Page 79 of A Court Bright and Broken

“But I lost the poison,” I said.

“You’ll have to find another way.”

With no other choice remaining, I nodded my agreement.

“I can try… but I’m barely able to walk. Can you fix my ankle so that I can escape afterward and go home to take care of my family?”

“It’s better that you remain crippled,” Sorcha said. “It will arouse more sympathy from the prince—and you’ll have more time to do what needs to be done. You have until the end of the Assemblage. Fail again, and there will be no more chances.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll find my own way out,” Sorcha said. “Don’t you worry about me.”

I nodded, gripping the coin in my hand. It wouldn’t buy my own life—that would surely be sacrificed in the course of committing the heinous acts I’d just agreed to.

But hopefully it would buy my family’s lives and well-being.

Pulling myself to standing and leaning forward so my face pushed through the cold, heavy bars at the front of my cell, I called out.

“Jailer! Jailer—I must speak with you. There has been a mistake, and you will be richly rewarded for setting it right.”

Chapter 21

Not a Very Good Reward

Stellon

I’d never actually been to the dungeon—there had been no cause before.

But as soon as the message was brought to my door, I’d rushed from my room and down several flights of stairs to the first floor and then hurried down the dark, twisting stairwell to the castle’s underground level.

The message hadn’t explained how the girl from the marketplace had wound up in a cell here, but I meant to find out.

At the beginning of the evening, I’d kept an eye out for her. After all the guests had arrived and she wasn’t among them, I’d been disappointed she’d decided not to accept my invitation.

And then I’d met Lady Wyn. Frankly, everything—and everyone—else had been forgotten from that point on.

Had the human girl tried to come to the ball and been turned away?

The jailer awaited my arrival, standing as soon as I emerged from the stairwell. He looked frightened.

“Your Highness,” he said, bowing. “Pardon the interruption to your evening.”

I had no time for niceties, not if Raewyn really was in this dark, damp, foul-smelling place.

“Well? Where is she?” I asked, impatient to see if it really was Raewyn in that cell.

The jailer grabbed his keys and started walking down the long central corridor.

“Follow me, Your Highness. If it pleases Your Highness,” he added quickly.

I fell into step behind him. He kept darting glances over his shoulder at me as he moved toward the end of the row.

“I hope I did the right thing sending the message. I wouldn’t want to bother Your Highness—especially on the night of the welcoming ball. She said you’d want to know.”

“It’s no bother. Not if your message was true.”

“I only repeated whatshesaid, Your Highness,” he said in a higher tone. “If there’s falseness about, it’s hers—not mine.”

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