Zaine has lost what is most important to him: the one and only girl who held his heart. After a year of searching for her and her Xelloren kidnappers with no luck, he closes off his heart and forces his hopes of ever seeing her again to die.
But one...
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We were getting out of here.
We had a plan.
The next few days went by in a strange blur of heat and hope. Liberty wasn't able to visit again but she dropped medicine and notes of her plan through the grates of the ventilator window. She'd acquired the key from Serrosa but hadn't found a time to sneak away yet since the chieftess was suspicious of her activity. But through shreds of paper, her plan slowly started to come into shape.
She was working on stealing two individual cloaking devices that the soldiers used, which explained how they always seemed to melt out of the shadows. Once she had them, she would come to our cell with the key to deliver them to us, telling the guards she was there for Serrosa on private investigation so they would leave. She knew it wouldn't take the chieftess long to find out of these orders that she never gave, so we'd plan our escape for the next morning, Liberty leaving us the key.
Once we were out of the cell, she'd meet us in the lava room to unlock our chains and give us back our weapons she'd be stealing back as we escaped from the dungeon. From there, we'd use our cloaking devices to sneak into the woods, fighting our way out if we needed to.
While the thought of the plan was good and I had a feeling it could work, there were also a lot of variables that could go wrong. But I tried not to dwell on them exponentially. I believed and trusted in Liberty and if anyone could make it out of here, it would be the three of us.
I only worried about how she would leave so easily. While the chieftess called Liberty her "apprentice" I knew she was just as much a prisoner here as Meg and I were. She had to have thought and most likely tried to sneak and fight her way out like this before and if so, it had obviously failed.
Though I hated the thought, I wondered if she was planning to sacrifice her own freedom for ours if it came down to the worst of it. But I wasn't going to let her do that. I would rather never see her again, give her her freedom, and be locked up in this burning dungeon for the rest of eternity than let her stay caged here any longer. I'd learned my lesson. I wasn't going to give up trying to save her until I was dead. And perhaps even then, I'd still find a way to keep her safe.
Liberty deserved to be free. It was in her name.
The sound of the dungeon door at the end of the hall pulled me to my feet. I held my breath, listening to see if it was Liberty. But I furrowed my brows. Their gait was too heavy and slow.
"Meal time, prisoners," a warrior said, standing outside our door. Through the grates of the window, he tossed in two little rolls of bread and a small water skin that tumbled to the ground. "Since you two seem to hate it, I already tore the crust off for you." He let out a conniving, raspy chuckle as he walked away.
I let out an annoyed growl as I bent over to pick up our measly meal. I turned and fell down next to Meghan, offering her one of the two rolls.
She tucked her knees closer to her chest despite how hot it was, shaking her head against the wall her temple rested on. "Not hungry..."
