the woman, only Markus stepped in front of her and dangled his knife.
“Leave it alone,” Cam said.
“But…” She whirled to see him shaking his head slightly. “Fine,” she huffed, flopping onto the bed.
The soldiers left the room, and the door slammed shut behind them, but it was the click of the lock that had Kayda slamming her fists into it a second later. “You can’t do this.” It wasn’t fair.
“Don’t worry, Kay.”
“I am worried,” she exclaimed. “I don’t know how you can be so calm about this. We’re locked up and about to be sold off.”
“Never going to happen,” Cam stated.
She whirled. “How are you going to stop her? The countess has the upper hand, not to mention the numbers and the weapons.”
“Which is why we need to even those odds.”
“Even them? We’re locked in a room with nothing we can use to fight.”
“First off, that’s not a great lock,” Cam snorted. “Watch this.” He walked over and fiddled with it, jamming a pin he pulled from his boot into the mechanism until they heard a click. But rather than open it, he stood to the side and waited.
Sure enough, the door opened, and the female guard, wearing a scowl, looked in. “What are you—”
Cam dragged the woman in and shut the door. There was a brief struggle that didn’t last long as his arm around her neck kept up the pressure. The soldier sagged, unconscious.
Not dead, but even if he had killed her, Kayda could feel no sympathy. Not given what these soldiers condoned.
“Her uniform won’t fit me. Here, see if it will work for you.”
Opening her eyes, she was in time to catch the flying garments as Cam stripped the body.
“You have a plan?” she queried as she shimmied into a different set of clothes, finer than any she’d worn in a long time.
“Kind of.”
“Not reassuring,” she grumbled, tightening the belt so the pants didn’t fall off. She still looked ridiculous with the hips and thighs too loose and the hems on the legs too short. “You do realize they’ll recognize me.”
“Up close maybe, but from the back or afar, you’ll just look like a soldier moving a prisoner.”
“You want us to leave?”
“Eventually. First I say we check this place out.”
“There might be more soldiers.”
“Yup. Which is where the whole evening-the-odds part of the plan comes in.”
He really was serious. At least he had a plan.
“Okay.” She let him take charge. The confidence in him was calming.
“Stick your head out the door and see if there’s anyone around.”
She pried open the door, and her heart raced as she peeked. “No one.”
“Good. I’m going to lead. You follow closely behind. If anyone says anything, don’t turn to look. Just say, ‘Following orders.’”
“This will never work,” she muttered.
He grabbed her and dragged her close. “Never say—”
“Never.” She sighed.
“Now you’re getting it.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Come on, Kay. Let’s go find those tunnels.”
She followed him down a hall lined with doors, most of them open. The idiot stuck his head in each one. He might be tough, but she doubted he’d survive decapitation or a bullet to the head.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
“Checking shit out. Looks like this is a floor of bedrooms.”
“Meaning people.”
“I wish. We could have handled a few if they’d been courteous enough to be napping.”
He headed past the last open door to a massive one at the end of the hall. Above it a faded sign said Level Two.
They opened onto a stairwell. No elevator for them. They went down a level. He really was serious about finding those tunnels. But after what the countess said, Kayda wasn’t harboring as much hope.
Her voice echoed in the stairwell. “What are we going to do if we find the ancient passages?”
“We’ll fetch the kids and get them out of here.”
“Because that will be so easy,” was her sarcastic rejoinder.
“Aren’t you the least bit excited we might find a route out of this place?”
“I haven’t forgotten that not only do we have the countess and her goons to deal with there’s also a dragon outside.”
“I haven’t forgotten either. Remember the first level?”
“Not really. Mostly just a jumble of containers.” She’d barely paid attention to anything other than her fear at their capture.
“The area they took us through last night had a huge spool of chain in the corner.”
“Why would I care…” Her eyes widened. “The chain that keeps the drake tethered.”
“Exactly. We just need to wind it and keep him on a short leash to