Page 26 of Dare

“The mute. She removed them.”

Now my head lifted, a muscle in my temple jumping. Slowly, I drew out the words. “What do you mean, she removed them?”

Briefly, Solstice went quiet. “Sire, I-I don’t know,” she testified. “One moment, the fool was there, and the next she wasn’t. We found the ropes discarded in the tunnels.”

My wrist twitched. The tip of my blade sliced through the sun.

“I assure you, Your Highness. We had Summer’s army enforce the knots,” Solstice hurried to explain. “They were secure, beyond anything veteran ship captains could have unraveled. I have no idea how she managed it. No one has that skill.”

Incorrect. Apparently, someone did.

Slowly, now. I slowly buried the knife into my sheath and straightened. “Show me.”

***

The tunnels began at an intersection and then spread in three directions, the arteries reeking of gutted fish and piss puddles. Solstice marched at my side while listing the details. The prisoners waited in the ship’s cargo hold, the troops had swapped the ropes for irons once aboard, and whatever the fuck else she was saying. I strode ahead, unable to process more.

Summer and Winter’s troops brooded in the hub. The former knights grimaced in frustration while the latter stared as if dealing with a gaggle of toddlers, each squad blaming the other for the captive’s disappearance, thus achieving nothing.

I materialized from the shadows. Everyone shut up.

The units bowed and split apart. I strode toward them while swatting my hand, dismissing the genuflection. Yet another tedious waste of energy.

Stalling among the soldiers, I reached out. One of them surrendered the castoff ropes, dropping them into my palm. The cords slumped there like dead snakes. Pathetic. Pointless. That’s what she’d reduced them to.

We’d always planned on switching to manacles once aboard. But given Summer’s proficiency in tying knots that rivaled chains, the bonds still shouldn’t have been a problem. They never had been before.

I slit my gaze. No signs that a dagger had been used. Rather, she’d loosened the ties manually. In the half-light, while unable to see what she was doing. The woman might as well have accomplished this impossible task with her eyes closed.

If I’d had the capacity, I would have grinned. Fools were rarely impressive outside of the inexplicably gifted virtuoso.

Sand drifters could dismantle knots. This, I had known. Yet against the expertise of these knights, I hadn’t expected a malnourished and reckless prisoner to shed the restraints. To outwit an armed force.

“You shitheads,” Indigo of Winter grunted. “You said the ropes were—”

“Our ropes weren’t the issue,” a Summer knight blustered. “If your first-in-command had kept her eye on the fool, this wouldn’t have—”

“Silence,” I enunciated.

The drawn-out murmur slithered across the tunnels. The party fell silent, eating the rest of their words.

The throb in my temple intensified. Another unprecedented side effect of this incident.

Solstice approached. “We’ll alert the Crown and have the drum sounded.”

I contemplated that unfavorable prospect. “That will incite unnecessary panic.”

Indigo grumbled. “No drum? Your Highness, that’s insanity.”

Was it, now?

I tossed the ropes to the ground, useless things. Then I rounded my full height on the warrior, strolled toward him, and cracked his head against the wall.

The man growled in pain, spluttering as I calmly pressed his face against the foundation. Blood oozed from the man’s ear, crimson staining his uniform.

Regardless of his combat skills, Indigo had always been outspoken. While I valued candor, I didn’t tolerate it at the expense of respect. Lately, this man had been failing to hold his tongue more times than I could count. It was becoming irksome.

I cocked my head. “Do you know why I did that?”

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