Renner’s stony expression clearly indicated that he was done with the conversation.

  I wanted to press, was desperately curious about whatever had happened to him, but bit my tongue.

  There were other things I’d been curious about. Less personal questions I’d been wanting to ask. And he was essentially a captive audience…

  “Renner… are you a member of the Order?”

  A muscle in his jaw jolted. “What?”

  “I just…” I knotted my fingers together and looked down. “You know things about Fae. Like during the music and that awful fog. And Captain Rell told me… he said only Thalessians carry rotbutter. I assumed you’d stolen it, but then… the way you f-fought.” Fast. Vicious. Lethal. I drew in a deep breath. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

  His face warped into a bitter grimace. “I… wanted to be one. Spent years training in their temple.” He flexed his scarred hands. “After.”

  “Oh.” I’d half-expected him not to answer. I gathered up the gleaming, bent piece of steel he’d tossed my way. Slid my fingers carefully along the razor-sharp silver. “What changed?”

  He was silent. When I finally raised my eyes, the grimace had retreated into something grim and distant. He was looking at me, lips pressed together. The muscles in his jaw were tight.

  I ducked my chin, feeling uncomfortable under the weight of his stare. He offered no answer.

  I fussed with the sword fragment, trying to find a way to secure it at my belt without it slicing the fabric wide open. I failed. I felt his eyes burning into me all the while.

  “What… what’s our plan?” I rasped, suddenly desperate for a break in the silence.

  He flinched. His eyes flicked away and he palmed his own chunk of steel. “Hide these. Act helpless. Wait for her to open the cage.”

  I licked my lips. My mouth felt very dry. “A-and then?”

  His chest swelled with a deep breath. Then he got on his knees and closed the space between us, shoulders taught and eyes fierce.

  I curled my legs up. Hunched my shoulders. Just this morning, my skin might have flushed with the sudden closeness. My heart might have sped up.

  But now he wanted me dead. I bit my lower lip.

  “We are in this,” he breathed, “Together. Got it?”

  “Obviously,” I muttered.

  “Obviously. Look, I can stab her full of these,” he nodded towards our little pile of broken steel, “But when it comes down to it, I’m gonna be poking something twice my size and much stronger. I don’t think that’s gonna be anywhere near enough. These are small. And even using them is probably gonna…” he paused a moment, then forged on through clenched teeth, “Hurt me. A lot. I’m gonna wind them with cloth, but even so… there’s no way to grip them.”

  I drew a ragged breath. I knew what he was getting at. “Right. So you’re saying it’s… it’s up to me, then.”

  “Yeah.” He searched my face almost hungrily. “Yeah, ladyship. And I can think all kinds of awful things about what kind of person you actually are and what other lies you’ve told me, but I know you don’t want to die. So when I start drawing blood, when I have her attention, you aim to kill. Got it?”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I stared into his eyes.

  And then, almost madly, I started to smile.

  “What is so funny?”

  “Not… not funny. Just… just… Teela’s alive.” My voice cracked. “She’s alive. You know?”

  His lips parted. He let out a long sigh. Warm air washed across my collarbone. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. But she’s not gonna stay that way if we die.”

  “I know.”

  “So you’re gonna fight. You’re not gonna pass out. You’re gonna save her. Right?”

  “Yeah. Yes. And you.”

  “Good.” He started to pull away.

  On impulse, I caught one of his hands. His skin felt rough and warm.

  He looked at me warily. Like he half-expected me to try and tear the limb off. “What?”

  I felt heat flush up my neck. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say. The apologies hadn’t done any good. My attempts to explain the deception had only made him angry.

  “I… I just…” I swallowed. “I wanted to thank you.”

  His jaw tightened.

  Tears pricked behind my eyes. “I… I suppose it’s different, now. Now that you… know. I suppose you wouldn’t have… you would’ve left me. Or… or let them kill me.”

  He grimaced. “I-”

  “No! Please… please don’t say anything. Please don’t. I don’t think I can take it right now. I know you hate me. That’s… that’s okay. It is. But… earlier. You could’ve run. You didn’t. You stayed. And you… You’re not a coward. You’re very unpleasant, sometimes, but you’re not a coward. I’m glad I… I’m glad you were there.”

  His features twisted into the scowl I was so very familiar with. He jerked his hand away. I let mine fall.

  At least I said it. Even if he’d do it differently, now.

  Cold steel against my neck. Agnes’ bony hand muffling any attempt to cry out.

  The clatter of Renner’s weapons falling to the floor.

  The look on his face.

  Furious.

  Frightened.

  Not ready to watch me die.

  And now… now I was the enemy.

  I shut my eyes. Tried to shut it all out.

  He can hate me. He can. He’s here because of me. But I won’t let him die.

  Silence pressed in. Then I heard cloth ripping. I sniffled and dared a glance towards Renner. He was tearing free some of the mangled scraps of clothing and wrapping them as makeshift handles around the broken wedges of steel. I wordlessly set my own fragment down in his little pile.

  Something brushed against my wrist as I did so. It felt like the legs of a spider. I jumped and withdrew my hand, frowning down.

  I hadn’t seen any bugs scuttling through our little prison, nor in the tunnel outside. Part of me was convinced, after all the rotted plants and horrifically preserved animals, that nothing besides the hag could stay alive in this awful place.

  The sensation came again. I lifted my wrist. Perhaps an insect had been trapped in Royce’s bracelet.

  I’d just started to brush at the smooth wood when I froze. My heart stuttered.

  It wasn’t a bug. Nor a spider. It was the bracelet.

  Not the cool silver. No, that looked normal. Practically an extension of my wrist, so accustomed was I to wearing it. I barely even noticed the piece of jewelry any more.

  The wood was still. Gleaming like dull ash in the green glow.

  For a moment I thought I’d imagined the movement. I peered down with wide eyes, lifting the ornament until it was just a breath away.

  A leaf twitched. Then another. Feather-thin and soft as down, flexing against the wood. Brushing at my skin.

  I gaped. It was impossible. I’d worn the bracelet every day for ten years and never once had it moved. The wood was dead. The leaves… the leaves didn’t reach. Didn’t whisper. Never once.

  But now... Faintly, twitching just one at a time, then falling still. But… trying. There was no mistaking it.

  “How…” I breathed. My pulse thrummed madly. I lifted my other hand and touched the leaves with trembling fingers.

  Renner paused in his movements. “What?”

  I just shook my head. Words seemed inadequate for the tiny miracle happening before my eyes.

  Then my heart nearly stopped.

  I could just see them. Here and there, so tiny and shadowed in the dim light that they were barely visible.

  Barely.

  Crimson, knit within the black. Red fibers threading through velvet.

  A broken leaf unfurled against my skin.

  It’s rustle was so quiet I hardly caught the noise. But it was there. Faint, but unmistakable. A whisper.

  I gasped. Joyful, baffled tears spilled from my eyes.

  “You… you’re… you’re alive?” I shook my head, mind whirling. Had it happened out in the woods? Luridel? Had I just not noticed? It wasn’t as though I stopped to examine my bracelet often. I fastened it every morning, and then it was just… there. An unnoticed fixture.

  “What did I do?” I breathed.

  Renner, clearly at a loss, opened his mouth. Then snapped it shut and fell back against the wood, eyes wide.

  Rocks rumbled from the side. The makeshift stone door began to move.