Page 33 of Throne of Ice and Blood
Draven Ryat jerks back in shock from where he’s standing on the other side of a table covered in maps. Stunned disbelief pulses across his whole face as he stares at me.
I open my mouth.
Black wings flare out as Draven shoots across the room.
My heart jerks back into action and then pounds hard when Draven slams a hand in front of my mouth and shoves me up against the wall. His forearm is braced across my collarbones, keeping me pinned to the wall, while his other hand remains firmly over my mouth.
“Don’t you think the risk is higher here, though?” the first guard says from right on the other side of the door.
“No. The Red Hand would never be stupid enough to try to assassinate the Emperor and Empress themselves. He knows he’d get slaughtered if he faced them head on.”
“I sure hope so.”
“No hope needed. This is the safest place in the palace.”
“Still boring, though.”
“Now you’re just…”
Their voices grow fainter as they disappear down the hall.
Still pressed against the wall, I stare up into Draven’s now furious eyes. He keeps his hand over my mouth for another few seconds before he lets it drop. But he doesn’t step back. And he doesn’t remove his forearm from my chest either.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he hisses at me.
I try to push myself away from the wall, but he just presses his forearm harder against my body, trapping me more firmly.
“What amIdoing here? What areyoudoing here?” I counter.
He stabs his free hand towards the table covered in maps. “I’m working. Now answer the fucking question.”
Since I can’t very well tell him what I’m really doing here, I say, “I was trying to escape!” I grind my teeth and glare at him in annoyance to really help sell the lie. “But there are guards everywhere. I’ve been running through corridors and up and down stairs for half an hour, but I still somehow just manage to get deeper into this damn castle.”
“Of course there is! What did you think was going to happen? That you would be able to just stroll out?” He shakes his head at me in disbelief. “How did you even get out of the room?”
Breaking eye contact, I turn my head to the side and clench my jaw to make him think that I’m just being stubborn.
His hand slides up my throat and then locks underneath my jaw. With a firm grip, he turns my head back so that I meet his eyes again. Unflinching command laces his voice as he demands, “Answer me, little rebel. Or this is going to be a very long night for you.”
“Some woman came by to clean,” I lie. “I snuck out while she was busy cleaning the bathroom.”
He curses under his breath. I open my mouth to make sure that he has truly bought my lies, but before any sound can make it out, Draven abruptly releases my jaw and presses his palm over my mouth again. I struggle underneath his grip and squirm against the wall.
Draven shoots me a sharp look and shakes his head. And there is something about his expression that makes me go silent and still.
A few seconds later, faint footsteps can be heard through the door.
Realization hits me.
Of course. The two guards who were being relieved of duty. They’re walking back through here to get to their next post or whatever it is that they do.
Once their footsteps are no longer audible, Draven at last takes his hand off my mouth and also lets his forearm drop from my collarbones. While he takes a half step back, I brush my hands down my rumpled clothes to make sure that the gloves and shoe covers I’m hiding in there are still in place.
Blowing out a frustrated sigh, he rakes his fingers through his hair and gives me an exasperated look. “I thought I told you to stay in your room.”
“And you actually expected me to do it?” I retort. Holding his gaze, I shake my head while anger and frustration course through me as well. “You thought I was just going to obey your orders and not try to escape?”
“I’m not draining your magic. I took off your collar. I’m trying to?—”
