Kai and I were walking to breakfast. A nice, normal stroll through one of the quieter corridors. We weren't even halfway when I caught a familiar scent and dragged Kai with me to investigate. After my first-aid efforts, I wanted to see how Nate was doing. But we arrived too late, because even as I saw him leaning against a pillar as if he hadn't recently been bleeding out on my floor, things went wrong.

Last night had consequences.

An entire patrol rounded the corner, geared up for battle. I didn't know their names, but I did know it was one of the senior patrols. They didn't give Nate any warning before he had two blades levelled at his chest. I stepped forwards angrily, making to protest. Before I could even open my mouth, Kai seized me by the waist and physically hauled me out of sight. He held me down and covered my mouth with one hand. I found myself staring into those hazel eyes.

"They wouldn't arrest a Shadowcat for anything less than treason. Act like you care and they'll take you too," Kai hissed at me. "I'm not letting that happen. So you can either keep quiet and stand up like a normal person, or I can throw you over my shoulder and lock you in your room."

It was Prince Kaeden speaking. The practical king-in-waiting, who could assess any situation within seconds. And my boss. So I nodded as best I could and pushed his hand away. We stood side by side and stepped back into sight, as if we just happened to be walking down the corridor.

The Shadowcat heir didn't even spare me a glance as two of the guards restrained his arms behind him in a pair of iron cuffs. He didn't try to resist, or even ask what he was being arrested for. It was like he knew exactly what he had done wrong.

But I didn't know. As best I could tell, Nathan Silveryn had never set a toe out of line. He was the loyal, obedient, unquestioning type. That redeeming quality was the only reason I cared about him. Wait, had I just admitted that I...? Oh, Goddess.

As he was dragged past us, Kai mind-linked me. Too late, I realised what I should have minutes ago. Shadowcats could hear mind-link messages, but the guards couldn't.

"Nate," Kai said mentally. It was the first time I had ever heard him use the nickname. The first indication that he might still have some regard for his second cousin. "We'll come and see you later. Don't try anything and don't admit to anything. Understand?"

Without even looking at us, Nate's eyes flickered up and down once. A very discreet sort of nod. The only downside of the mind-link was he couldn't reply. The guards marched him down the corridor and towards the cells without sparing us a second look. If it had been Zara, she would have probably looked the other way while we had an entire conversation. Not all of the guard was so friendly, though.

As soon as they were out of sight, I seized Kai's arm and dragged him the other way. I hissed at him, "We're getting him out. We need him."

And we did — we were due to be in Silveryn territory today, and I wouldn't bet on lasting the morning at the mercy of hostile Shadowcats.

Kai set his jaw. "Okay then."

I blinked, startled at how easily he had agreed. But he didn't even give me time to consider it, because his next move was to take a step forwards, straight into empty space. The stairwell was crowded, which was fortunate for his ploy, but probably embarrassing for him. Kai fell down two flights, tumbling and rolling, before finally coming to rest on a paving slab at the Instructor's feet.

The Prince of the Free Isle groaned and picked himself up very slowly. His arm was at an odd angle, and his held his chest in a way that indicated broken ribs. "I don't think I can go out on patrol today, sir," he announced dramatically.

"Well that's an understatement, princeling," the instructor sighed. "Do you take pride in being so unbelievably clumsy?"

"No, sir," Kai muttered.

The undertone of pain in his voice made me snap out of a shocked trance. I took the steps two at a time and crouched beside him, not having to fake my concern.

"Take him to his room, Savannah," the instructor ordered. "And clean him up. The second those bones heal, I want patrol eighty-nine on their way to Silveryn territory, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

I slung an arm under Kai's shoulder and let him lean on me for the long journey to our dorms. The Moon Guard on the staircase had all been staring unabashedly, but they now carried on as if nothing had happened.

And none of them realised it had been intentional. Stupid idiot could have broken his neck. But he had bought us some time, and time was all we needed. Ben appeared midway and swore at his friend. "Did you get caught in a stampede?"

"Close." Kai grinned, but there was blood all over his face so it was more disturbing than reassuring. "But never mind that. You two need to go prison visiting."

"Not until you're lying down somewhere," he scoffed, slipping under Kai's other arm to take some of the weight, careful to avoid the broken section.

"Forget me." He looked sharply at me. "Did Nathan kill anyone last night?"

I resisted the urge to deny any knowledge of it. Why would he ask me, when he had been there too, unless he knew Nate had been in my room afterwards? The Shadowcat's scent had still been turned off from the fight, but there was blood and dark fur all over the floor in there. Dammit.

