Page 172 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

“I will deal with this,” the guard tells the other.

He strides to our cell. Reaching between the bars, he grabs Mine by his shirt and pulls him close.

“Next time, it will be you,” the guard sneers, releasing a burst of energy that sends Mine flying against the wall of the cell.

I gasp.

The guards laugh as they see him cough blood as he tries to get his bearings together.

I scramble over to where Mine is, glaring at the guards.

“Or perhaps we will do her next,” they say mockingly.

Mine’s muscles tense, but I beg him not to mind them.

“Focus on me,” I whisper. “Only on me.”

He brings his eyes to me, his gaze thunderous and ready to kill.

I caress his face softly, wiping away the blood from his mouth.

“Only focus on me,” I repeat.

When the guards realize they won’t get another rise out of him, they grab the dead prisoner and drag him away. As they pass by the other cells, more sounds erupt as the other prisoners hurl insults and curses at the soldiers.

The steps recede.

“Are you all right? What was in your mind?” I ask as I scan his body. He must have taken quite a hit if he’s spitting out blood.

“I’m fine.” He smiles, his teeth bloody.

“What was that?” I grit out at him. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

He shrugs.

“I didn’t. But I did get this.” He opens his palm to show me a key.

My eyes widen.

“You…”

“I got us here. I’m getting us out.”

“You idiot!” I hiss. “Why didn’t you ask me before you did something like that?”

Another shrug.

“This won’t help. We might get out of the cell, but we can’t get out of the prison.” I take a deep breath as I try to calm myself. How could he take such a risk without even consulting me?

“What do you mean?”

“There are wards all over the prison. Jailbreak is impossible. Only the soldiers have runes etched into their bodies to allow them to freely walk in and out of the prison.”

“You can use energy from the pin and bypass the wards,” he says.

“You think I wouldn’t have offered if that was an option? I don’t know what wards they’re using and as such I wouldn’t be able to replicate the exit runes.”

His lips tighten as he mulls on that.

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