Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)(36)
Dinah took a step closer to Cray. “And what was that?” she asked, her voice low.
“It depends on what you can offer me, Your Highness.”
Dinah recoiled as if she had been punched in the chest.
“I may have been raised in the Towers, but I’m no fool.” He looped an arm around her shoulder. “I heard the Princess was homely, but I have to say, you aren’t homely at all. I find you quite striking. Look at that strong chin, those dangerous eyes.”
Dinah heard the metallic swish of Wardley drawing his sword. Cray smiled and pointed his finger at Wardley over Dinah’s shoulder. “You will never get out of these towers without me,” he giggled. “Time is of the essence. The evening watch is coming in, and those Clubs are two times more brutal and suspicious. They will see through you in seconds.”
Dinah clutched the amethyst ring in her dress pocket. The stone was the size of a quail egg. She withdrew it slowly.
“I will offer you this if you tell me what Faina said when she arrived, AND if you get us out alive. It will also buy your silence. It’s worth about ten years’ wages, or enough to buy a cottage in the village.”
Cray’s eyes lit up, the reflection of the gem flashing over his greedy pupils. “Yes. Yes, I will tell you, and make sure you get out of the towers in one piece. But we must leave now.”
He read Dinah’s thoughts before she could open her mouth.
“We can’t take her with us. There is no hope for her. The roots have poisoned her mind and body, and she is more of the tree than she is of this world. Besides, all prisoners deserve their just punishment.”
Before Dinah could object, Wardley took her by the elbow and dragged her toward the door. Cray slammed the cell door shut after them, locking it. Dinah glanced sadly back as Wardley dragged her down the hall. Faina met her eyes and for a moment she saw a peaceful look of finality pass over her features. Then she gave a whimper of pain and surrendered to the roots twisting their way across her face. A maniacal laugh escaped from her bloody mouth and followed them as they ran. Hot tears splashed down Dinah’s face as she shuffled after Wardley. The chains were still clamped over her wrists, and she struggled to keep her balance while they followed Cray through one dark hall after another.
“What is the quickest way to the Iron Web?”
Cray pointed down two levels. “See that iron poker hanging there? Between those two cells, there is a door to the web.”
Dinah’s feet flew as they sprinted down the platforms, spiraling lower and lower. Prisoners called out from their cells, extending their blackened hands to grab at Dinah. Cray motioned to a tattered rope lying on the ground between two cells. “Follow the rope out to the Iron Web. From there, you’re on your own. I have to return to Faina’s cell before anyone notices I was gone.”
From the corner of her eye, Dinah saw Wardley spin, his black Club cape flashing behind him. In a second, he was behind Cray, his sword pressed across Cray’s pale neck.
“You will tell us what Faina said, or you will die here, and I can assure you, no one will ever investigate how a spineless coward lost all his blood.”
Cray gave a squeak. “She didn’t say much, not much of nothing. It’s mostly madness. When she came in, she was gagged, she was! When we took it out, she would just cry and say, ‘She’ll wear a crown to keep her head! She’ll wear a crown to keep her head!’”
Cray began blubbering loudly. Too loudly. Wardley brought the butt of his sword down against Cray’s temple and he crumpled to the ground like an empty sack.
“Put the ring in his pocket. This is safer. He’ll never want to tell someone that he was so easily overcome in his own prison or that he was bribed. Coward.” Wardley spat on his face and picked up the end of the rope. Thankfully, Cray had been telling the truth, and the rope led them to a misshapen door that opened to the bright Wonderland sky. Moving as quickly as they dared without attracting attention, Dinah and Wardley navigated their way over the web back to the Murderers’ Tower. Returning to the path they had arrived on required quite a bit of climbing and backtracking; several times they ended up on an iron walkway that led to a different tower, and one time into open sky.
“A trap for escapees,” mumbled Wardley as they slowly backed away from the steep drop that ended on a rocky outcropping just inside the palace gates. “Let’s not go that way again.”
It took an hour, but finally they were able to find the correct path through the maze and make their way to a low door that led into the Murderers’ Tower. The smell once again overpowered Dinah’s senses. But this time, she didn’t have time to retch. They were sprinting now, this time up the spiral, to where the forgotten door led them to the pool of ice. They could hear the marching of Clubs making their way up the spiral behind them. The next shift of Clubs was coming, and if they didn’t hurry, they would have to explain themselves to an entire deck of Cards. Dinah thought of the crown in her bag. She would grab it if she needed it.
“There, there is the door!” shouted Wardley as they flew past cells and rancid chamber pots. A prisoner’s hand grabbed Dinah’s dress through the cell bars and she was yanked off her feet. She hit the ground hard as the prisoner pulled her toward the cell. Dinah delivered a firm kick to the scarred hand beneath the heels of her boot. She jerked her dress free as the prisoner began screaming. They were almost to the door when Wardley bucked to a sudden stop and jumped sideways into a tiny slot in the wall, pulling Dinah in after him. This wasn’t a doorway, rather, an impossibly narrow storage chamber for clamps and chains. They could both barely fit, and Dinah found herself pressed face first against the wall with Wardley wrapped around her.