“Shh,” Tibris soothed Asinia that night. The devastation had been clear on his face when I’d opened her cell door. Now, he was crouching next to her, attempting to heal the worst of her sickness, while I handed some of the smuggled food through the cell bars to Demos.
His mouth had fallen open when he’d seen me again. Obviously, he hadn’t truly believed I would return. Now, he was shoving bread and cheese into his mouth.
“Don’t eat too much,” Tibris warned. “Or it’ll come straight back up.
Demos nodded, taking smaller bites. My chest clenched.
“I’ll try to bring some meat tomorrow,” I told him.
I turned to Tibris. His expression was grim. I’d told him about the iron, and he was studying the slice along Asinia’s shoulder.
“We need to get this out. I can’t heal her with the fae iron in her body.”
Slipping into the cell, I knelt next to Asinia. She’d gotten worse overnight, and now she was so pale, it seemed as if she was moments from death. A chill slid over me. We couldn’t have gotten here just in time to watch Asinia die. We had to be able to save her.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Hold her down and keep her from alerting every guard in the castle.”
Asinia was completely unresponsive. Was she dying? Had she already slipped into an unconsciousness from which she could never be woken? The backs of my eyes burned as I waited for Tibris to ready himself, and when he nodded, I placed one hand over her mouth, leaning on her other arm to keep her still.
“Go.”
The wound had healed enough that Tibris had to open it once more. Asinia remained unconscious for that. But when it came time to dig out the iron, she screamed against my hand, bucking weakly as we held her down.
Her screams, the sight of her writhing… Tears dripped down my cheeks. But she was alive. Alive and awake.
Her eyes met mine, clear for the first time.
I leaned down. “We’re saving you. I’m sorry, but it has to be done.”
She nodded, but whatever Tibris was doing made her let out another weak scream. At Tibris’s order, I poured water over the wound, flushing out the tiny iron pieces he hadn’t been able to remove.
It went on for what seemed like forever. By the time Asinia’s eyes rolled back in her head, I was covered in sweat. Tibris met my eyes and gave me a nod. He’d brought a tiny healer’s kit with him into the castle, and as soon as he’d cleaned the wound enough, he’d sewn it shut once more.
“If they examine her, they’ll know someone was in here,” Tibris said.
Hopelessness squeezed my lungs tight. After what we’d just had to do to Asinia, the thought of someone doing it to her again…
Demos cleared his throat. “They won’t examine her,” he said. “I’ve been here almost two years, and no one has checked mine. It had to be done.”
I turned and surveyed him. “I’m glad you feel that way. Because you’re next.”
He sucked in a breath but nodded. If Asinia’s wound had been bad, Demos’s was horrifying. Tibris stepped into his cell and handed him a piece of wood from his pocket kit.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
“For him to bite down on.”
I stayed next to Asinia while Tibris cleaned out Demos’s wound. Demos’s low groans made my stomach churn, and I glanced over my shoulder to find him clutching on to the bars between the cells, his knuckles white.
I couldn’t just let him suffer, even if it meant leaving Asinia for a few moments.
Getting to my feet, I wrapped my hand around one of his. “You’re doing great,” I murmured. “Just think about all the ways we’re going to make these bastards pay.”
Demos nodded.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He spat out the wood from between his teeth. “It’s not your fault. Fuuuck.” He clutched at the bars, and I squeezed his hand tighter.
“Think about something you love,” I said desperately. “Tell me about it.”
He let out a choked sound, and for a long moment, it seemed as if he couldn’t manage a single word. I hoped Tibris was almost done.
“I love watching the clouds,” Demos murmured. “I used to lie on the grass and watch them for hours. Especially when the sun was right about to set.”
“Beautiful.”
He opened his mouth, but a muffled yelp came out.
“It’s okay if you need to cry.”
I peered at his shoulder. Tibris had began sewing up the wound.
“First rule of being a prisoner,” Demos told me, “you cry, and you’re done.”
This was a man who refused to be victimized by life. Even after everything he’d obviously gone through in these dungeons. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He smiled, his teeth flashing in the low light. “I’ve only known you for a day, but something tells me you probably should.”
“My sister will never end up in one of these cells,” Tibris growled.
I rolled my eyes. “How’s his shoulder?”
“I’ll need to keep working on it, but my magic is almost completely drained.”
I fisted my hands. How many more prisoners could Tibris be healing if the king hadn’t stolen his magic?
“We’ll come back tomorrow,” I said, turning to press a kiss to Asinia’s brow. I wished I could bring her a blanket, but we couldn’t risk a guard walking past and noticing.
“The next guards will be on shift soon,” Tibris said. “We need to go.”
We snuck back up to the servants’ quarters. When it was time for Tibris to turn left to the men’s rooms, he slumped against the wall instead. His eyes were bleak when they met mine.
“She would have died tonight,” he said. “I have no doubt. It was that close, Pris.”
Nausea swept through me until I had to pant a few breaths to clear my head. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“So am I. We need to get her out, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how. We take her and run, and we may get out of the castle, but we’ll never get out of the city.”
Oh yes, we would. “I’m going to figure something out.”
He opened his mouth to argue, rolled his eyes, and closed it with a snap. Likely, he didn’t have enough energy to verbally spar with me tonight. Instead, he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a note. “From Vicer.”
“Thanks.”
By the time I made it back to my room, I was almost shaking with fatigue. It took everything in me to still time long enough to crawl into my bed.
The bed was freezing, given that it was next to the window. But I pushed the curtain back and read Vicer’s coded note by the light of the moon.
Pris,
I don’t have to tell you how risky such a strategy would be. For the first part of your plan, I need a day to organize the note.
For the second part, I have two people who could potentially help you, but I won’t order them to do it. If one of them volunteers, you’ll have your distraction.
Vicer
I blew out a shaky breath. It might be too much to hope for a volunteer. It was dangerous. But if there was one thing I knew about the rebels, it was that most of them were living solely for revenge.