Tempt the Devil (The Devil of Ponong series #3) (7 page)

“Maybe, Grandfather, he did it because he hates you.”

She had to stop saying such things out loud. Her servants
would report it to him. But it felt so good to blurt out the bitter words she’d
been forced to swallow for so long.

Enough of that. Time to work.

Why had Kyam arrested QuiTai? According to their
information, the two had been close at one time. Kyam’s sketch of QuiTai confirmed
it. Grandfather suspected Kyam and QuiTai were carrying on an affair, but his
agents swore that if they were, they were so discreet that it was impossible to
catch them together. Or perhaps they hadn’t been caught together because Lady
QuiTai’s lover was Captain Voorus, not Kyam.

Nashruu shook her head so hard the fall of curls down her
shoulder bounced. Voorus would never touch a Ponongese woman. In the Zul clan,
Grandfather urged respect for the Ponongese; but Voorus, like most Thampurians,
had openly made derogatory comments about the colony’s natives years ago.
Grandfather’s agents said his stance hadn’t changed much in the years he’d been
exiled to the island. But their reports also said he had never taken a lover,
and she’d seen how closely he stood to that woman.

Now is not the time for petty jealousies, she scolded
herself.

She realized Grandfather must be waiting for a reply. Her
graceful fingers struck the keys in quick succession.

I will see what I
can do. NaZ

Why are you still
sitting there? Go! And you better do more than try! Keep me informed. TtZ

Nashruu emptied her purse onto the bed and shoved the
farwriter paper into it. On the way out, she’d stop by the kitchen and put the
papers in the cooking fire. Hands on her hips, she took a deep breath. This was
it. This was what she’d been trained to do for years.

She was going to have an adventure.

Kyam looked
for
an empty car when he and QuiTai boarded the funicular, but there wasn’t
one. They handed their tickets back to the operator, even though he’d been the
one to sell the tickets to them. Only in Levapur, Kyam thought.

The operator slammed the door shut and locked it.

QuiTai faced the window with her hands clasped loosely at
her waist. With the first jolt as the funicular began its long trip down to the
harbor, she laced her fingers into the grill under the window. No matter what
she did, her pose was graceful.

His arms felt awkward when he held onto the grill. Flashes
of pity for her made him feel as if he was doing something terribly wrong. But
she’d agreed to the deal. She’d proposed it!

Why did he feel so guilty?

Would she keep her word? The only promise he’d known her
to break was when he’d asked for her help escaping the island before the rice
riot. Okay, it wasn’t a promise, exactly. She’d offered to find him berth on a
smuggler’s boat. He’d taken too long to say yes. Whose fault was that?

Hers.

He winced. She was right. He was sulking. Angry with her
for being right, he stared at the dusty spider web in the corner of the window
the rest of the trip.

At the harbor, the other passengers rushed the door as
soon as the lower station operator unlocked it. Kyam and QuiTai followed them
at a slower pace.

As they passed the Harbor Master’s office, Kyam whistled
sharply to get the attention of two soldiers slumped in the shade and motioned
for them to follow him.

“They’ll row us out to the fortress.” He didn’t know why
he was telling her what she already knew. His nerves were showing.

QuiTai sauntered across the small beach at the bottom of
the cliff. He helped her over a tangle of kelp in the sand. Small crabs
scuttled over the slick leaves and avoided the sandy jellyfish nearby.

“Did you ever finish that portrait of me?” she asked.

He’d been thinking of that afternoon too. “No.”

“Hmm. The Devil paid you handsomely for it, in advance.”

He was sure she was teasing him, maybe to help calm his
nerves. “Tell him I’ll gladly return the coins.”

“You can tell him yourself if you decide you want his
name.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’d give up articles of
transport, even for the name of the Devil.”

“Thank goodness you’re being sensible, for once,” she
said.

He cast a dubious glance at her.

“Let me explain. You can’t have your articles of transport
if you don’t get me out of the fortress. So I hope you want them so badly your
skin itches for them. And I want you to know that the only way you’ll ever
relieve that itch is to hold up your end of our bargain.”

