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“And Jed?”

“Yeah?”

“Try not to get yourself killed,k'da?”

13

Raven

When I woke, a lazy smile crossed my lips as I hugged the warm, heavy blankets around me. I breathed in the comforting scent of clean bed linens and smoldering embers.

Then it struck me that I wasn’t curled up in a ball and freezing on the hard ground. I launched upright, panicked. This wasn’t the mine. And this creamy silk against my skin wasn’t my rough tunic. Where was I?

One glance at the room caused the memories of the previous day to come flooding back. This was Bloodbain’s chamber. This was Bloodbain’sbed. My eyes flitted to the far corner of the room, where I remembered falling asleep late last night. How did I end up in his bed?

There was something else different too. My hand instinctively flew to my neck.

My collar was gone.

A choked laugh-sob escaped my throat. Had the commander done this?

I glanced at his makeshift bed on the floor to find it gone. The commander had cleverly arranged his blankets back on the bed to make it look like we’d slept there together. On the bedside table, there was a … candlestick. My eyebrows rose. Bloodbain must have put it there, but why? Did he not realize it washisskull I wanted to bash in?

After a night of sleep, my body felt a bit better, but the crushing despair of losing Hen hadn’t lifted. I pressed my hand against my chest to try to ease the aching, but the open chasm in my heart was too large to seal.

A noise on the far side of the room startled me.

“Hello?” I called out, my voice still hoarse from sleep.

Bloodbain appeared from behind the curtain that concealed the bathing area. He was pulling a shirt over his bare chest. I quickly glanced away, my cheeks turning red. It felt too—intimate? dangerous?—to see the Rathalan’s guard commander partially undressed.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, perching on the edge of the bed.

I stiffened. Even though he hadn’t indicated he wanted to hurt me, I didn’t like him being this close. I pressed my back against the headboard and pulled my knees to my chest.

“Your bruises have already faded a bit,” he said when I didn’t respond.

I touched my neck. It was strange to feel skin there instead of metal. Whyhadhe removed my collar? To gain my trust? To prove he didn’t need the collar to control me? He probably knew I had no chance of escaping, with or without it.

Whatever his motivation was, it was a relief to be free of the collar after so long. “Thank you,” I said, indicating to my bare neck.

“Thank you,Bain,” he repeated back, a faint smile forming on his lips. “Bloodbain’s a nickname I’m not particularly fond of. My real name is just Bain.”

“Thank you, Bain.” Our eyes met for just a moment, and beneath the somber expression on his face, I noticed something else hidden there—was it concern? Did he genuinely care about my well-being?

There was a soft knock on the door.

“I ordered you some breakfast,” he said before standing up to go to the door.

Sable came in carrying a tray with a large mug of steaming tea and a few bread slices and cheese. Today, her wavy red hair was tamed in a single braid that draped over her shoulder. Even in her simple dress and metal collar, she was beautiful. I wondered if she feared the gazes of the Rathalan guards as much as Hen had.

She set the tray down on the bedside table. Her eyes flicked from the tangled sheets to my tear-stained cheeks from crying myself to sleep. Her expression became distant and worried.

I wanted to tell her that the commander hadn’t hurt me, but he was still standing there. It was obvious he thought it was important to keep up the charade of why he’d spared my life. For the moment, it might be too dangerous to tell anyone the truth.

“Thank you,” I said instead, picking up the tea and sipping it. As the warmth filled my empty stomach, I relaxed a bit. The tang of spices tickled my tongue. Whatever was in this tea, it was soothing and energizing at the same time.

When the commander strolled back behind the curtain to finish getting dressed, Sable leaned close and whispered in my ear, “There’s a way out.”