Page 69 of Untempered
Something heavy hit a locked dungeon door on the way out. Long, thin, dirty fingers wrapped around the metal a second later, and big eyes peered through the bars.
Thomas and Isolde both had pushed Audrey behind them. The torches in the group bobbed. “I thought you must’ve come to ask me to eat your pussy,” the woman said, her eyes fixed on Audrey. “Since we didn’t get to finish last time.”
Beside me, Audrey looked at Collar-Pin in accusation.
The prisoner’s whole arm looped out through the bars now, pushing up her sleeve. I figured, after what I’d heard, the odds of the darkness on her skin being shadow or dirt was low. I remembered Darrius’ words about a mage restarting her heart, his confidence in her breaking.
“I’d do it better’n them, and we all know it,” she said with a grin, big green eyes sharp as shattered glass. “You’re in my dreams, woman. Let me be in yours.”
I scratched at my jaw again. I didn’t hate that line, but by the Son, talk about a strange time to proposition someone.
But what an excellent time to get someone’s attention.
“I’m going to be sending Isolde to check on her well-being regularly,” Audrey said to Collar-Pin. “If I see any fresh bruises, I’m also seeing fresh heads on pikes. Are we clear?”
She didn’t see the patronizing look Collar-Pin sent at her back, but I did, and I didn’t love it. She was an arrogant shit who hadn’t learned when to cut her losses, but she was right. Whoever the hell that prisoner was to the South, and whether or not she ate cunt like a champion, she didn’t deserve what she was getting.
“Sir Chay,” Audrey said, two steps ahead of me on the stairs, the red in her hair drinking in the glow from the torches. I followed at the edge of her light, keen to get out of the dungeons. “Sir Thomas. Traditionally, executions are done in La’Angi with an axe. Are either of you proficient?”
I didn’t look at Isolde. I knew damned well what weapons the Matri’sion used, and how well. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the lady herself had been trained in the axe, even if shewasuseless in a crisis. Thomas mumbled something about preferring the spear.
“I’m only passable,” I offered in solidarity with the woman left in the dark. “If it’s just the occasional need, I can assist in cleaning up the mess. But if it may be a regular occurrence, I ought to increase my training.”
“Splendid. We’ll visit the armory.”
I recognized the noblewethere; the collective that did not, in fact, apply to her.
I didn’t tell her the thought made my belly roll because it didn’t matter. I’d already become her executioner. I may as well be outfitted for the job.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
ISOLDE
“Hruudwulf looked upon his followers with hunger and fear as the moon crept over the mountain. ‘I do not wish to be like this,’ he whispered to Gaelena. ‘But this curse is beyond my control.’” ~ Southern lore
I’d been glad the would-be assassin had slipped her mind for so long. As soon as that woman had thrown herself at the cell door, though, I’d known Audrey would get involved.
“I’m to take the messages to the pigeons, and use the birds matching the colored wax,” he repeated, looking down at the tubes in his hands that held the urgent requests for information Audrey had spent hours penning. “Then you want me to go to the prisoner. You want me to see if she needs clothing, food, or healing?” Thomas repeated, frowning. “But youactuallywant me to learn her name, how she’s being treated, and who seems to feel strongly about her. Is that correct, my lady?”
“Yes,” Audrey confirmed.
He nodded, his brow furrowed. “And, my lady, you’ll remain here? To receive my report?”
He was worried she’d again ignore the Butcher’s orders. Mortemon had been found coming out of an extensively joyful time with a few women and a lot of knappchs, but he wasn’t up to his job yet.
I breathed in the tisane as it steeped and let her settle Thomas’ ruffled feathers. She did a passable job of it, but he was only just leaving as Chay was returning, freshly bathed and tightening the sword belt around his waist. Impatience gnawed at me as I saw her eyes lingering on his hands on his belt. She was distracted by the knight, and not in a productive way.
“Would you like a brew?” Audrey asked him.
“No.” He didn’t ask for permission before he stretched out in her reading chair beside the hearth. He didn’t put his boots up on the table and kick off her latest pile of reports, at least.
She perched on the edge of her seat, her expression earnest. “I’m sorry about those children, and I’m sorry you were held in the dungeons and mistreated. Can I do anything now to help?”
I sipped the drink and warmed my behind on the coals while he pondered that.
“Don’t put yourself in stupid positions,” he decided, finally.
Audrey nodded, no doubt putting far more weight in those words than they deserved. Sheshouldhave been able to attend an unwell family without anticipating thechildrentrying to attack her. And yes, I’d seen it coming, but that was my role. It was his, too, andhehadn’t prevented the situation. So we’d all been stuck having to react to it instead.