They reached the militia’s private dock, jutting from the
beach near where the fishermen hung their nets to dry. The drying poles were
mostly empty this time of day, and it would be several hours before they
returned to the small docks in the shallowest part of the harbor.

QuiTai tapped her sandals against the dock to knock the
white sand from them. The breeze sent a lock of her hair fluttering against her
cheek. Her fingers curled around it and slowly pulled it behind her ear.

If he had been facing his last hours, he would have looked
to the sea. She turned her back to it. Her gaze climbed past Levapur to the
high, mist-shrouded mountains. She seemed to drink in the rich green. Then she
closed her eyes and turned her face to the sun.

“The soldiers are here,” he said quietly. He hated to
disturb her meditation.

“It will be all right. I will survive.”

At least that’s what he thought she said, but then the
soldiers stomped across the creaking dock and complained to him about rowing
across the harbor while the sun was high. While they argued, she climbed into
the boat, folded her hands in her lap, and waited.

As the boat made its way across the harbor to the
fortress, she turned from her beloved island to face the stone walls. Distress
etched deep lines around her eyes as she gazed at the bodies hanging from the
ramparts. By sunset, unless he got her out, she might be one of them.

He liked this deal less with each moment that passed. It
looked too easy because it was. He didn’t have to charge her with anything to
arrest her, and the militia didn’t need an excuse to hang her once she was in
their clutches. Thankfully, they tended to wait until sunset to execute
prisoners, but that wasn’t guaranteed.

The rowboat collided with the short dock outside the
fortress gate. He climbed out first and extended a hand to her. She seemed
calm, but her hand trembled in his.

Despite the months of silence between them, he felt as if
he should comfort her. Again it seemed to be his fault she ended up here. He
stood beside her as the towering gate of the fortress swung open and revealed
the dark maw of the tunnel behind.

“You could have asked me for almost anything else, and I
would have done everything in my power to give it to you,” he whispered. His
heart pleaded with him to ask,
So why did
you ask for this?
, but he refused to listen to it.

She pushed his hand away and stepped forward. “I know.”

“You want to be here?”

“Want isn’t the right word. It’s my duty.”

~ ~ ~

The interior doors shut behind Kyam and QuiTai. She put
her hands to her ears as the clanging echoed down the arched tunnel. She’d done
the same thing a year ago when Voorus had brought them here. He should have
asked her what had happened between her and Voorus. When had they become
friends? What had he missed during the past months?

Flecks of mica in the stone reflected the green glow of jellylanterns
along the tunnel. He squinted at the bright sunlight at the end of the tunnel,
where lush grass and the brilliant blue sky made the prison section look almost
cheerful. The sun overpowered the white light jellylantern inside the barred
admittance window carved into the wall.

A bored soldier lifted his pen over his form as they
stepped closer to it. “Name?”

“Lady QuiTai,” Kyam said.

The pen didn’t move, but the soldier’s eyes rose. He
slowly smiled. “We’ve been waiting for you for a long time, snake.”

She turned to Kyam. “I do hope you’ll escort me to my
cell. One would hate for there to be an accident.”

He knew what she meant, but he said, “An accident?”
because he knew instinctively that was his line. Moments like this were when he
missed working with her the most.

Tiny smile lines formed around her eyes. She tilted her
head and gave the soldier a coy side glance. “The proper term should be an
on-purpose, because there wouldn’t be anything accidental about it at all.”

“I assure you, nothing will happen to you here. Correct?”
He glared at the soldier but received no assurances.

QuiTai’s hands clasped at her chest. This time she looked
like a hapless ingénue pleading with the villain. Her transformation caught him
off guard. She so rarely acted for his benefit.

Unless she always did.

He didn’t know.

She turned wide eyes on him that brimmed with tears. “You
have my word that I have no intention of attempting to escape, and my fangs
will remain firmly against the roof of my mouth.”

The soldier grunted as if he found that funny. Kyam didn’t.
She was in real danger here. No matter what insurance she thought she had, it
wasn’t enough.

