My lips quivered. “Take me to see the Overlord.”

Thad laughed through his pain; a choked, gasping sound that made me narrow my eyes at him. “No one sees the Overlord.”

I snorted, swiping his face again. The shirt was now damp with his own sweat, as opposed to the bath water from yesterday. “Impossible. He is your leader. Leaders must be accessible to their people.”

“Your draken king teach you that?” He had a lot of nerve bringing up Benedict.

“My draken king never chained me up and left me to rot.” I hissed, hitting him in the face with his balled-up shirt. I slid off the bed and stomped over to the table. I grabbed the keys in one hand, Thad grunting as he tried to prop himself up in the bed.

“Wren, wait.”

My hands shook as the key went in the first lock, the wrist cuff falling loudly to the floor. Adrenaline raced through my body as I lifted my free hand, touching the tender, bruised skin of my bare wrist. I quickly unlocked the other, throwing the chains down to the floor.

“I’ll get you your meeting with the Overlord. I’ll help you get the witches out. Just . . . don’t.”

“Don’t what?” I demanded; the bite of my collar sharp against my skin.

With a grunt he swung his feet over the edge of the bed, sitting up and gazing at me with those dark, hooded eyes. I put the key in the lock of my collar and froze, waiting to see his next move.

“Don’t leave me.”

He fell out of the bed, catching himself on his hands and knees, though he didn’t beg. He just looked up at me, waiting with nervous, desperate anticipation. The vision of the boy alone in the well overtook me, and I hesitated.

“There are things about the demons you don’t know. No one in Dorea knows. They’ve let me into their circle, and they tell me things no one else knows. Stay just a little longer with me, and I will tell you everything I know.”

My shoulders hunched, indecision weighing heavily on me.

“Please.” The key dropped from my hand and fell to the floor, the sound unnaturally loud in the dim room. He crawled over and picked it up, and I fell to my knees so we were level. I handed him the wrist cuffs and allowed him to close them back around my wrists. I sank down further to the floor, crumpling in on myself. Thad roughly dropped down beside me, though he was careful not to actually touch me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, because he at least understood, didn’t he? He wordlessly handed me the key, and I tucked it into the narrow band of fabric around my breasts. The chains were at least my choice now.

“You find out where the children are. You find out the long-term plans of the Overlord and secure me a meeting, and then I leave.”