Page 106 of Heartless Enemy

“Of course,” she replied.

“Be careful.”

“When have I ever not been careful?”

I shot her a pointed look.

She grinned. Grabbing the collar of my shirt, she pulled my face down to hers and pressed her lips against mine. I could almost taste the life and the excitement buzzing through her veins from that kiss alone.

The sounds of chairs scraping and people getting to their feet came from back inside the courtroom. Eve released me and cast a quick look towards it.

Then she flashed me another grin. “See you tonight.”

And with that, she disappeared into the room and locked it behind her.

I strode towards the main doors, joining the flow of people streaming out of the courtroom. It was time to go back to the south side. My part here was done.

Eve, on the other hand, had one last bit of bloody revenge to exact.

Chapter40

In order to minimize escape attempts while in transit, the prisoners who faced the court spent the night at the courthouse instead of being hauled back to the constable force’s building. Since I had been assigned to duty here as part of my rotation a few years ago, I also knew exactly which rooms were used as temporary cells and where the guards were posted throughout the building. Having played for the other team really did have its advantages.

I waited in my hiding place until the guards had brought Ulric his dinner. Spending four hours inside a small, dark closet wasn’t exactly on my list of enjoyable pastimes, but it was the only way to accomplish my final goal. There were no other places to hide inside the room, and I knew from experience that no one ever opened this closet. Why would they? The prisoners who were brought here only ever had the clothes they were wearing. And besides, they couldn’t even reach this part of the room.

As if my thoughts had summoned it, the sound of a metal chain being dragged across stone filtered in from the other side of the closet door. Ulric, who I knew would be shackled to the bed with a chain, must have gotten up from the bed and walked over to the small desk where the guards usually placed the food the prisoner had been given.

Remaining inside the dark closet, I listened to the sounds of utensils clinking against a ceramic plate. And there was a lot of clinking. Given that Ulric was still wearing those stiff handcuffs, I wasn’t surprised that he was having trouble eating properly.

I had contemplated going out there before he began eating, but decided against it. The timing would be better if he had finished his meal first.

Once the clinking had stopped, I listened to a chair grating faintly against the floor. Ulric must have stood up again.

Well, I supposed that it was time then.

Straightening inside the closet, I pushed the door open and strode out into the firelit room.

It was a medium-sized space, and apart from the closet, it only contained a narrow bed, a desk with a chair, an oil lamp in the ceiling, and a place in the corner where people could empty their bowels. A chain ran from one of the bed’s legs, which were attached to the floor, and ended in a manacle that was always locked around the prisoner’s ankle. The chain had been made deliberately short so that the person wouldn’t be able to reach the door, which was why they also couldn’t reach the closet on the other side of the room. That, combined with the fact that there were no windows, made it very difficult for people to escape.

The moment I stepped out of the closet, Ulric whipped around to stare at me. A gasp ripped from his throat.

I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck, trying to ease some of the stiffness out of them after the long hours of hiding, before I turned around and carefully closed the door behind me again.

“Eve,” Ulric blurted out.

Keeping my features a neutral mask, I once more turned to face the man who had ruined my life and sent me down the path that had led me here today.

“What are you doing here?” he stammered.

“What do you think?”

To my utter surprise, relief and hope flooded his features.

For a moment, I didn’t understand why. Then I realized. Ulric still hadn’t figured it out. He still didn’t know that I knew the truth about what he had done to my father all those years ago. He just thought that I had turned to the dark mages after I had been fired from the constables because I was throwing a tantrum and had been lured back to the dark path, that he had tried so heroically to steer me away from, by the wicked King of Metal.

He didn’t know that I was the one who had set him up.

He thought that I was here torescuehim.

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