Free Torn by Kate Hill

like you. My temper is too bad. I hate too much.”
    “Funny you can say that after what I did tonight. How am I going to explain about Redly?”
    “He tried to kill you!”
    “That wasn’t him.”
    “Then you didn’t kill him. He was already dead.”
    “Honey Wine,” he drew a deep breath, and she saw him struggle not to wince against the pain in his chest, “there’s so much you don’t understand about the Order, things I don’t agree with…”
    “Not nearly as much as I don’t agree with about the rules here. Nothing’s perfect, Torn.”
    “But –”
    “Shh! Timus is making his rounds.” She slipped away from Torn as Timus walked past the cells and stopped in front of theirs.
    “Is he still breathing?” Timus asked.
    “He’s doing as well as can be expected.”
    “Fever?”
    “No fever.”
    “Good. Bron told me to ask how long you think it will be before he can participate in Entertainment again.”
    “Not for a couple of months at least.”
    “A couple of months?” Timus shook his head. “The Mistress won’t like that.”
    “The Mistress should be glad that he’s salvageable.”
    “That’s true,” Timus said. “He’s the strongest one we’ve had down here in a long time. Truth be told, he’s not all that bad as beasts go. I wish they were all as simple to handle.”
    “It would make our jobs so much easier, wouldn’t it?” Honey Wine wondered if Timus caught the underlying disgust in her voice.
    “Sure would. You really want to stay there until morning?”
    She nodded. “At dawn, you can let me out so I can wash, then I’ll come back and get my morning rounds done. I’ll catch some sleep after that.”
    Timus smiled at her and nodded before continuing down the room.
    “You should have told him to let you out,” Torn said as Honey Wine sat beside him. “Maybe you should forget about what we planned. I don’t want to cause you any harm. I know I agreed to plan our escape. I wasn’t thinking about what’s best for you.”
    His words made her tingle with anger. “I’m not a child, Torn. I don’t need you to look out for me.”
    “Then why are you looking out for me?”
    Her anger dissipated. “The truth is, if I hadn’t met you, I never would have found the courage to even try escaping. This is just as much a chance at freedom for me as it is for you.”
    “I don’t want you to be hurt –”
    “Then think about how I must feel watching you suffer. Not only you, but also everyone down here. For years, I’ve shielded myself against how I really feel because I thought there was nothing I could do. I might not be able to rescue everyone, but we can escape together. You can go back to your old life, and I can find a new one.”
    “Even if we escape the palace, we’re sure to be chased. We’ll need weapons of some sort.”
    “I don’t have any access to weapons. Alva had Bron make sure of that.”
    “Can you get a blowpipe?”
    “I suppose I could find something like that. Why?”
    His blue eyes darted to the stone ledge above the bars of his cell. “I’ve been saving the bones from meals and making darts. The guards never actually come into the cells, so I’ve been storing them on that ledge. I’ve seen the herbs in your supply box. Some of them are poisonous. We can treat the darts with poison, and if you can get us pipes to shoot the darts, we’ll have weapons.”
    She glanced at him as if seeing him for the first time. Her gentle Knight could be crafty when the situation required it. She nodded. “You’ve been doing quite a bit of planning for this escape, and I want you to know I’ve been doing my part. Today, if everything goes as I hope, I’ll have useful information for you.”
    “What sort of information?”
    “I’ll tell you later.” She leaned close and kissed him again quickly.
    “Just be careful,” he told her. “And if at any time you want to abort this plan, I’ll never hold it against you.”
    “I’ve never wanted anything this