Rancid.

The stench wafting through the cell bars of the underground dungeon.

The acid contorting my stomach.

The questions warping my mind.

Would Trebalda discover the betrayal in time? Would they burn Niako like they had burned my father? What gave him the right to offer up his life for mine?

Had I ever even told him I loved him?

Struggling against the cuffs on my wrists and ankles, I pushed to my feet and hopped toward the cell bars. Shoving my head forward so the metal dug into my forehead, I glimpsed Niako's form in the cell diagonal from mine. He slumped against the wall facing me, his legs stretched out in front of him tied with rope at the ankles. His head rested on the wall behind him, eyes closed. On his lap, a coarse rope bound his wrists.

His name clogged my swollen throat as I choked it off. I didn't know what the three guards at the nearby front desk would do if they heard me speaking to him. Silently, I willed Niako to open his eyes and meet mine.

He didn't.

A hunched guard trotted toward the cells, humming a cheerful tune. He swung a wicked forked poker like a lunch sack while his other hand snapped an arrhythmic accompaniment to the nasal melody. I stiffened as he approached, my eyes latched on the crimson crusting the barbed tips of the poker. When he passed me and paused momentarily in front of Niako's cell, my gut clenched.

He continued down the tunnel.

A sigh halfway to a sob racked my chest, and I hobbled back two steps and flopped down. The cold, grimy floor leeched my warmth, my strength... my hope.

Clinging to the edge of the abyss of despair, I visualized our escape. I would impale the guards with their own swords. Whisk Niako out of this dungeon and to safety. Wrap my arms around him until the world grew still and the rancidity faded. And then tell him a story.

I would tell him that when my father dined with my mother's impoverished family, Aunt Mitzy attempted to deter the clueless prince by slipping a dead mouse into his stew. My father was so smitten with my mother he almost ate that mouse. And whenever I heard that story, I thought I would never love someone that much.

Then I would say, "But Niako, I would eat a mouse for you."

I absently trailed a finger through a cobweb in the corner of the cell, smiling as I envisioned his snarky response: "You know, you could have just said, 'I love you, Niako.'"

And I would reply, "I'll have plenty of chances for that."

A piercing scream echoed down the tunnel.

As my mental image shattered, I tugged my knees up to my chest and hugged them close. Then a new sound filled the tunnel, a pattern of swishing and thudding I recognized immediately.

In the middle of my cell and Niako's, Makash planted his feet and thrust back his shoulders. "I do wish we could spend longer together, but alas, we were forced to move the Day of Blessings Ceremony to tomorrow morning to deter unwanted guests. After Niako admits guilt and faces execution, we will send a message to Trebalda's ship. When poor Trebalda realizes she chose the wrong brother, she will be forced to withdraw."

He shifted slightly to face Niako's cell. "I could have made her strong, little brother. Instead, you made her weak."

When Niako responded, a sheer iron will propped up his scratchy voice. "Nothing could make Trebalda weak."

Makash chuckled, but a dangerous undercurrent rolled through the sound. "Trebalda's greatest weakness has always been her willingness to believe the best of everyone. She believed you were only an innocent, confused child. And she believed Kulas would really give up slavery to follow her. Instead, Sakap contacted a messenger down the hill immediately after your plans were set, and that messenger arrived almost two days ago — plenty of time for me to set this little trap."

The abyss of despair gaped open and swallowed me as my memories realigned. Sakap's weak petition at the firepit. This is a lot for Kulas to accept. Sakap's wail as he held Mik's corpse. Maybe she found out something she wasn't supposed to know.

Makash continued. "Kalasiki's forces will face Fooja's army at the border, and Kulas's sword fighters will surround and slaughter all of those mountain archers in the northeast." He scrubbed a hand over his chin, smiling at the ceiling. "Which leaves all of Rakim's soldiers here to demolish Trebalda's tiny squad, should she refuse to turn back."

Makash shifted slightly to face Niako. "It is really too bad you won't be there to see it all."

Then he yelled, "Karnu."

Footsteps pelted the ground, and the guard with the poker appeared at Makash's side, doubled over panting. "Your Majesty?"

"I unfortunately cannot stay to entertain my brother, but I trust you will ensure he does not find his stay unmemorable."

Karnu flashed a toothy smile and straightened, raising the poker. "I would be happy to, Your Majesty."

Makash snorted and flicked a dismissive wrist. "Not that fucking poker. This is my dear little brother we are talking about. A pail of water should suffice." He turned on his heel and took two steps before stopping to look at Karnu over his shoulder. "Oh, and... Toom is not to be harmed, but do see if you can persuade him to do the honors."

