of us, yet… there was more warmth in his eyes now than I’d gotten from anyone in this court. And with blood leaking from my side, the thudding in my head, and all the world telling me it was better off without me in it, Danyal’s kindness was a beacon I needed.
“I won’t hurt you.” He reached out. “I give you my word. I’ll never hurt you.” Rough fingers encircled mine, then pried the dagger from my loosening grip.
With it gone, my strength left too. I gasped and slumped onto my hand. What would happen now? Another bed, another chain, await the return of my brother and his punishment, lose another finger, a hand this time? Dallin, I couldn’t survive it again. I’d tasted freedom, and that made my prison a thousand times worse.
“What will you do with him now?” Danyal asked Malvina.
I struggled to lift my head, to see what fate Malvina had for me. She gathered her gown tight to her legs and peered down her nose at Danyal. “That’s not of your concern.” She sniffed. “Remove him. He’s bleeding all over my rug.”
Such a nice rug too. Laughter bubbled inside, then from my lips. What a shame, she’d have to throw out the rug.
“He’s quite mad,” Malvina chimed.
“But what choice did you give him?”
The strange softness in Danyal’s voice drew my splintering thoughts back to him. Malvina didn’t see how he tightened his grip on the dagger. She was too busy scowling while I ruined her rug.
Danyal stepped back and in one precise slice, slashed the blade across her throat. Blood gushed. Malvina choked, staggered, grabbed her neck, and reached out with her other hand for someone to help her.
She made it three steps, collapsed, and lay shuddering, trying to breathe while drowning in blood. Like with Bendrik, with the bounty hunter, and so many before them, I watched her die and didn’t feel a thing. Except perhaps anger that she hadn’t suffered for long.
Danyal scooped me up and tucked me against his side. “It’s all right, Zayan. I’m taking you away.”
A thumping began in my head and poured down my neck, making everything hurt. “Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
Safe. There was nowhere safe in the Court of Pain. Not for me.
We made it outside, into the corridor. I slumped, shivering and heavy. “I can’t—”
“Yes, you can, Zayan. The wound is deep, but I know where there’s help. Stay with me and I’ll keep you safe. I promise you that much.”
Stay with him. I didn’t know who he was or why he was doing this, but it didn’t matter, because I was falling and not hitting the ground, dreaming while awake. If I closed my eyes the nightmares would come.
Then the darkness washed in, wave after wave, pushing me down and down and down. Whoever Danyal was, my fate was in his hands.
CHAPTER26
Lark
A gentle rockingstirred me from broken dreams. Horses’ hooves clopped nearby and the clattering of wheels on a road surface suggested I lay in a wagon. Sunlight pricked through gaps in the canvas slung overhead. Dust motes swirled. It was peaceful, warm. Unlike the dreams I’d left. I breathed and blinked and didn’t want to move—moving meant facing everything from before.
I wedged my elbow under me, but when I tried to sit up, heat throbbed through my chest. Gasping, I flopped back down and plucked the blanket from over me. A thick, blood-stained bandage had been bound around my middle. Nausea spun my thoughts and flooded my mouth with saliva. I dropped my head back and blinked again at the canopy. Where was I? Who was driving the cart?
Sunlight meant we weren’t in the Court of Pain. Or if we were, then it was a long way from the city. How long had I been out?
My head and body throbbed, aching and sore. The rocking motion lulled me somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
Someone had patched me up and had carried me out of the city. I was safe, they’d said.
Safe.
Danyal, my handler.
He’d killed Malvina. Danyal, who knew my mother and said he didn’t want to hurt me. We’d fought when he’d found me in the city, so what had changed?
Had I been wrong about him this whole time? It seemed unlikely. I was rarely wrong.
