Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)

by Sarah J. Maas

Aelin, as if her body didn’t quite belong to her, lifted her shackled, metal-encased hands. The chain linking them had been severed, and hung in pieces off either manacle. The same with those at her ankles. She tugged at one of the metal gauntlets. It didn’t budge. She tugged again. The gauntlet didn’t so much as shift. “Take it off.” Her voice was low, gravelly. Elide didn’t know which one of them she’d ordered, but before she could cross the clearing, Lorcan gripped the queen’s wrist to examine the locks. One corner of his mouth tightened. There was no easy way to free them, then. Elide approached, her limp deep once more with Gavriel’s magic occupied. The gauntlets had been locked at her wrist, overlapping slightly with the shackle. Both had small keyholes. Both were made from iron. Elide shifted slightly, bracing her weight on her uninjured leg, to get a view of where the mask was bound to the back of Aelin’s head. That lock was more complicated than the others, the chains thick and ancient. Lorcan had fitted the tip of a slender dagger into the lock of the gauntlet, and was now angling it, trying to pick the mechanism. “Take it off.” The queen’s guttural words were swallowed by the moss-crusted trees. “I’m trying,” Lorcan said—not gently, though certainly without his usual coldness. The dagger scraped in the lock, but to no avail. “Take it off.” The queen began trembling. “I’m—” Aelin snatched the dagger from him, metal clicking on metal as she fitted the blade’s tip ...