Queensmen

Chapter 54

Knowing now what to do, she moved directly into his line of sight and raised both her hands.

"You won't shackle me, Sir?" She walked forward until her fingers were pressed against his armor. "I was shackled when I was brought here," she whispered as coquettishly as she could. She hoped the fever helped inject some color into her cheeks. "I'm dangerous."

"I'm sure you are," he said after a pause then grabbed Oris' arm. "Get out of there."

"You don't want me to show you round my cell?" she batted her lashes at him like her aunts did when they looked at her adopted father. "We could get to know each other better."

"Next time," the guard shut the door of the cell then began walking away with her in tow.

Oris could only look at the room one more time before she was shoved into a line of convicts shuffling out of the dungeons.

She couldn't wrap her head around the sudden evacuation and assassination, and she didn't have the time to.

She had to find a way to keep herself alive until someone could rescue her. If she had enough luck to evade Death the first time, maybe she could do it a second time.

I can do this, she told herself, her eyes scanning the sea of prisoners up ahead for anything that could help her. Think, Oris.

And that was when she caught sight of Lyle. He stood a head taller than most of his 'colleagues' but she still matched him in height despite being half his width.

If I can see him, he can probably see me. A deadly smile spread across her lips, unseen by the rest of the criminals in the dungeon because of the veil that hid everything but the happiness shining eyes.

Maybe if they had seen it, they would have been able to prevent what was about to happen.

Filled with unparalleled determination, Oris shoved through the slow-moving line, taking advantage of the guards' inattentiveness to push her way into the depths of the crowd.

Aella had said that Lyle had killed a man who had made fun of his name. Oris wondered if the smelly brute still remembered her after their little encounter on her first day of imprisonment. If he didn't, she'd remind him.

The passages in the dungeon were far from small but with hundreds of prisoners milling about, the space became a tight squeeze. The guards hadn't yet managed to get everyone in a straight line and more than one person was thinking of how to use this situation to escape their sentences.

Oris was one of them.

For now, Aella was still safe in a locked cell but she was out here in the open. If the assassin was truly sent to kill her, there was little Oris could do to protect herself.

Right now, anyone could be her future killer. With the dungeons being so crowded, anyone could stick a knife into her side then sneak off without getting caught.

Since everyone was her enemy now, it was only fair that she got to pick her poison.

Oris pretended to lose her footing and crashing into the line forming beside her as the guards tried to keep things organized.

She managed to knock her body into Lyle's.

He shoved her away immediately. "Get off."

Oris hit the person behind her and was shoved again but she steadied herself soon enough and turned to Lyle, who hadn't even bothered looking at her. "Oh, look who it is. Delicate Lyle."

"You." It took some seconds for recognition to flit through his eyes.

"Yes. Me." Oris put a hand on her hip and accepted his glare. "Do you have something to say, Lyle? An apology, maybe? Thankful that I shined light on your personal hygiene issues?"