Page 68 of Of Nine So Bold

“My answer to your impolite questions.” I glanced at the lords. “Eat, gentlemen. Far be it from me to stop you.”

Several of them snatched the apples, shoving the fruits into their mouths. Others hesitated, struggling to resist the lure.

Alaric’s voice was tiny, coming from a sliver of reflection on a fork at my side. “This is barely the beginning of what youcoulddo, pet.”

But this was so satisfying.

I smiled as I watched the annoying noble wage a war with himself. Lord Antieron’s hand shook as he reached for an apple, but then his other hand grasped his wrist as if he was fighting to keep from taking the fruit. “Y-you… you trick us.Monster. You manipulated us into?—”

His eyes flicked to the others as, around the room, the lords started to choke. Alarm spread over the lord’s face.

I lifted one of the apples and placed it in his outstretched hand. Relief and horror battled in his expression. In spite of himself, he drew the fruit toward his mouth.

“Oh, on the contrary, Lord Antieron,” I said while he bit down. Ecstasy filled his eyes as the apple took effect, transforming him into my pawn. “I’m no monster, and I’m hardly a manipulator.”

Alaric scoffed from the cutlery.

Ignoring him, I didn’t take my eyes from the lord. “I simply make the world work the way itshouldwork. No fear. No compromise. Better than any monster, witch, or mere human could dream. In reality, I think you’ll find—” I leaned back in my chair, watching the pretentious bastard fall to the ground. “—I’m the fairest of them all.”

17

NIKO

Irefused to die here.

Gripping the pickaxe tightly, I swung it at the rocky wall and repeated the mantra to myself silently. I didn’t know how many times the sun had risen and fallen since I’d been dragged down to this place. The surface world might as well have not existed, and the guards seemed to maintain erratic schedules all their own.

They liked to keep us disoriented, Ignatius said. To rob us of even the most basic level of stability, so that we could never relax, never rest or gain any semblance of calm. Instead, we were always on edge, waiting for them to return.

At every turn, they found new ways to be cruel.

I suspected it had been days, though. Maybe a week or more since I arrived. So far, the humans hadn’t taken me to the western tunnels, though the gods only knew what they were waiting for. The threat of being sent into that death trap hung over my head like a sword suspended on a fraying string, and at any moment it could snap and end my life.

But I was determined not to think about that. No, I would focus on the problem in front of me like Byron would. I’d keep my eyes open and wait for the first slip from the human guards,just like Dex would. I’d draw on the strength that all my friends had shown me throughout all the years we’d spent running and hiding and surviving the war, and then… then I’d escape.

Because Irefusedto die here.

I needed to see my treluria again.

My swing faltered as fear tried to bubble up, bringing panic on its heels.

“Keep going, scum!” a guard shouted.

My hands quivered, the fear turning into rage that had no outlet. Adjusting my grip on the pickaxe, I choked down a breath of stale, musty air and swung at the wall harder. I’d already ruled out using the tool to attack the guards. They were smart and stayed at the far end of the tunnel while they watched us. I’d never make it within a dozen feet of them before they activated the manacle wrapped around my wrist.

I’d seen whatthatdid three shifts ago when they thought Norbert wasn’t moving fast enough. The guy was a jerk, but his screams had been the stuff of nightmares. And with what I knew of medicine and the mortal body, I had no illusions that someone my size would survive the kind of pain meant to keep giants in line. More likely it would just stop my heart.

But Ifuckingrefused to die here.

By the time the guards called an end to the day, my back and arms had given up trying to tell me they were in pain. Mining with my friends had kept me in shape, but it hadn’t prepared me for this level of torture. Yes, the seven of us had used tools in our work. Our magic wasn’t inexhaustible and it was smart to keep some in reserve at all times. Using it all up to draw ore from the ground might have meant we were screwed in case of a cave-in.

But this was something else entirely.

The Aneiranswantedto work us to death.

At long last, I shuffled back to the massive cavern with the rest of the giants, too tired to even seethe at the guards watchingus. Because it was what Dex would do, I made myself look back and watch the humans when they locked the gate again, taking note of where they put the key and what they did with the manacles on their own wrists to secure the magic in the bars. When they turned to leave, the guy in charge waved his arm at the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel, the same as a guard would do every day.

I couldn’t see any reason for the motion, but Ignatius told me the Erenlians suspected there was some kind of spell there that enabled the Aneirans to watch us from a location somewhere else in the mines. A security station of some kind. If they wanted, the Aneirans could even make their voices carry all the way down here from elsewhere, though they rarely used that spell and no one had been able to figure out its source.

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