Alix sends a blanket, just as he promised. I bury my nose in it as I try to sleep. It smells of soap and the salty breeze that floats in off the sea. I haven’t seen my brother in days, but I imagine he’s very busy with his new duties as king. Father’s council of advisors probably crowned Alix immediately following my imprisonment.

I’m not sure what fate awaits me. Will I stand trial? Will the king’s death buy me life in these dungeons? Will it buy me the executioner’s block?

I’m just starting to doze off when someone lobs a pebble at me. I jump as it hits my head, and I raise my eyes to see Maks outside my cell. He is illuminated by the moonlight seeping in from the small window at the end of the hallway. He puts a finger to his lips to silence me.

Behind him, Zinat stands in the hallway with a shawl around her shoulders, glancing nervously to either side. She holds a large bag in her hands, a cloak draped over her arm. The only sound comes from the faint clanking of picks in the lock.

I rise shakily to my feet, letting the blanket fall to the stones. The cold wakes me up a bit, startling my senses into awareness. I cross my cell to where Maks picks the lock on the door.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, my voice barely louder than a breath. Maks gives me a dumbfounded look.

“What’s it look like?” he replies. “We’re getting you out.” He finishes with the lock, and soundlessly opens the door to my cell. I slip through.

Zinat hands me a large satchel, filled to bursting with a change of clothes and some supplies, and a belt with a sword and scabbard. She and Maks hurry me along the hallway, to an entrance obscured in shadow that leads out to the docks. Normally it’s guarded, but the soldiers posted there are nowhere to be seen. We pause at the doorway. Maks opens it to scout ahead, and Zinat wraps a cloak around my shoulders.

When she meets my eyes, she puts a gentle hand to the side of my face. “Why are you doing this?” I breathe. Zinat smiles up at me.

“Because you are innocent, my prince,” Zinat answers. “We both know it. We will not let you rot here.” She drops her hand and removes her diamond engagement ring. She withdraws a long chain from underneath the neckline of her dress, transferring the ring onto it. She presses the chain into my hand.

Looking down at my open palm, I see the chain holds not only Zinat’s engagement ring, but also the Tajan quartz ring that Al-Amir gave me on my birthday.

“Take these. They will buy you passage anywhere you need to go,” Zinat whispers. She holds my hand in hers, folding my fingers around the chain. “Go north, find a ship, and leave Odrend,” she says softly. She leans up and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Let the new king have his crown.”

Maks returns from outside and pats me on the shoulder. “You’ve got to go,” he whispers.

“What about you two? Won’t Alix know—”

“Don’t worry about us, mate,” Maks says, giving me a small smile.

I look at both of them, grasping the satchel in one hand and the rings in the other. “I don’t have words,” I breathe. Maks shakes his head.

“Go, Jas,” he says, and ushers me out of the dungeons.

I put the chain with the rings around my neck and tuck it under my shirt. I begin to walk toward the docks, but duck around a corner before I get too far. There are too many people frequenting the pleasure houses and pubs by the piers. I double back, skirting around the palace to go north.

I hurry along the side streets toward the northern gates of the city. I keep my head down, hoping the blond of my hair will not catch anyone’s eye. I glance behind me, checking that the side street is empty—

And slam into someone crossing in front of me.

I hear a high yelp, and the breath rushes from my lungs with an oof! The person in front of me sprawls on their backside. I look down at them—and blink in surprise.

The Ibim slave that snuck into the garden courtyard glares up at me, wrapped up in a dark cloak. Her silver hair falls loose over her shoulders, and she clutches a brimmed hat in her hand. Her eyes widen a little as she recognizes me, but her scowl quickly returns before she speaks.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”