Page 68 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Tiyung

Idle Prison, Yusan

We’re caught. We’re at the exit of the prison, but we’re going to fail right here.

The captain of the prison guard opens his mouth to call out an alarm, but there’s no sound because Jimi grips him by the throat.

Everything happens quickly. Hana kisses the second guard. His eyes bulge in surprise and then pain. I freeze because I wasn’t told about any of this. Why is the palace guard attacking the captain of the prison guards? Why did Hana just murder a palace guard? What in the world am I supposed to be doing right now? I stand with my hands out, shifting from side to side.

Jimi wrestles the captain to the ground, straining to hold him and keep him quiet. Ral clutches his own throat and chest, collapsing onto the floor. Then Hana rushes over to Jimi. She leans down and locks her poisoned lips with the old man.

Within ten seconds, both men are dying.

Hana stands straight, eyeing her handiwork.

“Throw him in his office. It’ll look like a heart attack,” she says, adjusting her cloak.

I think she’s talking to me, but I honestly don’t know. She’s all business, like she didn’t just kill two people.

“Tiyung, I dare you to be more useless,” she mutters. She runs her thumb by her lips, adjusting her lipstick.

I snap out of it, pick up the captain, and drag him into the office. He’s lighter than I expected for someone so tall.

I get him through the door. His office is large with windows overlooking the pit. I don’t look down there. I consider leaving the captain on the floor, but there is a couch against the wall. I put him on the sofa and arrange him so it looks like he’s taking a nap. When the guards find him, they’ll hopefully think he had a heart attack in his sleep.

Once I’m done, I stand in the doorway. Hana opens the last set of bolts and then tosses me the keys.

“What are these for?” I ask, catching them.

She shakes her head. “I cannot deal with him.”

“For you to put back in the captain’s pocket,” Jimi answers.

I nod, shove them into the breast pocket of the dead captain, then leave the office and close the door. Hana stands waiting.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

“Slit that one’s throat,” she says, pointing to Ral. “And then we just need to take care of Jimi.”

I look from Hana to Jimi and back again, and I gulp. I don’t want to hurt a man who helped us, and I’m also not sure I can best a palace guard. Hana folds her arms, staring at me.

I draw my sword, facing him, and they both tilt their heads in the same direction.

“Oh gods, he is useless,” Jimi says.

She nods. “I told you so.”

“I know you did, but…how did he ever find me and arrange to buy my freedom?” Jimi asks.

“I assume someone else handled all of the legwork.” She sighs. “He was simply the coin purse.”

I finally put it together, feeling remarkably slow. The palace guard is Hana’s brother. The one I gave freedom to and sent right here to Tamneki. But the last time I saw him was years ago. I simply didn’t recognize him.

“Nayo?” I ask.

Nayo and Hana look at me with identical blinking eyes. I could not feel more foolish if I tried.

“What did you mean by take care of him, then?” I ask.

“Knock him out so he can claim he was attacked by a prisoner,” Hana says. “We need to create a puzzling scene, but one that also immediately exonerates him, so by the time they do figure out that he assisted in your escape, he can be long gone.”

It…makes sense. There are three sets of keys to the door, making escape nearly impossible, even if someone overwhelmed the palace guards. The captain will be found dead with his keys in the office. If they realize I am missing and not dead, they’ll assume I’m hiding somewhere in the prison.

“Gods, Tiyung,” she says. “We will never make it to Khitan if you are this slow.” She slaps her side, tired of me already.

She takes Ral’s sword out and slits his throat. Then she places it next to his body, so that’s one less thing I can mess up.

I’m about to ask if we’re really going to Khitan, but that would just prove her right. Instead, I put my sword back into my scabbard.

“I can put him in a sleeper hold so there’s no pain,” I say.

“No, he needs a bruise,” she says. “Hit him with the hilt. You know, preferably before we’re caught.”

I face Nayo. He’s very nearly my height—maybe an inch shorter. It feels strange to hit a man who is standing still, waiting for it.

“It’s okay,” Nayo says with a smile. “Thank you for my life, Tiyung-si.”

He kneels at my feet to make it easier, lowering himself to help me escape. Guilt hits me like a sucker punch. I wish I could’ve done more for him. More for all of them.

There will always be more that I can do, more I can atone for, and maybe that’s why the gods are giving me a second opportunity. Or maybe the gods have nothing to do with it and it’s all Hana and Nayo and Ailor. Maybe good people matter more than the gods.

Nayo smiles at me. I raise my sword, and I knock him out.