The Bound (Ascension #2)(25)

“I apologize. So sorry,” she murmured under her breath. She coughed and tried to stand with difficulty.

Several people stopped to ogle her fall.

The guard stooped low and roughly grasped her by the arm. “Get up, peasant. Where is your husband?”

Cyrene cast her eyes down and hid under her deep hood, thankful for the itchy, disgusting thing. “I-I must have lo-lost him in the crowd,” she stammered.

“Lost him in the crowd, eh? Or left him behind at home?” the guard growled. He eyed the state of her cloak with distaste but thankfully didn’t see the good sturdy dress underneath the tatters. People saw what they wanted to see.

“He was ri-right…right here,” she warbled.

“I’ve heard that story before. I’ll get another soldier over here to take you to the square.”

Cyrene crushed herself against the soldier and wailed. “No. No. Please. He was right here. Please don’t take me to the square.” She was nearly as frantic as she was acting. She could not go to the square. She would certainly be recognized.

Then, the distinctive sounds of fighting rang out from the direction of the square. Finally, a sign.

“What in the bloody Creator’s name is going on?” the guard who was still holding her arm cried out.

Four Aurumian guardsmen rounded the corner.

One cried out, “All able-bodied soldiers to a defensive position in the square. Now.”

When he was distracted, Cyrene slid her hand through the loop on his belt, plucked the keys to the jail right out from under his nose, and added them to her pouch at her waist.

“Moor, stand guard while I take this girl to the square and find out what all the commotion is about,” the guard snapped at a man standing inside the doorway.

The man knuckled a salute and took up the place at the door.

Cyrene was visibly shaking at this point. She had the keys to the prison, but it would do her no good if she became a prisoner herself and had the keys confiscated.

As the guard tried to drag her toward the square, a hand grasped on to her, bringing the guard up short.

“There you are, darling,” a man said. “I thought you were with me the whole time. You gave me quite a fright.”

“And who are you?” the guard asked. He puffed his chest out.

Cyrene didn’t dare look up at her savior. The man had a smooth voice but with an edge to it that made him sound superior.

“Her husband,” the man answered in a mockingly self-righteous tone.

The guard huffed in disbelief. “Keep better control of your wife.” Then, he tossed Cyrene away from him in a hurry.

Her pretend husband swiftly guided her away from the man.

Cyrene sneaked a peek up at the man and gasped outright. “Orden!”

“Shh,” he said. “Keep your head down and your hood up. You shouldn’t even be in the city. Your face is in every inn and pub. The last thing we want is to have come all this way for nothing.”

He abruptly pushed her through an open doorway. They were standing in a small merchant’s storage room.

“How did you find me?” Cyrene asked.

“Everyone has been expecting you to show your face since the other two were brought in. You shouldn’t have come alone.”

“I didn’t. I have two companions helping me. I trust them, Orden, but there is no time to explain,” Cyrene told him. She produced the keys to the prison. “I collected these.”

“Girl,” Orden said with a soft shake of his head, “you have some unfounded plans for someone so young.”



“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Orden asked Cyrene for the third time.

She didn’t have time to keep explaining this to him. They needed to be in and out of that prison and then down to the dock as soon as possible. They couldn’t delay another minute.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she replied impatiently.

Orden nodded. He would do as she’d asked because he had asked to come along for this adventure, but he didn’t like it. She could tell that for sure. But he hadn’t come up with an alternative that she could agree on, so they were going ahead with her plan.

Cyrene pulled her hood up to hide her face from view before following Orden out onto the busy street. He walked with an exaggerated gait that seemed to take up the road. People hurried out of his way even though he wasn’t wearing anything that showed he was distinguished.

She allowed him to lead the way back to the prison and focused instead on listening to the bustle around them. Clearly, something had happened in the square. Perhaps it was what had kept Ceis’f from getting to her in time. Though she suspected he had ditched her at the first chance.

Cyrene caught only parts of hurried conversations as they passed, but they were enough to raise her interest.

“A Byern noble in the square…”

“A guard assaulted the General…”

“The merchant was thrown to the ground. He was killed…”

“Bloody prisoners were taken away and transferred to the inn from a bloody royal command. He thinks he has authority here…”

Her head popped up, and she stared at two Aurumian soldiers walking away from the square.

“Orden”—she tugged on his cloak—“ask them about the prisoners.”