Page 19 of The Chains You Defy

Antas and Fig had taken some blueprints Nancy had handed over, and both were bending over them.

“More so, Perran owns almost everything and everyone in the entire city. You’ll have to find a safe place to lie low after your mission before you act. I’d offer you to hide in my home, but since I’m associated with him, this hardly qualifies as a safehouse. And leaving the city in a hurry is no option, since the woman is in no state to travel.”

My airways tightened, and a burning pain tore through my chest at the thought of how severely hurt Nayana was. Tortured. Alone. Frightened. But still alive, according to this man. Shaking my head to get rid of the fear crushing my heart in its iron fist, I concentrated on the important questions at hand.

“How many bodies are guarding the perimeters, and how many more are manning the dungeons?”

“At present, about five dozen guards patrol the grounds and main areas of the buildings during each shift rotation. Around sixty additional people at any time in the dungeons. As the blueprints indicate, those are massive, although I’ve only seen a small part of them myself. Most of them are hidden. If there’s anything else or if the place is further guarded, I can’t say.”

“Too many to use force.” Fig looked up from the plans and locked me in with his gaze. He almost made the impression as if he wanted to hypnotize me.

“Those numbers are nothing.” I couldn’t help but argue out of habit, although objectively, my general was correct.

Oh, how I wished to be in possession of my full power. Nothing would stop me from shadowwalking over there this instant and showing everyone involved in Nayana’s torture—which in my mind was every single person in the greater vicinity—they’d picked the wrong side.

“We need to work out another plan. One that does not involve destroying another Ivreian city,” Antas agreed with Fig.

These fucking traitors. My magic alone might not be enough at the moment, but I wasn’t the only Wielder present, godsdammit. “Is there anyone in this shithole not answering to Feroy?”

“The only ones not owned by him are the king and queen.”

My eyes transformed to narrow slits in contemplation, and suddenly, I had not one but two brilliant ideas. Sure, my soldiers would protest against them as well, but I’d force them to understand they couldn’t fight me in this.

“Boy.” I stared at the human called Byron or Bryon—I mean, what did I care about his bland, forgettable name?—who stood there gaping like a rabbit among wolves. “Do you still own the favor of King Pritatus you were bragging about in Rastialla?”

He glowered with an expression as if he wanted to strangle me.

Well, I longed to do the same to him. Sometimes, I still saw his hands all over my Nayana when I closed my eyes.

Oh no, I hadn’t forgotten how he’d pawed at her, how he’d tried to steal what was mine, and as certain as the sun went down every day, he’d soon learn to regret his past actions. Once Nayana was safely at my side again, all I needed was a bit of free time alone with him, and we’d have astern conversationabout his plentiful mistakes. Hopefully, he’d be a fast student; otherwise, I couldn’t guarantee anything.

Finally, he remembered how to speak and answered through gritted teeth. “Yes.”

“Good. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we’ll be paying your king a visit, and you’ll use your favor to ask for yourself and her,” I nudged my chin in Rewani’sdirection, “to get employment in the castle. And you better put genuine effort into your plea.”

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t expect someone like you to understand my plan, even though anyone with only half a brain can guess what I have in mind. But I’ll humor you and, for your sake, try to refrain from using words too big to comprehend with your limited capacities. You will do as you’re told because I’ll need people inside the castle who have an interest in Naya as well, feeble as your importance may be. After getting her out of captivity, she’ll need a sanctuary to recover until she’s well enough to travel again. What better refuge than the royal residence?” My plan was a good one, and the twinkle in his puppy eyes alerted me that he’d finally recognized the merit of my order.

What he didn’t have to understand was that I had every intention of residing at the castle too, and that he and his favor were only the backup plan concerning lodgings. In the end, I only needed him to pave the way to gain an audience with King Pritatus as fast as possible. My real plan had a high chance of working out, but if I were denied a meeting with the monarch, enacting what I’d come up with would be next to impossible.

Antas rose to his feet and frowned. “Dion, certainly you are not considering what I fear you are.”

I grinned at him. My uncle could go straight to Udiona if he complained about my intentions.

As hard as admitting to my deficiencies was, he and the others were correct. In my current state, I was too frail for revenge. Didn’t matter how everything in me screamed to bring death and suffering upon the merchant; securing Nayana’s safety was more important.Justice could wait a few days longer, and dealing with Feroy while having the knowledge in the back of my head that my Nayana was out of harm’s way would be much more satisfying in the end.

So yes, relying on magic was the wrong call here. Instead, there was one thing I wasn’t too weak for—blackmail. Just because I usually preferred more hands-on methods didn’t mean that I wasn’t a part of my fucked-up family. I’d learned the art of ransom like others had mastered walking. First, I’d make good use of this talent—murder had to wait a bit longer.

“If you go through with your idiotic flight of fancy, we will have a diplomatic disaster at hand.”

“You’re not the one who has to deal with the potential fallout. Also, I don’t believe there will be terrible consequences. Quite the opposite.”

“There must be a better plan than to rile up the royals.” Antas sighed heavily.

He could hope for another solution until he turned green, but there wasn’t one, and if the roaring silence from everyone else was any indication, my soldiers were well aware of this.

“So, are we in agreement, boy? And what about you, secondary friend of Nayana?”