Chapter 10: What Hadrian Paid

Hadrian came down the last steps with a lamp in his hand and his sword sheathed.

He stopped when he saw the dragon.

For a moment he looked like a boy again.

I remembered the boy who had once stood in this cavern at fifteen and sworn to guard whoever sat on the throne.

"Get up," he said hoarsely. "You can't be here."

"You left your whistle on my sill."

"I know."

"Why?"

"To tell you to leave Halvard before dawn," he said. "Take your husband and your fire and go north. I will see to the rest."

"The rest."

"I will free her myself, after the feast. I have the keys to her chain."

"You have the Regent's keys."

"I have what I have."

I stood, and the dragon's low growl rolled across the stone.

"You wanted me dead in the hall," I said.

"I wanted you out of the hall."

"You killed a hound."

"I would have killed a hundred."

I stared at him.

He looked ill.

"Where is Wynne's mother?" I said.

Every drop of color left his face.

"Do not," he whispered. "Not here."

"Where, Hadrian?"

"Leave tonight, or I swear I cannot protect you."

He had not said my real name aloud since the night he sold me, and he did not say it now.

I heard a footstep on the stair above us.

Hadrian heard it too.

He turned, white to the lips, and went up past whoever stood there without a word.

I climbed after him on legs that shook.

Torin waited at the top by the tapestry with his coat pulled over his nightshirt and a candle in his fist.

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