Not that she’d let the captain know any of that.Ĭelaena examined the gloved hand holding her arm. For a year, those words had meant the difference between breaking and bending they had kept her from shattering in the darkness of the mines. When she awoke every morning, she repeated the same words: I will not be afraid. She hadn’t tasted fear in a while-hadn’t let herself taste fear. After a day of cleaving rock salt from the innards of the mountain, finding him standing there with six guards hadn’t improved her mood.īut her ears had pricked when he’d introduced himself to her overseer as Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and suddenly, the sky loomed, the mountains pushed from behind, and even the earth swelled toward her knees. It was flattering, she supposed, even if she didn’t know what was happening, or why he’d been waiting for her outside the mine shaft. He looked forward again, his iron grip tightening. His head shifted in her direction, and Celaena flashed him a grin. The black clothes were probably a part of it, too. Another tactic meant to confuse and intimidate her. Though the man grasping her arm was tall and fit, she could see nothing of the features concealed beneath his hood. They entered a particularly long hallway, silent save for their footsteps. She might have been insulted if he wasn’t trying so hard. As if she’d lose her bearings that easily. Nor had she missed when they zigzagged between levels, even though the building was a standard grid of hallways and stairwells. They strode down corridors, up flights of stairs, and around and around until she hadn’t the slightest chance of finding her way out again.Īt least, that was her escort’s intention, because she hadn’t failed to notice when they went up and down the same staircase within a matter of minutes. He gripped her arm as he led her through the shining building in which most of Endovier’s officials and overseers were housed. What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side-as there was now. That was expected by Adarlan’s most notorious assassin. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment-though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Celaena to and from the mines. After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point.
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