He Freed the Kings He Once Chained, They Chose to Bind Him novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Keys

Ryu's shirt hit the floor, and nobody said anything about it.

Ken scooted over and made room without being asked.

Ryu lay down on his back between Ren and the wall, stiff and watchful, with his bandaged hand held up out of the way.

"I'm not here to join in," he said.

"Sure," Ren said.

"I only wanted to see that you were all right."

"We're all right."

Su Ming propped his chin on his hand.

"Then why is your shirt off?"

Ryu scowled at the canopy.

Ken choked, and Ren pressed his face into the pillow so that nobody could see him laughing.

In the end they slept in one heap, four men in a bed built for two.

In the morning Ren woke with Ken's foot on his stomach and Su Ming's hair across his face.

Ryu's arm lay heavy across his waist.

He lay still and counted his luck.

Then he got up, put on a robe, and went to the desk.

The iron ring lay where he had left it.

He worked the three padlock keys off the ring, one by one, and set them in a row on the table by the window.

The long brass key he left on its own.

When the others had woken and wandered over, yawning, he was standing behind the table with his hands flat on the wood.

"These are yours," he said. "One each."

Ken picked his up and frowned at it.

"This opens the lock on the bed."

"It opens the lock that held you. I'm not the person who should have it. I'm asking you to keep it."

"What for?"

"So you know it's in your pocket and not mine."

Su Ming turned his over and over in his fingers.

"The cuffs still stay on."

"For now. The Release comes with the crown, in twenty-six days. Then the Pledge is over and every one of you can leave." Ren drew a breath. "I'll sign it myself, in front of everyone. And if any of you wants to go before then, I'll find a way. I'll ride to your capital and stand in front of the garrison."

"You'd die," Ryu said.

"Maybe."

"For what?"

"For something I should have done a long time ago."

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