A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1) (115)

I winced, and she just laughed.

“I’ll leave you to rest.” She scampered out the door before I could reply.

I spent the rest of the day in bed, visualizing leading over three hundred prisoners out of the king’s tunnel only days from now. The tunnel he’d created to put them to death. My body broke out in a cold sweat, and I shuddered beneath my blankets.

By the time it was dark enough to risk going down to the dungeon, I felt more like myself. A little shaky, but ready to help Tibris hand out food. Since Tibris wanted to check Asinia’s and Demos’s wounds first, I got to work slipping pieces of bread, hunks of meat, and stolen fruit between cage bars.

Laurel held out her hand for her share, angling her head as she watched me.

She was a couple of years younger than me and had told me she thought she’d been here for at least six months. “Why are you doing this? At least when I was iron-crazed, I didn’t know how bad this really was.”

“Would you rather I didn’t?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I want out. But…”

I understood. Now, she knew the reality of her situation. And it was grim. When she didn’t know what she was missing, she didn’t dare hope for more. The iron had kept her weak, dazed, easy for the guards to manage. Now, her eyes burned with retribution.

“Eat,” I murmured. “And walk as much as you can. We need you strong.”

She nodded, and I finished doling out the last of the food, making my way back toward Asinia.

“Finished sulking?” Tibris asked.

I winced, slowing my steps. That was the tone he most often used when speaking to either Lorian or Demos.

Shuffling sounded, as if someone was sitting down.

“My mental state is none of your business.” Demos’s voice was so cold, I almost shivered.

“What is your problem?”

Tibris had never been able to leave anything alone. When I was angry as a child, he would poke and prod at me until I exploded. Then he would laugh. Most of the time, his amusement would shake me from my fury. Or at least ensure I trained that fury on him instead.

“My problem?” Demos asked.

“You’ve found your sister. After all these years.”

“She doesn’t know me.”

“So, spend time with her.”

“Easy for you to say. You grew up with her. You got to see her turn from a child into a woman. You were able to be there for her. To protect her. To keep her safe.”

My throat tightened, and I stopped walking completely.

“I wasn’t able to protect her from the guards. Our mother tried and died for it.”

“That woman—”

“I know how you feel about that,” Tibris said. “And I can understand why. But that woman raised Prisca. She was the one who dried her tears after her nightmares. The one who taught her to hide her power and keep herself safe. My mother may be the villain in your story, but she died to protect our sister.”

A long silence followed. Finally, Tibris sighed. “I need to see your shoulder.” He let out a humming sound. “It looks good.”

I resumed my footsteps, finding Asinia standing in her cage, stretching her legs.

“It’s so good to see you moving.” She still needed to gain her weight back, but she looked stronger than she had since I’d found her down here. And she practically radiated determination.

“I have to be ready to run if I need to.”

I nodded. “I have a question. It’s about your…power.”

Her mouth curved in a faint smile. “You want to know what I can do.”

Tibris and Demos stopped their sniping at that, and I glanced at them. Both of them had turned toward Asinia expectantly.

She rolled her eyes. “If you’re hoping for some incredible offensive power, you can keep hoping. My power heightens my precision. I make incredibly neat stitches.”

Tibris nodded at that, while Demos continued to watch her. “Precision can mean many things. Let’s put a bow in your hand and see if you can let those arrows fly.”

She raised one eyebrow. “I tried learning to use a bow when Prisca did. I was almost as bad as her.”

“You were suppressing your power then, though, weren’t you?” Demos asked.

After a moment, she nodded.

“Worth a try,” I said. “As soon as you’re free, you need to begin training and see if that precision can be used to aim.”

She gave me a cool look, and I realized I was giving her orders. “Sorry.”

She just smiled. “It’s okay. You know, sometimes I barely recognize you.”

I winced, and she reached through the bars and grabbed my hand. “In a good way. Some people break under pressure like this. You’re using it to become strong.”

I thought of Lorian and all the ways he’d prodded me into doing exactly that. “I’m working on it.”

Tibris stepped out of Demos’s cage. “We’ve been down here for a while now. We should go.”

I nodded, and I squeezed Asinia’s hand. “Not long now.”

Glancing at Tibris, I gestured for him to follow me. He frowned but complied, and we walked toward the stone staircase. Hands on my hips, I examined it.

Tibris caught on immediately. “You think this is the tunnel entrance.”