Osrik crosses his thick arms in front of him, tongue flicking his lip piercing as he looks at Slade. “He’s gotta be in the dungeons.”
“That was my thought as well,” he replies.
Judd tilts his head at Lu. “You been down there yet?”
“No,” she says. “I’ve been keeping to the top passages of the castle, mostly familiarizing myself so that I can get a handle on everything in case Midas tries to off Prince Niven. My time has been busy with making sure he doesn’t end up dead.”
I blink in surprise. “You’ve been guarding the prince?”
She shrugs, her leathers crinkling along her shoulder. “The last thing we want is for the little twit to be killed off and Midas have an official hold on Fifth Kingdom.”
That makes sense, considering I wouldn’t put it past Midas for a second. “What about Queen Kaila? Do you think she’s in danger?”
The Wrath look contemplative, but it’s Slade who answers. “We aren’t sure. Midas always has plans, but I don’t think he intends to assassinate her. Even if he tried to make it look like an accident, there would be whispers. She is much loved in her kingdom. I doubt it could happen without repercussions.”
I wish I could help and say that I knew what Midas’s plans for Queen Kaila are, but I have no clue.
My gaze goes back to Lu. “Do you think you can find him? Digby, I mean?”
“If he’s in the castle, I can find him,” she replies with certainty, her brown eyes full of promise before flicking over. “Rip?”
Slade nods. “Yeah, go ahead and pause your watch on Prince Niven and focus on finding the dungeons to search for Digby there.”
“What about the prince?” she asks.
He tilts his head in thought. “So far, no move has been made against him, but I still want him watched. Judd, can you take over?”
The man nods. “I got it. I’m no Lu, but once I’m in, I can keep an eye on him.”
I should probably feel guilty that I’m messing up their plans and taking Lu away from watching over the prince, but I can’t bring myself to. Just the sliver of a chance that she could actually find Digby and get him out makes my chest go tight with hope, a band around my ribs that binds every breath.
“Alright, I’ll start searching for Digby later tonight. Tired guards are easier to work my magic on,” she explains.
“You can get started after you get Auren safely back into her rooms,” Slade tells her, and she nods in reply.
Osrik scratches his shaggy brown beard. “How about this saddle, Rissa?” he says. “Is she trustworthy?”
I hesitate before answering. “She’s not untrustworthy,” I say carefully. “But…”
“But if you didn’t follow through on your end of the deal, she’d sell you out,” Slade finishes for me.
“Yes, but she warned me she would.”
Osrik snorts. “Well, at least she’s honest.”
“I don’t begrudge her for it,” I tell him. “The life of a woman saddle isn’t easy. She has to do what’s best for her.”
Judd blinks at me. “Gildy. Come on. You can’t afford to be naive here. She might be silent for now, but what happens if she does make it out of here and then runs out of money? She’s going to squawk your secret to whoever will buy it. Or maybe she won’t even get that far. Perhaps she’ll get caught before she can leave Ranhold, and she’ll spill it then,” he points out. “She’s a liability.”
“She’s a person,” I reply, a sense of protectiveness rising up. “And she gave me her word.”
Slade looks at me, his spiked brow furrowed. “Auren, Judd has a point.”
My spine stiffens. “Don’t,” I say with a shake of my head. “Don’t even suggest—”
“We should kill her,” Osrik butts in gruffly, as if he’s not at all bothered by the suggestion to kill an innocent woman.
“Don’t touch her,” I snap, on my feet before I even realize I’ve stood up. “She’s done nothing wrong.”
“Yet,” Osrik drawls.
Both of my lips press together in a hard line. I look to Lu, hoping for another female advocate on my side, but even she looks dubious.
“Look, I get that this isn’t the best situation, but Rissa doesn’t know the whole truth,” I tell them. “I let her come to her own conclusions when she saw me turn the Red Raids captain solid gold. She thinks that Midas’s power fed into me when he gold-touched me.”