Malden scratched at his chin. His whole skin had begun to itch. He chafed under the yoke of his low birth already. Without the freedom granted by the city’s charter, he would be no more master of his own destiny than a farmhand out in the countryside.

He would rather have been confined in the pit, tormented by demons night and day.

“The point of all this,” Cythera said, “is that Bikker’s employer will not wish the crown to be stolen back. So Bikker will be there when you try. He will be leading Hazoth’s guards.”

“That’s a major problem,” Malden admitted. “My plan depended on the guards being sloppy and undisciplined.”

“Bikker won’t allow that luxury. He’ll command them personally.”

“And if he should discover me inside the house—”

“I don’t know if you should be more afraid of the demon, of Hazoth himself, or of Bikker. Not one of them will let you live.”

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Four

“I’m afraid I’ve been of little help, save to make you think this hopeless,” Cythera said, straightening the maps on Malden’s table. “And now I must go. I do wish you luck—for my mother’s sake, at the very least.”

“Not for my own?” Malden said. “Don’t answer that. Get back safely. If Hazoth realizes what you’ve done, I can imagine you’ll suffer, one way or another.”

“Yes,” she said. She frowned and looked over at the bed. She sighed deeply, but clearly there was something she had to say to her betrothed before she went. “Croy,” she said softly. “Croy, we must—”

The knight jumped to his feet and came over to stand quite close to her. “Cythera, how can I gain your forgiveness? I’ve caused you nothing but trouble. How can I make this up to you?”

“You owe me nothing, Croy. You made a promise—well, we both made promises, didn’t we? But sometimes life gets in the way of promises.” She looked away from him. Malden could see how upset she was, but he didn’t dare intrude.

Then something odd happened. She met Malden’s eye. She looked into his eyes and for a second he thought she was pleading with him to say something. To jump in and save her from the hard thing she was contemplating.

As he had no idea what that might be, he could say nothing.

She sighed again and turned to face Croy.

“I don’t want you to get killed,” she said to the knight. “And right now, if you try to fight Bikker, that is exactly what will happen. So I want you to tell me that you won’t try. That you’ll let Malden handle this alone.”

Alone? Malden thought. So it’s all right if Bikker kills me?