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"Sir Jacin Clay You look refreshed"

Jacin didn’t know if his voice would work after being immersed in the tank, and he didn’t want his first words to the thauh, and it felt almost normal

"I am to retrieve you for an audience with Her Majesty You may have forfeited your honored position in service to the royal entourage, but we still intend to find a use for you I trust you are fit to return to active duty?"

Jacin tried not to look relieved The last thing he wanted was to becoain--especially now that Ai for this man, as rumored to have abused more than one palace servant with hisattentions landed far too often on Winter

"I trust I am," he said His voice was a little rusty, but not horrible He sed again "May I request a new uniform? A towel seems inappropriate for the position"

Aimery smirked "A nurse will escort you to the showers, where a unifor I will meet you outside the armory when you’re ready"

The vaults beneath the Lunar palace were carved froh black stone and lit by sparse glowing orbs These underground places were never seen by the queen or her court, hence no one worried aboutthelossy white surfaces and crystalline, reflection-less s

Jacin sort of liked it down in the vaults Down here, it was easy to forget he was beneath the capital at all The white city of Arte spires, had been built upon a solid foundation of brainwashing and manipulation In coh and natural as the landscape outside the domes They were unpretentious They did not do thelitz in an attes that happened inside their walls

Even still, Jacin moved briskly toward the armory There was no residual pain, just the memory of each spiked lash and the betrayal of his own ar he was used to, though His body hadn’t felt entirely his own since he becauard

At least he was hoain able to watch over his princess Once again under Levana’s thuhts as he turned into the ar about her tended to give hin of Aiuards stood at the barred door and a third sat at the desk inside, all wearing the gray-and-red uniforuards identical to Jacin’s but for the her than any of theuard after his stint with Linh Cinder, but evidently his betrayal of her counted for so the desk, "reporting for reinstateuard scanned a holograph chart and gave a terse nod A second barred door filled up the wall behind hi shelves of weaponry in its shadows The un and extra a in the bars

"There was also a knife"

The est hassle of his day, and crouched down to peer into the cupboard

Jacin dropped the gun’s h the cabinet As Jacin was tucking the gun into his holster, the man tossed his knife onto the desk It skidded across, off the surface Jacin snatched it froh

"Thanks," he uards at the door said beneath his breath

Jacin twirled the knife beneath the guard’s nose and sank it into the scabbard on his belt without bothering to h the ranks had earned him plenty of enemies, morons who seemed to think Jacin had cheated so When really the queen just wanted to keep a closer eye on hih hih the tunnel as he left them behind He turned a corner and neither flinched nor slohen he spotted Ai by the elevator