"Probably," I guessed.

"Then they can execute him. Killing a Moon Guard is a capital offence, and we can't prove it was self-defence. So get your asses to the cells and make a nuisance of yourselves. Invoke the 31st Decree on Royal Deferral if it helps. Just delay them for ten minutes."

"The 31st what now?" I spluttered at the same time as Ben raised an eyebrow.

Kai answered me first, "Didn't you read the law, Sav? What kind of Guard are you?"

"The lazy kind."

He rolled his eyes. "A member of the royal family can override the Moon Guard's authority to grant a stay of execution. I don't know if it'll be enough, but it will certainly confuse them. I'll bet they haven't read the law either."

"I don't think they'll kill Nate," I admitted, thinking of the midnight conversation I had overheard. They wanted him alive to keep his father under control. These charges were just an excuse to throw him in a cell.

"I don't think there's anything they wouldn't do at this point," he replied.

There was a lull in the conversation as I considered every possibility of rescuing Nate. Most of them either blatantly wouldn't work or were too risky. So what the hell was Kai planning? Ben paused and readjusted Kai's weight. "What's going to happen in ten minutes?"

"Anarchy," Kai replied. He wore a wild, mischievous grin, so unlike him, yet somehow so fitting. "Now go."

This time we listened to him, and left the crown prince in an empty corridor with half of his ribs smashed to rescue a grumpy oversized cat. My life was weird, I realised. And it had also turned into the adventure I had always wanted.

We turned down endless corridors, picking up Becky and Alex on the way. They said that Kai had mind-linked them to explain everything. So our rescue team rose to four, and I felt marginally more confident that we might actually succeed.

They didn't want to let us through the gate which led to the cells. There was a Rochester on duty, but he had a Llewellyn partner, and that guard helped us sway him into believing that we were just visiting a friend. It reassured me that for every enemy in the fortress, there was at least one friend. We did have two of three factions on our side, after all.

"Go on," the Rochester sighed. "Two minutes."

Walking down the row of cells was distinctly uncomfortable. I recognised several people we had put behind bars ourselves, including the murderer Noah Wynhold and the scrappy Davengard woman. Those two and many others glared at us as we passed. One even spat, although the glob of saliva fell far short.

Nate was occupying the end cell, sprawled in the far corner as if he was sat on a featherbed rather than a stone floor. His food and drink were notably untouched. At our approach, the Shadowcat looked up but didn't bother to stir himself.

"Get out," he ordered shortly.

Ben, Alex and Becky each took an involuntary step backwards and half-turned. I glowered them into stillness and then scowled at Nate, unable to believe my ears. I had been worried half to death about him. Kai had bled to get us here. And now he was treating me like an indulgent child.

"I don't think I will," I snarled at him. "Bastard."

My friends knew what was what needed of them without even asking. They placed themselves halfway down the corridor and began an overly-loud conversation about vampire bats. That clogged up the ears of any eager listeners, including the guards.

A look of confusion crossed Nate's face for the first time, as if something just occurred to him. "Why are you still here? You are supposed to be on Silveryn land by now."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I couldn't help the anger in my voice, after seeing what price Kai had paid to keep us at Evarlin.

Those green eyes skimmed along my companions, counting them. "And where's Kaeden?"

I leant against the bars "You can ask him yourself. Get up. It's prison break time."

"Unless you happen to have a 'get out of jail free' card, that's not a good idea."

"No, but it's the only idea I have," I reasoned. "We're hardly going to let them execute you."

"Don't be stupid. They won't execute me. They think they need me," Nate explained matter-of-factly. He casually lifted a hand to pick dirt from his fingernails, which I was sure was just an excuse not to look me in the eyes.

"Think?" I asked with a growing apprehension of the answer.

"They don't know that my father has other options for an heir. I'm useful, but not indispensable," he said bitterly. I hadn't known either. Did he have siblings? I realised for the first time just how little I knew about Nate Silveryn.

"He won't try to get you out? You're his son!"

A careless shrug. "I went against orders, so no — he won't lift a finger, I don't think. I was told to go to Evarlin and watch and wait. There wasn't anything about killing Moon Guard wolves to protect the prince. In fact, I'm sure he explicitly commanded the opposite. And now I've overstepped my purpose, my father will let me rot in here."

"But you must have been fighting someone before you broke into my house," I pointed out.

Nate smiled slightly for the first time. "Ah. Those wolves were a Curringham mob on the road. They ambushed me on my way to Evarlin, entirely by accident. The trap was intended for Kaeden, I found out later. His step-father didn't want him to reach the fortress alive."

