The metal door flung open and his blood cooled to ice, his hand flattening against his pocket to search for a dagger that was not there.

A pair of brassy eyes pinned him to the wall in the dimness.

“Scarlet,” he greeted and tore off his mask. He straightened himself, tugging at his shirt, smoothing down his mahogany hair. Shuddering.

“That is not my name,” she said.

“What shall I call you then?” he whispered back.

“Nothing.”

“Alright. Why have you followed me in here, Nothing?” He fought an untimely smile.

Scarlet’s lovely eyes flickered to that smile, but she dropped her gaze to the tunnel floor. “You’re going to run, I imagine. Now that the king has demanded you reveal yourself.”

“Yes.” The merriment left Cane’s face.

Scarlet nodded. “Farewell, then. If you’re not here to interfere with the marriage, then I suppose we have nothing further to discuss.”

A well sprang up inside the once-prince, and he caught her arm before she might leave. “Kingsblood, Scarlet, don’t marry him. Forrester will ruin you. We both know it.”

But Scarlet tore her arm away, eyes flickering with hurt. “You ruined me, Cane. Not him.”

The floor tipped beneath Cane as she took the door’s latch. “I did not just come to steal a drum,” he confessed, and her hand slowed against the handle. “I came here to steal a heart too.”

When Scarlet glanced back, Cane held out his hand. ‘Twas the same as the last time when he had offered her another way to live, an offer he had promised he would not give to her again.

“Shall I beg?” he asked in earnest. “Would that make you change your mind?”

It took her ten plus five heartbeats to utter a response, and even then, it was so quiet Cane nearly missed it. “He moved it,” she whispered, and Cane stepped in to hear. “The drum. As soon as your fairy asked about it, the king moved it to his bedside table so it might be in the most heavily guarded room in the palace. You’ll never get to it.”

Cane found he could not stop blinking. “But you can,” he realized.

Scarlet’s cheeks blossomed.

“Do you know what the kingdom would think of me, what the Crimson Court would say about me, if I snuck into the king’s chambers?” she accused, and Cane nodded.