Gleam: The dark fantasy romance TikTok sensation that’s sold over a million copies (Plated Prisoner Book 3)

I tell Slade everything.

About Digby, about how he went missing before the attack of the Red Raids and how I’d thought he was dead. Dead just like Sail.

I tell him about Rissa too, our plans to escape that keep changing, from trying to find a secret passage to deciding to leave during the ball and take Digby with us.

After I go over everything with him, he finishes getting dressed and brings me to the meeting tent where his Wrath are already waiting, and he has me relay everything to them too.

When I’m done, Judd exchanges a look with Osrik, running a hand over his yellow hair thoughtfully before he says, “It’s possible Midas doesn’t actually have Digby.”

“It’s definitely possible that he’s lying,” I agree. “But…I can’t take that chance. I need to find him.”

“How much of the castle have you searched so far?” Osrik asks from across the table. We’re in the same positioning that we were back when I thought I was a prisoner in their army, only this time, Slade is sitting next to me.

“Not much,” I admit. “The few times I’ve been able to look around, I’ve had to stick to the places that weren’t guarded. There’s an antechamber that connects a bunch of passages, one of which goes to the library, but when I searched the rest, they didn’t lead me any closer to finding Digby.”

Everyone looks at Lu, and she shakes her head. “I’ve checked them. She’s right.”

Osrik crosses his thick arms in front of him, tongue flicking his lip piercing as he looks at Slade. “He’s gotta be in the dungeons.”

“That was my thought as well,” he replies.

Judd tilts his head at Lu. “You been down there yet?”

“No,” she says. “I’ve been keeping to the top passages of the castle, mostly familiarizing myself so that I can get a handle on everything in case Midas tries to off Prince Niven. My time has been busy with making sure he doesn’t end up dead.”

I blink in surprise. “You’ve been guarding the prince?”

She shrugs, her leathers crinkling along her shoulder. “The last thing we want is for the little twit to be killed off and Midas have an official hold on Fifth Kingdom.”

That makes sense, considering I wouldn’t put it past Midas for a second. “What about Queen Kaila? Do you think she’s in danger?”

The Wrath look contemplative, but it’s Slade who answers. “We aren’t sure. Midas always has plans, but I don’t think he intends to assassinate her. Even if he tried to make it look like an accident, there would be whispers. She is much loved in her kingdom. I doubt it could happen without repercussions.”

I wish I could help and say that I knew what Midas’s plans for Queen Kaila are, but I have no clue.

My gaze goes back to Lu. “Do you think you can find him? Digby, I mean?”

“If he’s in the castle, I can find him,” she replies with certainty, her brown eyes full of promise before flicking over. “Rip?”

Slade nods. “Yeah, go ahead and pause your watch on Prince Niven and focus on finding the dungeons to search for Digby there.”

“What about the prince?” she asks.

He tilts his head in thought. “So far, no move has been made against him, but I still want him watched. Judd, can you take over?”

The man nods. “I got it. I’m no Lu, but once I’m in, I can keep an eye on him.”

I should probably feel guilty that I’m messing up their plans and taking Lu away from watching over the prince, but I can’t bring myself to. Just the sliver of a chance that she could actually find Digby and get him out makes my chest go tight with hope, a band around my ribs that binds every breath.

“Alright, I’ll start searching for Digby later tonight. Tired guards are easier to work my magic on,” she explains.

“You can get started after you get Auren safely back into her rooms,” Slade tells her, and she nods in reply.

Osrik scratches his shaggy brown beard. “How about this saddle, Rissa?” he says. “Is she trustworthy?”

I hesitate before answering. “She’s not untrustworthy,” I say carefully. “But…”

“But if you didn’t follow through on your end of the deal, she’d sell you out,” Slade finishes for me.

“Yes, but she warned me she would.”

Osrik snorts. “Well, at least she’s honest.”

“I don’t begrudge her for it,” I tell him. “The life of a woman saddle isn’t easy. She has to do what’s best for her.”

Judd blinks at me. “Gildy. Come on. You can’t afford to be naive here. She might be silent for now, but what happens if she does make it out of here and then runs out of money? She’s going to squawk your secret to whoever will buy it. Or maybe she won’t even get that far. Perhaps she’ll get caught before she can leave Ranhold, and she’ll spill it then,” he points out. “She’s a liability.”

“She’s a person,” I reply, a sense of protectiveness rising up. “And she gave me her word.”

Slade looks at me, his spiked brow furrowed. “Auren, Judd has a point.”

