The Claimed: A Clash of Copper and Gold

Chapter 30: Trivial Nonsense

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."