My blood chilled. He had fought a pack of werewolves? And escaped with just a gash along his ribs? Holy Goddess. "But what about your friends?"

"Niamh and Brylan? They weren't there. My father sent them afterwards, as an honour guard, and to keep an eye on me. I suppose he found out I had been asking about Sebastian."

"Okay... So you've been caught. What now, if not execution?" I asked.

Nate offered a dry smile. "Now I will be used as a bargaining chip. When Wyatt moves for the throne, he will give my father a choice — support him or watch me die. My father will choose the latter and keep the Shadowcats out of the war. He is prepared to sacrifice me for my people, and I wouldn't disagree with that ... if it wasn't for the blood debt."

"To me?" I asked, confused. Nate had already paid that many times over.

"No. No, it's a family debt. To Rhodric Llewellyn, actually." He caught my lost look, even though the name sounded frustratingly familiar. "The Queen's brother. But that's not important—what matters is that we can't let his nephew die without breaking a promise."

I couldn't make sense of that either. Missing most of the story, it was difficult. "You promised to keep Kai safe?"

"Indirectly, yes. My father likes to forget that, to warp the words of the promise. But I think a deal is a deal, no matter that the benefactor isn't here to collect on his end. So no — I wasn't willing to stand by and watch Wyatt take power, but my father will."

"So ... when you fought them last night ... you knew that you wouldn't leave here alive." My tone was accusing, and rightfully so.

Nate's expression hardened beyond recognition. "I knew what I was doing, Sav, if that's what you're asking."

He hadn't hesitated, I remembered. Not even for an instant. I wondered if it had been for Kai, or me. "Then trust that I know what I'm doing too."

If I had been a good thief, I would have slipped a key from the guard. But I wasn't, and none of my friends were either, so we had to resort to less favourable tactics. Niamh and Brylan, the other two Shadowcats at Evarlin. They would be able to take out any number of guards.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, Nate shook his head. "They have gone home. Niamh tried to help me find the King's assassin, it's true. But neither of them would do any more than that."

"Alright then," Becky interceded. "Leave this one to me."

Before any of us could stop her, she sidled up to the Llewellyn guard and batted her eyelashes. I couldn't hear her words but they seemed to make the guy very happy. While his comrade rolled his eyes and made annoyed noises, the two of them ended up flush against the wall. Her hand slipped into his pocket.

"Get up," I hissed at Nate. He shook his head resolutely. "Get on your feet, or I'll kill you myself."

He gave me a flat stare, eyes full of disinterest. "No. You won't."

As discretely as possible, I drew a blade from my harness and palmed it. Those sharp green eyes caught the flash of metal and narrowed.

"You can either walk out of this place or be dragged along at knifepoint," I told him calmly. The disjointed, panicking fragments of my mind had decided that escaping was the best option we had, and so they were functioning for once. There wasn't any room for doubt or second thoughts.

I think that, beyond anything else that day, really surprised him. Nate stood up, though whether to follow along or disarm me through the bars, I never found out. Because, in that moment, chaos erupted in the cell block.

The Rochester guard spotted Becky's all too obvious key snatch. He made a lunge for her, only to be met with a timely shove from Ben. Alex jumped in to restrain the Llewellyn guard, only to find it wasn't necessary. The guy hadn't moved an inch, not even when he realised what Becky had been up to.

"You're the prince's patrol," he stated aloud.

"Yes..." Becky agreed, the cell key clenched tightly in her fist.

The guard swallowed — he seemed to be having difficulty getting the words out. "Did he order this?"

She nodded, not even daring to reply aloud. Because that would implicate Kai in treason.

But the nod was enough, because the Llewellyn guard returned the gesture and turned on his partner. "Okay then. Do what you have to."

It would never cease to amaze me, how easily people would break with their comrades for family. We were a country eternally divided, and not even the Moon Guard's vigorous recruitment process could quite heal those divisions. So while my patrol watched in silent astonishment, that guard drew a blade on his friend and held him in place for us.

Becky tossed me the key. It fell short, and I had to step to catch it. But the cold metal was in my hand, which was all that mattered. I kept my blade drawn and ready while I turned it carefully in the lock of Nate's cell.

The door clicked open. And I had just committed a crime punishable by death.

Loook. LOOOK. I updated on time! Are you proud of me now?

You'd better be.

And it's all kicking off now. Random survey question: is there anyone here who hasn't read Luna of Rogues? Anyone at all? Speak now or forever hold your peace (please not the  second one, I kinda really need to know).