My spine stiffens. “Don’t,” I say with a shake of my head. “Don’t even suggest—”

“We should kill her,” Osrik butts in gruffly, as if he’s not at all bothered by the suggestion to kill an innocent woman.

“Don’t touch her,” I snap, on my feet before I even realize I’ve stood up. “She’s done nothing wrong.”

“Yet,” Osrik drawls.

Both of my lips press together in a hard line. I look to Lu, hoping for another female advocate on my side, but even she looks dubious.

“Look, I get that this isn’t the best situation, but Rissa doesn’t know the whole truth,” I tell them. “I let her come to her own conclusions when she saw me turn the Red Raids captain solid gold. She thinks that Midas’s power fed into me when he gold-touched me.”

“Yes, but that’s dangerous enough,” Judd puts in.

I shake my head, growing more and more nervous that they’ll take this out of my hands and do something unforgivable. “If we kill her for knowing, we’re no better than Midas. It’s what he would do if he found out Rissa knew,” I argue, my conviction bleeding through my throat to coat my words. “She’s done nothing wrong. The only thing she’s guilty of is being in the same room when I gold-touched Captain Fane. She doesn’t deserve to be killed because of that.”

Osrik opens his mouth to argue again, but a shake of Slade’s head has him snapping it shut, a glower lowering his heavy brow.

I turn to look at Slade. “You won’t hurt her. Promise me.”

His hesitancy has my tension rising and my ribbons ruffling out behind me, but he tips his head. “I give you my word. In fact, I’ll even extend an offer to her and to the other saddle she wants to escape with.”

“What do you mean?”

“When we leave, both women can come with us. It’ll be grueling travel, but they’ll be safe. It’s not completely selfless, of course,” he explains. “It would also mean that I could keep an eye on her and ensure she didn’t speak your secret.”

My lips part in surprise at the offer, and I lower myself back down on my seat. “You’d let Rissa and Polly go with you?”

“Go with us,” he corrects, black eyes boring into mine. “If you think I’m leaving without you, you’re out of your damned mind.”

A soft smile tilts my lips, and I have to stop myself from reaching up to smooth away the frown puckering his brow. His shoulders have gone stiff, as if he’s anticipating me telling him I’m not leaving.

“I’m ready to leave as soon as we find Digby.”

Relief washes over his expression. Beneath the table, his hand comes down to rest against my thigh, warmth spreading from his comforting touch. “Good.”

“It has to be secret,” I warn him. “Midas can’t know.”

“Midas can go fuck himself,” he retorts hotly.

This male.

“I’m serious, Slade. I don’t want you two waging war. Not over me. No one deserves to die.”

“That fucker does,” Osrik cuts in. “I can’t wait for Midas’s smug head to get chopped off from his neck.”

“I’d like his limbs to get cut off one by one and for him to bleed out slowly,” Judd puts in cheerfully.

“Or Rip could just rot him from the inside out,” Lu offers with a contemplative tap against the piercing of twisted wood above her upper lip, its ruby end glittering like a slitted pupil.

The Wrath nod in satisfactory contemplation while I gape, seriously questioning their sanity. “You three have issues.”

They don’t disagree.

With a chuckle, Slade shakes his head before looking back at me. “It’s late. If you’re going back to the castle tonight, you should leave soon.”

I can hear the other option hanging in the air—if I go back. “As much as I want to, I can’t stay. I can’t risk Digby’s life. Whatever I do is a direct consequence to him, if he really is in Ranhold.”

Please be in Ranhold.

Slade nods, though I don’t miss the disappointment that flashes through his eyes before he looks at Lu. “Can you take her back?”

“You got it, Commander,” she says, hopping to her feet. “Ready, Gildy?”

I don’t want to leave. Going back to the castle feels a bit like walking into a trap, the clamps of iron teeth ready to shackle my feet in place with its piercing hold. But I don’t say that, because I know as well as Slade that I really do have to return. I have to keep up the facade until Lu can find Digby.

Slade gets up, his hand taking mine as he follows beside me out of the tent.

“I’ll walk you to the camp boundary. Then I’ll let Lu take you so that she doesn’t strain her magic. I want to make sure you have no problems getting back inside,” he tells me while we begin to make our way through the snow. A fog has settled around us, socked in with milky condensation, giving the camp an eerie glow that hugs the campfires.

With Slade on one side and Lu on the other, I feel protected, reinforced just by their presence. “Thank you,” I tell them, watching my boots sink into every slogged step.

Slade tosses me a look. “For what?”noveldrama

“Everything.” That one simple word encompasses a vastness I can’t quite express. I can tell they’re waiting for me to elaborate, so I say, “You’re all just so willing to help me. Even though I’m nothing to you.”

