Page 79 (1/2)

His knife cuts into th of the blue carpet I’, but ht, and the one now Unfortunately, I’ inout hope to find some way out of this, I’d force Micid to slit my throat I’d rather be dead than in his whorehouse

Atroth gazes at me as if I’m a child who’s disappointed a parent When he walks down the platforh

"Put away the knife, Micid"

"Of course, " He makes the blade disappear

I swipea little--the shrapnel stuck in the back of my arm is a worse injury--but Atroth scowls, unties a blue sash from around his waist, then dabs at the shallow scratch I don’t knohy he bothers My clothes are stained with Kelia’s blood

Kelia She’s dead Kyol probably is, too And Aren?

My gut twists The fight at the Sidhe Tol wasn’t going well, and Aren didn’t see Micid take me Naito and I told him about the ther’rothi, but will he realize what happened?

Atroth folds the sash several times before he slides it into a pocket of his embroidered jacket

"You’ve become a problee to sound angry, not scared and exhausted

Atroth’s eyebrows go up "What do I want? McKenzie, you’ve done this to yourself When we rescued you from the rebellion, I intended to carry on as usual I’ve always thought you were sht you’d allow yourself to be manipulated by a false-blood What’s worse, you’ve used your chaos lusters to ivesh "I suppose his actions are partly h I kne he felt about you, but I believed his Still, I shouldn’t have allowed you to work so closely together for so long a time" He shakes his head as if he’s had this discussion with himself a thousand times before "But I needed you protected, and Taltrayn was ether"

I scan the length of the throne roo for some way to save myself There are too many archers betweento see Taber or soht be nize any of the my attention "You have no idea how difficult this is for me"

I focus on him and feel my eyes widen

"For you?" My voice is so soft, so cold, the nearest guards loosen their swords in their scabbards

The king frowns "You don’t think I’er than you’ve been alive I never wanted to hurt hi the rebels infiltrate my palace, I should have had you executed I didn’t because Taltrayn begged ive er toward Micid, who smiles in return

"Of course not," Atroth says "It was a threat only, for both you and Taltrayn You knew more about the rebels than you told us I needed you to talk"