Page 47 of Alien's Challenge
The cell, constructed of cinderblocks, offered a narrow bench as accommodation and nothing else. Faris sat on the bench, examining the handcuffs. The design was primitive: steel cuffs connected by three links of chain. These cuffs were weak where the chain attached to the bracelet. By twisting the chain and bringing his wrists together, the chain would shear off at the joint.
Alice tossed herself down next to him. “Will that work?”
“Who has decades’ worth of criminal experience?”
She raised her hands in surrender, a ludicrous gesture with bound hands.
Within a minute, he broke the chain. “Now your turn,” he said, demonstrating how to maneuver her wrists to get enough torque.
“I’m not strong enough,” she said.
“It is not about strength. It is physics. Keep going.”
She did. Bringing her wrist together in the correct motion to snap the chain took two attempts, but she grinned in triumph.
“We will remove the cuffs once Perrigaul releases us. Until then, it is prudent for our captors to believe us bound,” he said.
“He’s not coming back. He ditched us. We’re on our own.”
“Patience.”
She let out a huff. “What did that guy mean about Imperial blood?”
“It is nothing.”
“Save me from men who think they have to coddle me,” she said, slouching against the wall. “If you just told me, we’d be onto a new topic by now.”
“Would that new topic be how I cannot trust Perrigaul?”
“Don’t try to be funny and distract me. Imperial blood. Spill it.”
His quills rose at her choice of words. “My grandfather is the emperor of all Nakkon and the territories.”
She was silent for a moment. “You said your family was minor nobility.”
“My mother is the third child. There are several heirs before me, and a fourth child would never be suitable. I am insignificant.” In previous centuries, his egg would have been exposed to the elements to perish.
“You seem to be famous, Owenfaris of the Eternal House of Nakkon. Everyone knows you.”
“I am not that male any longer. I am Faris. Only Faris.”
Shifting to face him, she rose to her knees. Fingers stroked along his jaw, brushing his spines. “I like Faris,” she said.
He covered her hand with his. Some emotion was lodged in his chest, swelling and pressing against his lungs, making it difficult to breathe. He had no words for this.
“What I don’t like is you keeping things from me,” she said.
Alice
The lack of information was one thing, but her lizardman’s closed mouth was frustrating beyond belief.
“Remember when you said you would tell me everything?” she asked.
“I have answered your questions.”
See? Frustrating.
“Look, you have the advantage here,” she said. “I don’t know what I don’t know, so I can’t ask good questions. Please just tell me what you think is relevant, like the emperor being your grandfather.”