Slade stops in his steps like he just ran into a wall, his aura suddenly gone pitch-black, like a moonless night. His scales shimmer as his head turns toward me, eyes narrowed. Lu whistles low and steps a few feet ahead.

He raises his finger and says, “I’m going to let that slide once.” His tone is the steady rumble of a brewing storm that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand upright. Not in fear—I’m not afraid of him—but in response to the utter impact that lands with each word. It’s a force as great as the quaking of the ground, threatening to topple me if I don’t dig in my heels. “But hear me now, Auren. You are not nothing.” Fierce eyes take me in, holding me hostage. “Understand?”

I nod slowly, the weight of his declaration settling in my bones, not as a burden but a bolster. “Understand.”

He searches my face like he wants to make sure I’m telling the truth, and then he nods sharply. “Good.”

I breathe out, embarrassed to admit that I’m a little turned on right now. But damn, that was intensely sexy.

When we start walking again and catch up to Lu, she smirks at me. “You got in trouble,” she singsongs.

“Shut it,” I grumble. “I didn’t mean it like that, anyway.”

“Good, because this is how it is, Gildy. You’re one of us now. We always have each other’s backs. It’s us against the world.”

I’ve never had real friends before, people I could trust and depend on. “It’s going to take some getting used to,” I admit.

Slade grunts next to me, and I smile at the stubborn look on his face. “Now who’s the impatient one?” I say, nudging him with my elbow.

An entirely different sort of look hoods his eyes. “If you intend to go back to Ranhold, then it would be prudent not to tease me.”

“Prudent, hmm?” Lu puts in. “Awfully fancy talk for our bloodthirsty commander.”

He rolls his eyes.

“How did you all start working together?”

“I scouted them,” Slade replies. “They all became soldiers under my command, and they proved to be smart and skilled. But the loyalty…that came with time. Osrik was originally from First Kingdom. We actually battled one another—he belonged to a team of mercenaries.”

My brows lift. “Really?”

He and Lu share a smirk. “Yep. The big bastard nearly knocked me off my horse, so he impressed me. After the scuffle was over, Judd and I persuaded Os to join us and train as my soldier instead. He took the deal,” Slade explains.

“Course he did. He had my sword to his balls,” Lu chirps, sounding happy about it.

I wince a little. “That recruitment method seems a little violent.”

Lu snorts. “It’s better than when the commander tossed Judd’s ass in jail.”

My eyes go wide. “You did?”

Slade nods. “He was a wanderer with sticky fingers, kept stealing from noble houses. But once we finally caught him, the prick made a game of it. He’d break out of his cell nearly every day and then wait like the cocky bastard he is, outside of the bars, amused as can be. I had to offer him a deal just so he’d stop making a mockery of our jailhouse.”

I laugh, shaking my head as I imagine it all. “That sounds like something Judd would do. What about you?” I ask Lu. “How’d you come to join Fourth’s army?”

All the easygoing openness shutters in her eyes with a single blink, and her expression goes stoic. “A story for another day.”

My curiosity burns, but I have enough in my past that I don’t like to think about, let alone talk about, so I know better than to press. Instead, I say, “The way you guys are with each other…so much trust there.”

“We’ve been together for a long time,” Lu replies, casting Slade a smile. It’s not flirtatious in any way, but familial and affectionate.

A sudden shout cuts through the air. “Ho there!”

My head whips around at the call, and I squint through the fog to see a large campfire where a group of soldiers are gathered. Right there in the center of it all, stirring something over an iron pot and grinning from ear to ear, is a familiar face.

“Hey, Keg.” I wave as I walk over with a smile.

Without taking his eyes off me, Keg slops a spoonful of stew into the bowl of the soldier in front of him. A bunch of it splashes out, and the soldier grumbles before walking off. Good ol’ Keg.

“Gildy, I thought that was you,” Keg says, shoving back his long, twisted black hair, making the dangling bits of woven-in wood jangle together like chimes. “What are you doing out here slumming it? Shouldn’t you be up in that fancy ass castle?”

Not knowing how to answer, I look over my shoulder to Slade, and Keg follows my gaze. “Ho there, Commander. Didn’t see you there. Sad to tell you, Gildy Locks outshines you.”

Slade shakes his head, the corner of his lips twitching. “I don’t disagree.”

“Oy, can you serve me?” a soldier in line asks, eyeing the spoon in Keg’s hand like he’s hungry enough to try to snatch it from his grasp.

