Page 29 of Storm of Desire
"No,but—"
"What is your name?" Árdís raked him with an arrogant glare. "I will be sure to mention it to her the next time I seeher."
His lips thinned. "Claus, yourhighness."
"Now get out of my way so I might visit mycousin."
Claus's eyes slowly narrowed. "If her highness would allow me the opportunity to speak... then she would know her cousin is not held within the dungeons. Perhaps the queen failed to mention this when she granted you permission tovisit?"
Sweet goddess. Árdís's bravado faltered for a single moment. "Andri's not in thedungeons?"
"He's been containedelsewhere."
What was she going to do? Rescuing her cousin was out of the question. Suspicion already gleamed in Claus's eyes, though he most likely thought her merely up to some mischief. She could hardly demand to know where Andriwas.
But shecouldstill saveMarek.
So beit.
Árdís sighed a little petulantly. "A shame,really."
Then she threw the contents of the small vial in her hand into Claus'sface.
The blood of a leviathan. Rare and extremely dangerous todreki. She didn't have time to wonder how Malin had gotten her hands on it. He screamed and clapped a hand to his face, as if burned by acid, and Árdís spun past him and slammed the hilt of her dagger into the base of hisskull.
Claus slumped to the floor, and Árdís glanced around, panting hard. Her heartbeat pounded in herears.
Nothingmoved.
The door to the dungeons was locked, but she found the key on the ring at Claus's belt. By the time she'd opened it, he was starting to stir.Drekimales were incredibly difficult to injure. Grabbing him under the armpits, she hauled him through into the hallway beyond, and shut thedoor.
Whipping her leather belt loose from her waist, she bound his hands behind him, then opened one of the empty cells and hauled himinside.
Claus wheezed as she dropped him in the moldy straw. "P-princess?"
Árdís slammed the cell door shut and locked it, before she dared breathe easy. Nobody would hear him calling for help. The dungeons had been designed to stifle all noise. But who knew when the next guard rotation wasplanned?
Time to find Marek. All she had to do was follow hernose.
He was in the third cell down thehallway.
"Marek?" she calledsoftly.
No answer, but she could hear someone shiftinginside.
Árdís unlocked the door, and Marek scrambled to his feet, his hands bound to the wall as he squinted ather.
"Princess?" His brown eyes widened inshock.
"Hush." She hurried to his side, rifling through the keys for one small enough to fit the lock on his steel manacles. They hadn't even bothered with spell work, as if assured a meredreklingcould notescape.
"What are you doing?" He slumped against his chains again, as if she presented no threat to him, and he no longer had to maintain any pretense at good health. The brand in the middle of his forehead looked angry and swollen, and he'd been beaten good and proper, by the way he held himself sostiffly.
She finally found the right key, and freed him from the manacles. "I'm getting you out ofhere."
"You're...what?" Marek rubbed at his wrists, but the first step he took ended in a limp. He stopped short, firelight gleaming in his eyes. "I can barely walk. If they catchyou—"
"They're not going to catch me," she replied, with false bravado, as she slipped beneath his shoulder. "We're using the servant'sportal."
