Page 18 of A Kiss of Embers
He nodded. “I am.”
Blowing out a long breath, she nodded toward the prison where the Ember Fae was being held captive. “I will need to break in, subdue the guard, and escape with the girl.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the dart that had pierced her own neck only hours ago. Although she didn’t know if anything remained inside, she was going to try to use it anyway. Besides, the “evidence” would hopefully absolve her and Sylvain from blame.
“What is my part?”
In an equally hushed tone, she replied, “Raise some hell. We want this to look like the Ember Queen’s doing. It will be the easiest way to try to get out of this intact.”
“You want me to light up the woods?”
Ashryn released a shaky breath and nodded. “Create a distraction. But try not to hurt our own. I will grab the girl and leave quickly.”
They gazed at each other for several long moments as they both came to the same conclusion—they might not see each other again for a long while.
He grasped her forearm, his expression filled with fervor. “May we meet again soon under the frost trees of Albrasia. It was a pleasure to know you.”
Her heart trembled as she caught his meaning. The people of Albrasia married beneath the frost trees in the citadel. Somehow…the idea seemed fitting. And she looked forward to when they could continue exploring their courtship in the future.
If they made it out of this heist alive.
Ashryn waited several more minutes for the guards to move farther away from the prison, and only then did she slink forward while Sylvain started in the opposite direction. She didn’t know how he planned to start a fire, but she trusted him to follow through.
Chirping crickets filled the summer night, the only backdrop to her furtive footsteps. Taking a deep breath, she glanced around her to make sure no one was watching before she grabbed the door handle and slipped through a small opening. The guard leaped to his feet and drew his weapon.
Drat.
“Thank the autumns, you’re here!” Ashryn gasped, and in his confusion, the guard lowered his weapon and tipped his head to the side as he studied her.
“What are you doing here? No visitors allowed until sunrise.”
She shook her head, trying to feign a frantic urgency with her wide eyes and gaspy breaths. “The Ember Queen is here.”
On the opposite side of the prison, a sharp inhale pulled her attention to the dim interior of a barred cell, followed by a faint rustle as the silhouette of a young girl moved closer to the bars.
The guard’s expression turned serious. “The queen is here for the girl.”
With a nod, Ashryn gestured to the cells. “The council has ordered us to kill her and dump her body in the river for the queen to find.”
The guard’s mouth flickered with an obscure grin as if excited to finally do something other than sit and guard an enemy fae. He strode toward the cell, and in the man’s momentary distraction, Ashryn leaped forward and jabbed the dart into his neck.
He gasped and reactively swung his sword at her. She jumped backward, the tip of the blade slicing through her sleeve but not making contact with her skin. Her heart pounding wildly when he didn’t faint immediately, she drew her daggers and eyed the man’s longer sword. Regret pinched her mouth. She should have stabbed him in the neck rather than rely on the flimsy dart that was likely empty. Avoiding bloodshed was high on her priority list.
But Bastien was worth every drop shed.
Within the small space of the prison, Ashryn struggled to dodge the man’s heavy blows. Each time he swung at her, she barely managed to evade the attack even when her training as a patrol guard far outmatched the man’s experience on prison watch.
Parchment scattered at the slice of his blade. The tree groaned when the man’s sword sliced through its timber. But then he cornered her in front of the Ember girl’s cell, the exit far out of reach. He brought his sword down fast and hard, and she crossed her daggers to block the attack. However, his strength outmatched hers. Her arms gave out, and she crumpled to the ground.
Ashryn scrambled for her weapons when her mind spun in disorienting waves. The guard lifted his sword above his head to prepare for another attack. But before he brought the fury of his weapon upon her head, red dust shimmered directly above her and into the man’s face.
He breathed in the dust and choked on the air. His sword dropped to the ground as he hacked and coughed, clutching at his throat as he struggled to breathe. The man stumbled backward over a chair and crashed to the ground in a heap of broken wood and flailing limbs.
But after a few more moments, he lay still and silent.
There was no doubt about it. He was dead.
“What did you do?” she gasped as she spun around to face the Ember girl.
A handful of red dust lay in her palm as she eyed Ashryn with distrust, and not wanting to contend with the deadly red dust, she slowly backed away toward the lifeless guard and checked for a pulse.
