Page 60

So close to escape.

She stared at the prince, who almost blended in with the shadows.

Wren couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

Any moment now, he’d call out and everything would go up in smoke.

He took a step closer into the soft light of the nearest lantern. Arrik was decked out in full, shining armor, reflecting the flaming torches littering the otherwise dark corridor. Her husband’s eyes were unblinking, predatory, and calculating.

Clara moaned and leaned her cheek against Wren’s shoulder. Yet she still didn’t move.

How had her husband found her once again?

Questions for another time.

She glanced over her shoulder at the shivering people and back to the prince. Wren had a dagger and nothing else to defend them. Now there were slaves Arrik could use as leverage against her. And no dragon to save her now.

She took a step backward and the prince shook his head as if to say, “don’t you run from me again.”

“Prince Arrik!”

Her blood ran cold. That wasLord Idril’svoice.

Down here, in the servants’ quarters.

We need to move,now.

Behind her, one of the women whimpered in fright. Wren reached behind her for the woman’s hand and squeezed it tightly, but she kept her eyes on Arrik. Lord Idril’s voice had come from behind the prince. The moment the dark elf reached her husband, Idril would see what Wren was doing and everything would be so, so much worse.

She twisted and handed Clara off to a tall, lanky man with haunted eyes.

“Take care of her,” she whispered.

He nodded and Wren pressed a kiss to her cousin’s cheek. “See you soon.” She scanned the group and jerked her chin toward the exit. “Run now! Leif will see you out. Tell him not to wait for me.”

No one hesitated.

She yanked the dagger from her belt and faced the prince, who watched them in silence. Wren sank into a defensive position, daring him to try to stop their escape. Even when this came back on her, at least she’d done some good.

The prince cocked his head and then gave her the tiniest of nods.

She blinked and held her breath as he spun on his heel and rounded the corner, his boots thundering against the cobbled stone floors.

“What are you doing?” Arrik demanded, his voice echoing down the corridor. Wren flattened against the wall and listened in. “You said you were going to bed.”

“The guards told me you headed into the servants’ quarters and I—ah—was curious as to why. I’d be happy to supply you with whatever sort of flesh you desire.”

Wren blanched. Was that why he was down here? To find a willing body to slake his lust on?

Her stomach rolled.

She’d heard enough.

By some miracle, he had let her get the slaves out to safety. But she had no false ideas of him doing so out of the goodness of his heart. She would likely pay for his act of grace with her own life.

It was time to go.

Feeling like her heart was about to burst from her chest, Wren rushed down the hallway and slipped outside on silent feet. She wove through the outbuildings until she reached the forest. It was only once she was well away from the castle that she dared stutter in a breath.