The army’s cook pins the man with a look, wiping his free hand over his uniform, the leather as dark as his smooth black skin. “I can. I can also kick my foot right up your arse.”

“I missed you, Keg,” I say with a laugh. “I’ll catch up later, okay? I better get back to my fancy ass castle now.”

He serves the stew for the poor waiting soldier before he points the dripping spoon right at me. “Alright, fine. But next time I see you, I’m feeding you. Double helpings.”

“I’m not going to fight you on it. If anyone can make army slop taste good, it’s you.”

Keg’s brown eyes shine with satisfaction. “That’s right, girl. Don’t you forget it. The other cooks in this army try to sabotage me constantly. But someone won’t do a thing about it,” he says, looking perfectly serious as he glares at Lu.

She rolls her eyes and comes up to grab my arm. “Yeah, yeah. Cry your tears in the pot, Keg,” she tells him as we begin to walk away.

“I will!” he shouts. “How do you think I get it so salty?”

The soldiers in his line groan.

Laughing, we head toward the edge of camp, but right before we get there, a hawk dive-bombs us, and I don’t even notice it until it’s careening through the fog, coming right toward us.

I yelp in surprise, but Slade lifts his arm and the bird lands on it, talons perfectly placed between his spikes.

I blink in surprise and watch him stroke the hawk’s head and let it nip his fingers before he reaches down to the metal vial attached to its leg. When he does, my gaze zeroes in on it. “Wait, is that…” The question trails off as I recognize the golden bell insignia. “That’s a Highbell vial.” My eyes go wide. “This is a Highbell messenger hawk?”

He pops off the top to get the missive inside, his black eyes scanning over it while the large bird lifts a wing, burying its beak beneath like it’s scratching an itch.

“He didn’t tell you?” Lu asks, sidling up to me. “The commander has trained his hawks to intercept others. They’re smart and skilled enough to snap the vials right off the other birds’ legs. Then they bring the vials to the commander, he straps them on one of his hawks, making it look like it belongs to whatever kingdom he wants. In this case, Highbell. But instead of delivering messages, his spy birds know to bring every letter to the commander first.”

“Wow, that’s…pretty diabolical,” I say, though I can’t help but be impressed. “Wait, is that how you knew I’d sent a message to Midas?”

“Yep.” He finishes reading, passing it over to Lu, a grim look settling on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. Lu scans the letter before she hands it to me, and I frown at the words.

“The cold weather has gone from Highbell. Clear skies ahead.”

“Clear skies?” I ask in confusion. “Highbell never has clear skies. And the cold weather certainly never leaves. What does it mean?”

Slade takes it back from me, not at all seeming worried that he broke the wax seal. “I’m not sure yet. It’s in code. I’ll talk to the others about it.” Settling his dark gaze on me, I can tell that his mind is working. “I’ve got to get this hawk back to the cart so I can reseal the letter and send her on her way. You’ll be okay with Lu?”

“Yep.”

“Good. I’ll be returning to the castle as the king tomorrow afternoon. Meet me in the library at dusk? I’ll update you if Lu finds anything.”

“I’ll be there,” I promise.

Reaching up, he gently strokes a knuckle down my cheek. “Good. I’ll see you soon.”

I have to suppress the urge to lean in and kiss him. He probably showed too much affection as it is, even though the fog shrouds us beneath the dark night sky.

“Lu, be careful.”

“Always, Commander.”

With one last look at me, he turns and strides away, and I follow Lu, trying to fight the urge to turn around. Every step closer to Ranhold’s walls feels wrong, my ribbons coiling as tightly as my dread.

Just like before, Lu manages to use her magic to distract the soldiers, perfecting our timing so that we slip inside the walls during another guard shift.

“Think you can get back up to your rooms through the balcony?” she whispers, her quick steps leading me past the side of the castle. The gray stones are covered in frost, its higher stories impossible to see as the heavy fog thickens with the drop in temperature.

“Yeah, no problem,” I say quietly, the air clotted with swollen silence. “Thanks for sneaking me in and out. It was nice to spend time with…Rip.”

She smirks. “I’m sure. Better company than the golden prick, huh?”

“Much better,” I agree, my lips curling up.

Yet that smile drips right off my face when we round the corner to the back of the castle and find four people standing there in the murky air. We skid to a stop, and I can tell by the way Lu’s body goes stiff that she hadn’t even realized we had company.

For a second, my heart drops at the shadowed figures, and I fully expect Midas to step out from the fog.

Instead, it’s someone else who steps forward—the last person I expected to see wandering the grounds at night.

Queen Kaila.