Page 11 of Prisoner of Darkness and Dreams
The rebel waves his hands, and the roots around Polis’s mouth withdraw.
The bearer gasps, his bloody chest heaving with panic.
“Why would I tell you anything? You’re just going to kill me anyway.”
“True,” Prince Leonidas agrees.
Tears of pain stream from the corners of Polis’s eyes. “But then I’ll go to the celestial realm, where the gods will reward me. I’m not afraid of death, fae scum.”
“Of death itself? Perhaps not. But of dying? If you’re not afraid, you’re a fool.” Prince Leonidas’s voice is low as he spins the blade in his hands. “Because I can make it quick. Or I can draw it out until it’s so slow and agonizing that even if you do go to the celestial realm, it will feel like you’ve spent an eternity here with me first.”
He presses the knife point into one of the bearer’s open wounds. “Do you know how long a minute seems when you’re having your flesh peeled from your bones?”
And just like that, any defiance the bearer was clinging to crumbles before our eyes.
“Please,” his voice cracks. “All I know is that she’s being held in the holy city. Even I don’t know where. They moved her from the high temple. There’s a dozen places she could be.”
“That’s all you can tell me?” the prince snarls.
I don’t think I’m imagining the floor shaking a little, nor the walls around us groaning and creaking.
“I swear on Ethira. Gods save me,” Polis sobs. “That’s all I know.”
“The gods won’t save you, dog.” The prince raises his knife just as Harman steps forward.
“Wait,” the rebel says. “What if we take him prisoner instead? He could be a useful bargaining chip against the Temple.”
I say nothing, hoping the prince hears the rebel out. If they take him away from here, then he’s not my problem anymore. It’ll be clear to the Temple that the Hand are to blame, and Hallowbane won’t be implicated. The bearer would certainly never say he was captured here—that would mean admitting he’s a whoring hypocrite.
“They’d never trade him for Ana,” the prince says. “She’s too useful to Caledon.”
“Maybe not for her, but there are other prisoners being held by the Temple. Our people,goodpeople,” Harman persists. “Or if they won’t make a trade, we could still make use of him. He’s a bearer, he’ll have all kinds of useful information. Just wait until Alastor gets here and?—”
The prince drives his knife deep into the bearer’s chest, right into his heart. He twitches in shock for a moment, then stills.
Damn it.
At least the prince was true to his word,says a wry little voice in my head. The bearer gave up all the information he had, and he got a swift death inreturn—where he’s hopefully learning firsthand that his fucked-up mockery of a faith doesnotgive him a free pass to paradise in the afterlife after all.Good riddance.
“For gods’ sake, Leonidas,” Harman kicks the foot of the bed. “The Hand?—”
“Don’t talk to me about the Hand,” the prince barks, rounding on him. “I couldn’t give less of a damn about any of it. Not until I have Ana back.”
Harman sighs but stops arguing.
He really does blame himself for the princess’s capture, I think, filing away a little more information.
“At least we know for certain she’s in Qimorna now,” Harman says.
Judging from his face, the prince doesn’t consider this much of a victory. Bending, he wipes his knife on the edge of the bedsheets before sheathing it.
“Let’s go,” he says. “We need to discuss our next steps.” He strides out of the room, forcing the staff huddled by the door to scatter like frightened birds as he shoves past them.
“He’s got a bit of a temper, doesn’t he?” I say, watching him go. Then I turn back to the bearer and curse again. “What a fucking mess.”
“It’ll be hard to stay off Caledon’s list now, won’t it?” Harman says.
I narrow my eyes at him. I’d already calculated exactly what strings I could pull to make the body disappear in a way that wouldn’t cause any fingers to point back at me…but I wasn’t going to tellhimthat. “Is that what you crusaders want? You don’t care what this might do to my businesses, my staff, or the innocent people who live in this city. Just because you’re happy to throw your lives away fighting the Temple doesn’t mean you get to drag other people into it.”