Horror clawed at my chest and whooshed in my ears loudly enough I barely heard Karnu's mumbled response: "Of course, Your Majesty."

As the thud-swish of Makash's steps faded down the hallway, Karnu ducked back to trot away. A short time later, he returned with a large pail, his hunched shoulders sagging on one side with the weight. Another guard with spidery limbs and a sharp nose marched beside him.

The long-legged guard slipped a key into the lock of my cell and paced toward me. "Get up." When I did not immediately move, he hooked his hands under my armpits behind me and tugged me to my feet. Then he dragged me across the corridor into Niako's cell.

Karnu plopped the pail down near Niako's feet and the other guard pushed me to face him. Niako still did not open his eyes. The guard holding me stepped back and drew his sword, holding the tip a couple feet from me.

Karnu hummed and lifted alternating hunched shoulders in almost a dance. Then the hum broke off, and he snapped his fingers as he turned to me. Childlike delight played across his flabby face. "I have an idea. You can hold his head under for a count of twenty, or I can do it for a count of forty. Your choice."

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I scrambled for some other option — some way out of this nightmare. I glanced between the two guards and tugged at the inch of slack between my cuffed wrists. How many guards were at the front entrance? Ten? And many more roamed the grounds just outside the dungeon. Slowly, a crushing weight rolled over my chest like a wagon wheel.

It was utterly hopeless.

My eyes dropped to Niako. He still slumped against the wall as if asleep, though his chest rose and fell too quickly for slumber. I had worked so hard to gain his trust. If I did this to him, would he ever trust me again?

A ruthless voice in the back of my mind whispered, He's about to die. What does it matter if he trusts you? But then my body rejected the poisonous words.

"Niako, I'm sorry, I don't... I can't..."

Niako's eyes finally drifted open to meet mine, and he gave a little nod. "Don't worry, Toom. Whichever you choose, this little bit of unpleasantness changes nothing."

I held his gaze in disbelief. He was about to face his worst fear because I had failed to protect him. Was he really comforting me?

I whipped toward Karnu. "Do it to me instead. Please. You can hold my head under as long as you want."

"Toom, no," said Niako, tone abruptly acerbic.

Karnu's cheeks flapped as he shook his head. "I would gladly oblige, but you see, I follow the King's orders."

"The King would not have to know," I said.

"The King always knows," said Karnu. Then he turned to Niako. "Guess your lover is not up to the challenge, so you get me. Let's get started."

As Karnu's pudgy hand reached toward Niako's head, horror cleaved through me and erupted in a rasp. "Wait." I swallowed hard and squeezed out words through the phlegm constricting my throat. "I'll do it."

"Ah, excellent." Karnu dropped his hand back and crouched to slide the pail toward Niako. A little water slopped over the side, spattering the floor with innocuous clear droplets. I dropped to my knees and extended my cuffed hands in front of Karnu, but he shook his head. "No, no. The handcuffs stay." Then he nodded toward the bucket. "Go ahead."

"Don't think, Toom," said Niako, tone bizarrely gentle. "Just do it." Then he slid forward and leaned over the bucket, arms tucked into his chest and legs folded beneath him.

My gaze fell to the bucket. Lifted to Niako's head. Drifted down to the droplets on the floor. And then I watched my own cuffed hands hover to the back of his head. Soft, glossy curls yielded to my touch like they had the night before when he knelt in front of me.

A shiver of wrongness passed over me.

Don't think. Just do it.

Slowly, I guided his head down until his face submerged. And Karnu began to count.

"One, two, three, four..." Niako didn't fight me — not even a twitch — but the bunching of his muscles revealed how hard he was fighting himself. "Eight, nine, ten..." His curls billowed and drifted in the water as he began to tremble. "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen..." His head pushed up against my hands, and the water bubbled around his face. My chest burned and lungs spasmed in response. Can't breathe, can't breathe, can't breathe... "Eighteen, nineteen, twenty."

I jerked his head up, and Niako sputtered and coughed as he sucked in air. Water dripped from his nose and hair into the pail. When his chest heaved in a second breath, I realized I still was not breathing.

I drank in a gasp. The air splashed my lungs like foul slime, and bitter acidity surged up in protest. I twisted away and keeled over to hack up a stringy trail of bile that dribbled to the floor. More vomit scratched the aching knot in my throat, refusing to dislodge. Despite the tears squeezing through my shut eyes, fire singed my eyelids.

Cold, shaking hands closed over my forearm and squeezed once. "Toom, relax." Pure determination dragged his ragged voice. "Look at me, Toom." As I blinked back my tears and lifted my gaze to meet Niako's eyes, he said, "See? I'm fine. Everything is fine. No need to be dramatic." And then he smirked.

