2026-11-02 14:31:24
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Chapter 17: THE MONSTER THAT SPOKE
"Kill it, Ronan! Do something! Why aren't you moving?!"Briar's scream echoed through the tunnel as her sword rang off the creature's hide like a hammer striking an anvil. The blade skipped sideways and nearly flew from her hand, and she stumbled backward through the filthy water with her teeth bared. Ronan lay propped against the slimy wall where she had dumped him a moment before, with his legs stretched out in front of him and his heart hammering in his ears."M-Miss Quinn, I can't!" he wailed, because the cripple he was playing would have wailed. "I'm just a cripple! I can't do anything!""You did something in the alley, and you did something at the temple!" She swung again, and again the steel bounced off. "So do it again, damn you, or we all die in this stinking hole!""Oh, merciful heavens, save us!" Bram's voice quivered from somewhere behind a stone pillar, where the old man had curled into a ball with his cap pressed over his face. "Forgive my sins, forgive my sins, I only s
Chapter 16: The Escape That Wasn't Mine
"Hold still, cripple. If I drop you, I'm blaming the wind." Briar hauled Ronan onto her back like a sack of grain, and he let out a squeak that was only half an act. The iron key was still warm in his fist, and the side door of the Cross guest wing was still swinging shut behind them in the gray dawn. He had pushed his chair through it with his heart in his throat, and she had been waiting in the shadows with a coil of rope on her shoulder, as if she had known he would come. "M-Miss Quinn, how did you find me?" he stammered, clinging to her neck. "I thought they took you away from the temple!" "They tried." She tied a strap around his waist with a sharp tug. "Keep your arms around my neck and don't scream, or I'll let go and see how long it takes you to hit the ground." "Young Master!" Bram came wheezing out of the bushes, waving his cap. "Oh, thank the heavens, you're alive! I've been hiding behind this wretched hedge since midnight!" "Bram, be quiet," Briar hissed. "Follow us
Chapter 15: The Vial I Never Made
"I only carried the vial, Ronan. I never made it."Seren would whisper those words before the night was over, but first came the needles. Lucian Cross did not shout, did not threaten, and did not even raise an eyebrow at the cripple lying beside a crashed wheelchair in his cellar. He only helped Ronan up with two fingers, brushed the dust from his sleeve without touching his skin, and smiled his painted smile."Poor boy," he murmured. "Wandering the halls at night, confused and frightened. This is exactly the kind of episode my physicians have warned me about.""I-I'm sorry, sir," Ronan sobbed, clutching his head. "I only wanted the bathroom, and I got lost, and then the chair just rolled by itself. Please don't be angry.""Angry? Not at all. We will simply give you some treatment to calm your nerves."Ronan's stomach dropped, and the fear on his face was real. Lucian was not punishing him, which was far worse, because a man who punishes is satisfied, and a man who tests is still hunt
Chapter 14: The Man In The Glass
"They don't want you dead, Captain. They want you ripe."The hoarse voice crept through the golden thread, and Ronan's fingers curled into his blanket. He could not answer through a thread of power, and he could not lie in bed while a man he thought was long dead sat chained in the dark.He waited for the next changing of the guard, and the moment the footsteps faded, he slipped out of bed and crossed the marble on silent bare feet. His legs were strong and steady, but he hugged the wall anyway, because the habit of being watched had never left him. He reached the ramp with nine seconds to spare and crept down into the dark.At the bottom, his empty wheelchair waited beside the iron door. Ronan sat down in it, because anyone who found him had to find a cripple, and he pushed the door open with trembling hands.The room smelled of rust and old blood, and cables snaked across the floor to the chair in the center. The man strapped there was so thin that his ribs showed through his shirt,
Chapter 13: The House That Breathes
"Guests are welcome in every room of this house, Ronan. Except the third basement."Lucian Cross smiled as he said it, and the smile stayed perfectly still on his thin face, like a painting hung on a wall. Ronan sat in his wheelchair in the middle of the great entrance hall, with his shoulders hunched and his hands trembling in his lap, and he nodded quickly like a frightened child who wanted to be good."Y-yes, sir. Thank you for having me, sir. I won't go anywhere I'm not allowed.""Wonderful." Lucian clasped his hands behind his back and circled the chair slowly. "My son tells me you've had a difficult few days, and I want you to feel at home here. Please, ask the servants for anything you need."Cross Manor was huge and cold, a maze of black marble floors and tall windows that let in no warmth. Servants lined the walls in perfect rows, and not one of them lifted their eyes to meet his, while their hands stayed clenched at their sides.*They're terrified,* he thought, keeping his o
Chapter 12: The Council Of Dawn
"Strip him, bind him, and put the truth stones on his chest. If he lies, we will know." The old councilor's voice rang through the Hall of Dawn like a bell, and two temple guards stepped forward to lift Ronan out of his wheelchair. Bram cried out from the doorway, but Briar caught the old man's collar and held him back. Ronan went limp in their hands, trembling like a leaf, because a cripple who struggled would look far more suspicious than one who cried. The hall was a round chamber of white stone, lit by blazing lamps that made his eyes water. Seven councilors in gray robes sat above him on a raised bench, staring down at him like butchers studying a pig, while the guards laid him on a cold marble slab and tore open his shirt. "P-please," he stammered, rolling his head from side to side. "I haven't done anything. I swear I haven't, I only came because Miss Quinn said I had to." "Quiet," snapped the thin, bald councilor in the center, Elder Voss. "Place the stones." A temple ass
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