He grabbed her arm. “I’ll take charge of my prisoner. I
may have questions later, and I want her alive to answer them.”

“Do what you want, Governor. It won’t change her fate,”
the soldier said.

He pulled her back even though he knew the soldier couldn’t
reach through the bars. Fear set an icy finger on his soul and made its mark. “This
is a mistake. You’re coming with me,” he whispered.

He grabbed her forearm to pull her out of the fortress.
Her sleeve pulled up and he saw another cuff at her wrist, as if she were
wearing another blouse under this one. That explained her rumpled appearance. Had
she thought to keep herself warm in her cell?

She leaned into his hold and twisted her wrist out of his
grip, pulling away in a smooth motion. The double layer of cloth made her
impossible to hold. “We have a deal, Governor. You’re not getting out of it so
easily.”

The soldier from the admitting window came out of his
office and hailed another soldier out on the parade grounds. Both men raised
their hands to the biolocks that activated the gate.

The gate opened. She walked to the middle of the grassy
parade ground and stopped. Was she remembering how the werewolves shifted and then
slipped through the bars of their cells? He still had nightmares about that
insane leap she’d made into the harbor, barely missing the rocks below. Was she
plotting yet another fantastic escape? She wouldn’t need to if she would come
away with him right now.

A soldier led them toward one of the cells built into the
fortress wall under the ramparts. They were open to the elements, but she’d be
able to see the sky and the mountains of her beloved island over the fortress
walls.

“You are going to die here,” he whispered to her.

She continued her inspection of the fortress. “Then you
will never go home.”

“Why are you doing this? Why?” But he knew it was futile
to demand answers from her.

“This cell is charming, but I fancy a bit of privacy. Do
you have something in a dungeon, perhaps?” QuiTai asked the soldier. A fake
smile appeared on her face a few seconds late.

What was she up to?

He smiled weakly at the soldier as he pulled her across
the grass. The soldiers were going to wonder why they kept doing this.

As soon as they were far enough away, he scowled down at
her. “It’s going to be harder for you to escape if you’re in a dungeon.”

“I have no intention of escaping, in the conventional
sense. You will return an hour before sunset and take me out of here. It’s not
dramatic, but it’ll get the job done.” She had the nerve to wink at him.

“Do you want her in the dungeon or here in the cell,
Governor?” the soldier asked.

Against his better judgment, Kyam said, “The dungeon.” He
gave her a hard look, which she ignored.

“This way, then.” The soldier led them to a thick wooden
door under the south rampart stairs.

Right inside the door, a roughly hewn table and a few
chairs sat tucked into a small alcove. A guard seated at the table turned a
bone tile end to end.

Kyam put his hand over his nose as the stink of the marsh
at low tide choked him.

The soldier threw a salute and thrust out his chest. “I
have a prisoner for you.”

The guard at the table smacked his lips and turned the
tile a few more times before slowly coming to his feet. “Sure. Follow me.”

He grabbed a white light jellylantern from the wall and a
large iron key ring before leading them down narrow, twisting stairs. The smell
of damp stone and stagnant mud grew worse as they descended into the dungeon.

The green light jellylanterns in the wall sconces needed
replacing. Kyam could barely see beyond the first cell. They were a bit smaller
than the outside cells. The walls looked solid enough, even though they were
damp in a few spots. Iron bars separated the cells. At the far end of the space
there was a door, but he didn’t think it was a cell. Unless she knew of a
hidden passage, there was no way QuiTai could manage a disappearing trick from
this place.

QuiTai jutted her chin at the dim row of cells. “No other
prisoners? Good.”

Kyam looked in that direction, as did the soldier. Keys
jangled, but underneath the noise, he thought something skidded across the
stone floor and came to rest in a shadow.

“Don’t touch my keys!” The sleepy guard slapped QuiTai’s
hand.

“Sorry. I’d hoped that the Governor himself would hold
onto the cell’s key.” She stepped into the cell, gripped the bars, and pulled
the door shut. The clanging echoed through the dungeon.