The Shadow Throne (Ascendance 3)

A smile spread across my face, and I moved in to kiss her again, but by then, the vigils had gotten into the cell. One grabbed my shoulders and threw me to the far side of the dungeons. I hit the floor not far from the bandages Mott had used months ago to wrap the injury from my whipping here. Another vigil yanked me back to my feet while Terrowic raised an arm to take a swing at me.

“You leave so much as the smell of dirt on me and Vargan will hear about it,” I snarled. “No marks, remember?”

His expression turned murderous, but I was equally angry. His timing couldn’t possibly have been worse, and I wouldn’t forgive him for that.

They chained me to the wall, much as they had kept me in Vargan’s camp. Terrowic surveyed me as though he wanted a way to get in a hit without Vargan noticing. Before he chose a spot, I sat on the ground. I didn’t want a fight and certainly didn’t need another injury. I only wanted him to leave so that I could speak with Roden and Imogen alone.

Against all odds, Roden had survived the latest battle with Mendenwal. And against even greater odds, Imogen was also alive. I had never been one to believe the saints still granted miracles to the living, but maybe they did. There was no other explanation for either of them being here.

“You enjoy this moment all you want,” Terrowic said. “Tomorrow morning they’ll hang you like a common thief.”

“I’m counting on that,” I retorted. Terrowic started to leave, but I called after him and added, “She was about to kiss me when you dragged me away. That alone is good enough reason for the revenge I’m bringing you.”

He only laughed and followed the other vigils up the stairs. But he shouldn’t have ignored my threat. I had been perfectly sincere.

Once we were alone, Imogen unfolded her hand. In it, she held the key to the chains. I had passed it to her while we were in the embrace.

Roden noticed it and scowled. “You gave her the key and not me? I could be free already.”

I smiled at him. “Yes, but I wasn’t going to kiss you.”

“Fair enough,” he said with a laugh.

Then my attention returned to Imogen. “Tell me how you can possibly be alive. I saw you fall.”

“They thought I was dead at first, even loaded me onto the wagon meant to collect the bodies.” I closed my eyes to picture her words. That’s the part Mott would have seen. She continued, “We didn’t drive very far before someone heard my cries. This man, a commander —”

“Kippenger.”

“Yes. He told me that once I was strong enough, they’d bring me back and force you to do everything they wanted. I knew what that would involve, how I’d forever be the cause of Carthya’s downfall. I couldn’t do that, couldn’t let them use me against you. So I decided not to get well.”

“You tried to die,” I whispered. “Imogen, no.”

“I knew you were in the camp with me. I heard the soldiers pass by, discussing the things they’d done to you that day, or bragging of how they’d finally broken you. If I survived, I knew it would only get more horrible for both of us. So every day, no matter how hard they tried to heal me, I only got worse.”

I thought about how I’d have felt if our situations were reversed. If I’d had to hear them boasting about her mistreatment, and knowing full well it would only get worse if I survived. I couldn’t imagine how Imogen bore all that.

Tears welled in her eyes. “Then I heard all the commotion on the night you escaped from that camp — I think you probably rode right past my tent and never knew. After that, I knew you would survive, and that if I did too, I’d see you again. So from that moment, I fought to get better.”

“This is all very sweet,” Roden said bitterly. “But you see where we are. With worse odds for survival than any of us have faced before. Jaron, I want to hear your plan for escape.”

“I gave Imogen the key to her chains. That’s a start.”

“When Conner told me you were coming here, I hoped he’d let me stay in the bed,” Imogen said. “I could’ve escaped from there to help you. Maybe he knew that too, because he sent me here. Either way, I’m not strong enough yet to help you fight.”

“Your only duty is to get well,” I said, and then gave her a mischievous smile. “There is unfinished business between us.”

“I’m going to be ill if they leave me in here with you two,” Roden groaned. “Jaron, even with Imogen’s key, we can’t get through the bars. And even if we did, the estate is full of Avenian soldiers. You and I are going to be executed at first light. Please tell me you can stop this.”

“Of course I can,” I said. “We’re going to win.”

As the night wore on, I told Imogen and Roden about Mott’s uncertain condition, about Tobias and Amarinda, and about our progress in the war. In turn, Roden told me everything from the time I left him near Drylliad.

“We were on the march when Mendenwal attacked. They came so quickly, we had no time to do anything but react.” Roden tilted his head so that I might better see his injury. “Unfortunately, I got this rather early in the battle, when a horse reared up and then landed on me.”

“You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

“It was worse, for most of my men. I awoke on a battlefield blanketed with the dead. I’ve never seen anything more awful. Soldiers from Mendenwal were searching for survivors, and when they found me, they recognized me as a captain. They said Avenia had demanded I be brought here.”