Page 113 of Her Cruel Redemption

‘How hurt are you?’

‘I’ll be alright.’

‘That wasn’t what I asked.’

He huffed a laugh. ‘It’s hard to quantify.’ I was chewing my lip ragged as I continued to study him. I could taste the blood in my mouth. He seemed to notice it, frowning as his gaze rested on my mouth. Reached out. Brushed a thumb across my lip. ‘Don’t do that.’

‘I don’t know how we’re going to get out of the city,’ I admitted in a hushed voice. ‘They’ll be watching the walls. They’ll likely close the gates until we’re found.’

‘They won’t close the port,’ he replied after a moment. ‘They’ve been blockaded for too long. Getting fresh supplies into the city will be more of a priority than us. And their merchant class will make too much of a fuss if they try it after business has been grounded for so long.’

‘That’s a possibility.’ My mind was spinning, forming a plan. ‘Maybe our best option.’ We both sank into the shadows as a rowdy group passed by the ally, their raucous laughter stained with liquor. ‘I want to speak to Leela first,’ I said when they were gone. ‘I’m not fleeing another city without warning her. And… I think she’ll help us.’ Ihopedshe would, anyway. I’d never pushed her loyalty to this, helping me smuggle the land’s most notorious villain—the one who had kept her prisoner, no less—out of a city that was hunting for us both.

I expected him to protest. He didn’t. ‘Alright,’ he said. ‘Do you have an idea of how to get to her?’

‘I left her a message before I came to the dungeons. I asked her to meet me at the city’s cathedral at midnight. If she’s found the message, then it should just be a matter of waiting for her.’ Unless she’d heard what I’d done and decided this was a step too far. Perhaps there’d be soldiers waiting for us at the cathedral instead of her. But it was a risk I had to take.

Draven didn’t reply, staring at me like he wasn’t sure who or what I was. ‘What?’ I asked, unnerved by the intensity in his gaze.

‘I thought Gwinellyn had forced your hand,’ he said slowly. ‘But you already knew you were going to free me when you set out tonight.’

‘Well, no, I guess… I just left the message… I suppose I thought…’ I trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence. I hadn’t fixed on any path, any decision, before I’d set out to enter the dungeon. Every step of the way, I’d told myself I wasn’t makingthischoice, that I would turn around, that each step in this direction had been something it wasn’t. I dropped his gaze, unable to hold it, heat flushing my neck and cheeks. Which was ridiculous, given that we were on the run and likely going to be caught and killed at any moment. ‘Let’s just head for the cathedral,’ I managed, pulling myself together. ‘There’ll be somewhere we can hide for a couple of hours. Somewhere you can rest.’ When I looked back up at him, he was still watching me with that same expression. And I was struck again with the dizzying magnitude of what I was doing.

‘Which way?’ he asked, and then we were on the move again.

Chapter Fifty-Two

The cathedral was too close to Saltarre Castle for comfort, now that being unseen had become a priority. And there seemed to be an increasing number of soldiers patrolling the streets. We ducked out of sight when we saw them coming, keeping to back alleys and avoiding the main stretches, and when the cathedral was in our sights, we found a cellar at the rear of a closed store. We broke the lock, slipped through the doors and into the damp hole beneath to wait in the dark, counting clock chimes to mark the passing time. We said little. There seemed too much to say, the air between us bloated with unspoken words, and this was not the time to turn our focus on bringing those words into being. We sat in the strange, temporary intimacy of a shadowy, cold room with nothing to do but nurse our fear of being caught. At some point, I drifted off to sleep, though I wasn’t sure how I managed it. Maybe there was some relief to be found in the warmth of leaning against Draven, his arm lightly around me, knowing he was watching. Somehow believing he would keep me safe.

All too soon, he was waking me with a light shake and a voice in my ear. ‘It’s nearly time.’

The night beyond the cellar and around the cathedral was quiet, not as full of activity as the market we’d passed by earlier. But the torches in the building itself were burning, the windows flickering like molten eyes as they glared down on us.

‘You should stay out here,’ I said as I peered around a corner at the gaping doorway, allowing myself another moment of doubt in the loyalty of my friend. ‘If there are soldiers waiting for us—'

‘Then they’ll have to take me before they can get to you.’

I chewed at my lip again. ‘You’re covered in blood.’

‘It’s dark. No one will notice.’

‘It’s notthatdark. You’re also limping.’

‘You’re not going in there alone.’

‘If I have to run, you’ll only—’

‘You’ll have to tie me up if you want me to stay out here,’ he cut in. ‘And then I’ll still get loose and come after you anyway.’

I was about to continue arguing the point when a figure in a cloak caught my eye. Holding a basket and coming down the street with a smooth, quick gait that I easily recognised as Leela. My heart jolted when I realised she wasn’t alone, that a taller, masculine figure was following a few steps behind her. Who was he? Who would she have brought and why would she have brought them? Surely if she’d turned me in, there’d be more than a single soldier with her. Both figures paused at the steps of the cathedral and looked around.

‘That’s Lester,’ Draven said suddenly.

I squinted, trying to see whatever he’d seen to identify the figure. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. He has this funny way of swinging his arms when he walks.’

Lester? But what was he doing here? How had he got into Port Howl? ‘If you say so. I hope you’re right.’ I took a breath and stepped out from behind the wall. The two figures caught the movement, turning, and I waved them over. Leela approached cautiously. Lester did not.

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