Gideon


    “Well. At least we know for certain that they’re holding her in here,” Gideon supplied as they crept over the wall to the left of a tunnel’s set of stone stairs. He had no idea how many hours had passed, but he’d guess it was lunchtime, by the yawning emptiness of his stomach.


    Keeley sighed. “Did the screaming cries of a mother in pain not already assure us of this?”


    Gideon rubbed at his chin. “Yes, but I’m endeavoring to be the positive one of the two of us, since you seem to have trouble managing it.”


    Wrong. Wrong thing to say.


    He flinched just from the molten burn of her re. “I am the captain of an evil guard. My job is not to be positive. It’s to be realistic, so I can make sure nobody dies.”


    “From your side,” Gideon corrected.


    “What?” she snapped, looking over the edge again to see if the Valiant Guards outside the enclosure below were still there.


    “You make sure nobody dies from your side, and you do a stupendous job. Whoever is working for King Benedict cannot agree.”


    “As in…”


    “At least four Valiant Guards die a week with regrity, and the truth is, King Benedict doesn’t care. He doesn’t even bother to remember their names.”


    “But he knew yours,” Keeley said quietly. “He knew yours, and he used that against you, and you didn’t deserve that.”


    Gideon’s lips parted, a short breathing out. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”


    Keeley rolled her eyes and shoved him, though not with any force. “Savor it, as it was also thest.” She motioned to the stairs. “All right. Shall we go dispatch some of your former brethren? Probably a few new faces with the turnaround you described.”


    “Real nice.”


    “I never said I was nice.”


    “I know. I was thinking positively again,” Gideon said gravely.


    Keeley shuddered. “Well, knock it off.” Her helmet hid her face from view once more as she dragged the heavy metal over her head, concealing her golden locks. “Let’s go.”


    “Follow my lead,” Gideon said, moving in front of her. This endeavor was the greatest risk of the whole journey. If the two guards suspected either of them, they’d alert the rest of the barracks, he and Keeley would be captured, and Gideon would fail Evie…again.


    Keeley followed his uniformed march until they reached the two guards standing sentry outside the guvre’s cage. The animal looked battered behind the bars, with arge gash on her head that sent a surprising spike of ferocity through him.


    He hardened his voice, all signs of humor gone in favor of coolmand. “Morning, gentlemen. The king is requesting you report to his offices—immediately. We’re here to relieve you.” Sweat was building at his neck despite the chill from being underground.


    The two Valiant Guards lifted their helmets, brows raised in suspicion they couldn’t afford. “Who says?”


    Keeley deepened her voice. “The king.”


    The two guards looked at each other and then squinted over at Gideon, and he realized he recognized them—they’d been training captains his first day in the Gleaming Pce. They had been ruthless in their teachings, brutal in every session in a way that imprinted in his memory. Gideon tried not to jerk when one of them narrowed his eyes at Gideon, leaning too close.


    “Oy! It’s the fucking Sage boy!” Therger of the guards grabbed him by the neck, and the other circled Keeley.


    In one quick movement, the man grabbed the front of her helmet and swung her body into the cage doors. Gideon growled, unsheathing his sword and slicing at the arm banded around him until he was released. He could hear Keeley shing with the other knight, but Gideon couldn’t help her if he was run through. His opponent’s sword mmed against his, sending vibrations up his arm. Shoving at the man, Gideon sliced for his thigh, striking a gash through the gaps in the armor; he went down. Gideon raised his sword high again, ready to end this, but before he could, Keeley was behind the knight, slitting his throat.


    He dropped beside the second guard, who appeared to already have been dispatched by Keeley seconds prior. Gideon’s eyes found her face, helmet discarded, breathing heavily, knife bloodied in one hand, her chest moving beneath the other.


    She nodded at Gideon, and he nodded back, unable to speak properly through his shock, but he managed to finally utter a shaky, “Thank you.”


    Keeley stared at him, her gold eyes boring into his with an emotion Gideon couldn’t describe. “You’re wee, sir knight,” she said softly.


    After they dragged the two bodies into an empty cell, out of sight, Keeley dropped to her knees, unfolding the map Gideon had drawn, spreading it out onto the stone floor slowly so as not to tear it. The thoughtfulness she put into caring for something he’d created made him feel funny.


    Her golden brows pinched, focused, as she spread out a small wrinkle in the corner.


    He hit his chest.


    Terrible indigestion.


    “All right. I’ll distract her from the front while you slip the leash on, and then we’ll lead her out.”


    Gideon shook his head. “That won’t work. We were counting on the female guvre to walk herself out of here, but she’s been sedated. We don’t have enough strength between the two of us to drag her out.”


    “How do you know she’s under sedation?”


    “Look at her.”


    The female guvre stumbled into the rocks, dragging her ws across the ground to get to the meager water bowl, which was filled with bugs and dirt. “Those guards likely just gave her a dose. We’ll have to wait until it wears off.”


    Keeley threw her hands up. “We can’t do that! We’re sitting ducks here.” Gideon opened his mouth, but Keeley cut him off. “Don’t make a joke about rubber ones right now or I will kill you.”


    Gideon closed his mouth.


    Keeley sighed, rubbing at her eyes and wincing when she straightened her back.


    “Does it still hurt?” Gideon came up behind her, hovering a hand over her back but not daring to touch her.


    “Yes. But I’ve been hurt worse.” She shrugged like that sentence didn’t pulverize his insides. “This is like a beesting.” She looked up at him through her goldenshes. “If we stay too long, another round of guards wille for a shift change.”


    “They’ll be a while. They likely had just begun their shift. By the time the new guards get here, most of the sedative will have worn off.” Gideon watched Keeley, swallowing hard.


    “And if it doesn’t wear off in time?”


    “Then you take her left leg and I’ll take the right.”


    In other words?


    They’d be dead.