He actually managed to smirk.

And it just tore me apart even more.

The cuffs dug into my wrists above my fisted hands. Stumbling to my feet, I faced Karnu and waited for him to drag me back to my cell. Waited like a dog brought to heel.

"Well, that was fun," said Karnu. "Next up, you can hold his head under for thirty counts, or I'll do it for sixty."

The violent fury that shuddered through me almost brought me back to my knees. I imagined flipping my arms over Karnu's head and strangling him with the cuffs. The other guards would undoubtedly take me down, and then they might move to even more sadistic torture, but part of me felt killing Karnu was worth any punishment.

If only I were the one who would receive the punishment.

Instead, I shook my head once and then could not stop, chin swaying back and forth like a pendulum. "No, no, no..."

A dissonant smell sliced through the rancidity inside and around me: the spicy-sweet aroma of cinnamon cake crisps. Moments later, a familiar voice rang through the tunnel.

"I know, I know I am not allowed in here, but listen, I used to work for the Royal Guard. And I brought you all cinnamon cake crisps for tomorrow's Day of Blessings!"

Karnu emitted a growl of frustration and kicked the pail so it rattled against the floor, swirling the water. "Seven hells, not that old looney again." He jerked his head toward the sharp-nosed guard and waved a hand at me. "Jarek, bring him back to his cell. We'll resume later."

Jarek seized my arm, yanked me back toward my own cell, and shoved me through the door. When I tried to take a step to balance, the ankle cuffs jerked me down so my knees smacked the hard ground. I scooted on my knees to the cell bars.

Twenty paces away, guards crunched cinnamon cake crisps, littering the floor with crumbs. Ten paces away, Karnu and Jarek towered over Epsa, who wore the same tattered nightgown she had the night I met her. The flickering lanterns illuminated the copper broach on her chest and the sword tucked into her leather belt.

"This is really bad timing, Epsa," Karnu ground out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, I do apologize! But since I'm already here, please have a cake crisp before I go." Epsa lifted the platter of crisps, revealing the sagging dark skin on her bony arms.

With noisy sighs, Karnu and Jarek each plucked up one. Then Karnu said, "Now leave."

"Won't you taste it first? I did go to an awful lot of trouble to make these."

Jarek began to raise the crisp to his mouth, but Karnu bit out, "We don't eat on the job."

Epsa clucked a tsk. "Surely you can make this one exception? I would just love to know what you think of my new recipe."

"Goddess, I hate old ladies — always interrupting important affairs with trivial nonsense." Karnu tossed the crisp on the floor and ground it under a heel. "This is what I think of your crisps."

Between the cell bars, I glimpsed Epsa's shorn white curls as she inclined her head and lowered the platter. "Oh. Well, in that case..."

A guard at the entrance hacked a cough. Another soon joined, sputtering and wheezing. And as several more coughs joined the cacophony, the first to cough keeled over and sagged to the ground.

"In that case," said Epsa, "I suppose I should be on my way."

Karnu jerked out his sword and rounded on Epsa. "Not so fast. What the fuck was in those cake crisps?"

Epsa quirked her shoulders in an apologetic shrug. "Just trivial nonsense." Then she chucked the platter at Karnu and whipped out her own sword.

Jarek reached for his sword, but before he could pull it free, Epsa thrust her blade up under his ribcage. As Jarek pitched forward, Epsa ducked Karnu's swinging blade and pivoted to face him.

Epsa parried and lashed out in surprisingly lithe movements for someone of her age, but each of Karnu's powerful strikes knocked her a step back toward my cell. Meanwhile, footsteps battered the ground as more guards flooded the entryway.

I slammed both palms against the bars nearest me, and the immobile metal bit into my palms. Powerless, I watched Epsa's sword slip from her fingers and clatter to the floor.

And Karnu drove his blade through her chest.

Epsa sank to her knees with a gurgling gasp, and Karnu spun on his heel to greet the approaching guards.

"You missed the action," said Karnu. "The threat has already been elimin —"

His voice strangled off as Epsa jabbed her sword up through the small of his back. In unison, both Epsa and Karnu flopped forward, splashing into a pool of their mingled blood. The tunnel dimmed as guards swarmed toward us.

I leaned toward Epsa's inert form, face-down feet from me. "Epsa?"

She twisted her head toward me and smiled, dark creases lining the skin of her forehead. "Fear not, my unfortunate prince." Blood bubbled from her lips. "Copper will prevail."

Then her eyes slid shut once more.