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But soht about it Scarlet could have sworn she’d heard Ryu ee from his den, but he hadn’t yet come to see her, as was his nor that rehter Soerie’s warmth and her zipped-up hoodie

Finally, footsteps Scarlet wrapped her hands around the bars

She knew her suspicions were right as soon as the guard came into view, a knife clutched in one hand Her heart pounded Even from this distance she could see darkness on the blade Even not knowing Jacin, she could read the regret on his face

Her knuckles whitened on the bars

"What did you do?" she said, choking back the fury that wanted to explode out of her, but would have nowhere to go "Where’s Winter?"

His gaze didn’t waver as he cae, and Scarlet didn’t shrink back from him, despite the knife and the blood

"Hold out your hand," he said, crouching

She sneered "Do you knohat happens to people around here who ‘hold out their hand’?"

He stabbed the point of the knife into the soft moss and, before Scarlet could move, reached for her wrist and twisted so hard a screaasped and her hand betrayed her, opening, palm up It wasn’t mental manipulation, just a plain old dirty trick

Scarlet tried to rip her ar tactics, she pressed her body against the cage and clawed at his face, but he hovered out of reach

Dodging a second swipe of Scarlet’s nails, the guard removed his scabbard from his belt and tipped it over A tiny cylinder dropped into her palers curled around the cylinder instinctively, her body shuddering back out of the guard’s reach

"Plug that into the security port of a Lunar ship and it will allow royal access You can figure out the rest There’s also a est you wait until you’re far away before worrying about that"

"What’s going on? What did you do?"

He slammed the knife into the scabbard and, to her surprise, tossed it at her She flinched, but it landed harmlessly in her lap

"You need to find Arte She looked down the path again, expecting Winter’s black curly hair and glittering dress and the uncanny grace of her walk to appear any second Any second …

"Repeat it"

"Port E, Bay 22" She wrapped her fingers around the knife’s handle

"I suggest going through the gamekeepers’ halls first Winter will know the way from there We’ll do e can about the security, but try not to do anything stupid And if you’re teht it You’ll just draw attention, and that little pod isn’t equipped for far distances anyway Act like you’re going to pick up a delivery in RM-9 That’s where your boyfriend grew up Understand?"

"No"

"Just get away from Artemisia Port E, Bay 22 Sector RM-9" He stood "And when you see that princess of yours, tell her to hurry up"

Scarlet dragged her attention back to hi, Winter? Winter had better hurry up? But then she realized he was talking about the other princess Selene Cinder