The Shadow Throne (The Ascendance Trilogy, #3)(70)

Kippenger turned back to me. “Can you walk?”

I shrugged. “I’ll try. Just go easy on me.”

He said, “I suggest you go easy, Jaron. If you don’t, there’s no end of things I can do to you that Vargan never has to know about.”

I muttered an agreement I had no intention of honoring, then looked back at Imogen as he led us away. She still held one fist closed, hiding the key for her chains, and I motioned with my eyes that her chance for escape was coming soon. My final glance was to Roden, at my side. He didn’t look entirely enthusiastic about what was about to happen, but he was ready.

Only halfway out of the dungeon, I grabbed the bars to the door and started screaming, “No, wait, I’ve changed my mind! Don’t take me to Vargan!”

A vigil in front of me grabbed my legs to pull me away from the bars. The door swung wide open and still I held on. Now slightly ahead of me on the stairs, Roden started yelling as well, requiring the vigil behind him to scramble for his control.

Kippenger hit my arms with the broadside of his sword until my hold collapsed and I tumbled to the ground. Then two vigils interlocked arms with mine to drag me upstairs. A quick peek behind me revealed everything I needed to know — they had forgotten to close the dungeon door for Imogen. They probably had forgotten she was even in there.

We continued our rant until they dragged us upstairs, at which point Roden tried to make a run for the rear door. I began cursing at him, accusing him of abandoning me in my darkest hour, or something equally silly and dramatic, and the commander shouted for more men to attend to us.

They ran at me first, lacking any grace in shoving me to the floor. I yelled at Kippenger not to let them leave any marks, but that clearly wasn’t his concern at the moment. More men continued to come, and frankly, with the growing audience, I enjoyed screaming even louder. Unfortunately, nobody had been ordered to avoid leaving marks on Roden, so many of his cries might have been sincere.

Before it was over there were probably twenty men assigned to each of us. I felt slightly disappointed by that. I’d have preferred forty each, or a respectable number of thirty, at least. Most only stood around watching in horror and embarrassment for our childishness, but they all followed as we were carried to the office, and all were assigned to wait in the hallway in case they were needed.

I smiled over at Roden. A large bruise was already forming under his left eye and he had a bloody lip and possibly a broken nose. In my thrashing about, my head had collided with the corner of a wall and blood was running from that wound down the side of my face. Maybe some people would view that as my own fault, but I already had plans to put the blame elsewhere. To my delight, Roden smiled back. I wanted to remind him that I had been right before: In its own way, that had been fun. Beyond that, we’d accomplished our goal. Nobody would be watching the dungeon.

We calmed down once we arrived at the office, and after a few pointed threats if I misbehaved again, Commander Kippenger brought us inside.

Conner was alone in there this time, wearing different clothes from what he’d worn the previous evening. There was so much white on his silk shirt and vest, it was as if he had draped himself in the color of the saints to conceal the fact that he was the devils’ worst. I wondered how he’d so suddenly acquired such a vast wardrobe.

Sometime in the night, a new desk had been located for the office. It wasn’t as nice as Conner’s original desk had been, but it was undoubtedly still expensive and likely had been forcibly taken from the closest nearby home.

Roden was shoved to his knees near the back wall and I was led to a chair in front of the desk. With Conner behind the desk, and Kippenger and another vigil standing on either side of me, I was reminded of a similar situation months ago. Back then, I had only suspected Conner of his crimes. Now I understood exactly who he was, and the depths to which he would sink to acquire power. Whatever my opinion had been of him then, it was nothing compared to the loathing I felt now.

“Was that your screaming I just heard?” Conner asked.

My expression was as innocent as ever. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I heard no screaming.”

“You have a nasty gash on your head.”

“Oh, that.” I gestured toward the commander. “He hit me. I begged him not to. He knew that Vargan didn’t want any marks on me. But if there was any screaming, it was probably me pleading with him to stop.”

Kippenger cursed at me, which gave me no small amount of pleasure.

“This boy can’t be hanged in a coat with the Avenian colors,” Conner said. “Remove his chains so I can get this off of him.”

“We should ask the king’s permission first,” Kippenger offered.

“By the end of today I will be Carthya’s king. This outfit offends me!”

“Carthya is honored to offend you,” I said.

Kippenger lowered his voice. Maybe he didn’t want me to hear, which was ridiculous. “Lord Conner, without the chains, this boy can be dangerous. Just before we came in here —”

“If he were any danger to me, I’d be dead long ago. Now, unchain him.”

The chains were undone, leaving my arms feeling almost weightless when Kippenger pulled my livery off, and once again I was wearing only a plain undershirt. I said a farewell to Kippenger that included my wishes for him to develop boils in his armpits, and then told him to be more careful with me next time. Kippenger snarled and muttered something under his breath, but left. In his place, two other vigils entered the room. Maybe to protect me from Conner, or Conner from me. I wasn’t sure which.