Chapter Twelve
Amuffled squeal escapes my throat as I’m dragged through the panel in the wall. I flail, striking out, but my arms are quickly pinned to my sides by arms much stronger than my own.
“Quiet, unless you want to be caught!”
I go instantly still. I recognize the voice.
“Daemon?”
He makes a shushing sound and then lets me go.
I turn around slowly. It’s almost pitch black in here—some secret passage between the walls—but there’s a faint glow coming from something Daemon is holding in one hand.
A small, round disc that must be charmed to emit light.
In the near-complete darkness, the light makes his green eyes glow eerily.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“That’s quite the question coming from a human trespassing in the Guardian’s House,” he responds, his tone blade-edged.
“And you’re not trespassing?”
This earns a deepening of the dark scowl he’s already wearing. “I live here.”
“Here? In this building?”
He doesn’t answer but rather reaches out and presses a finger to my lips.
I almost protest, but then he makes a gesture toward the room we were just in, and I remember that on the other side of this panel, there are at least two professors who will no doubt not take kindly to me traipsing about in their building in the middle of the night.
I begrudgingly keep my indignation to myself.
Daemon leans forward like he’s listening.
The voices carry faintly inside the tiny crawl space we’re standing in.
A female voice first. “She shouldn’t be here, and you know it.”
“We have to find out what’s so special about her.” A male voice. I don’t recognize either of them.
“Maybe she’s a criminal. Did you ever think of that?”
I feel a blush creeping across my cheeks, both anger at the accusation, since they’re clearly talking about me, and also embarrassment since Daemon is standing inches away from me. If he has any reaction to this speculation, he doesn’t give it away. He’s so still, he could almost be a statue.
“It’s more than that… I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
“Having her here is dangerous. She could be a spy, for all we know. We can’t afford distractions right now, what with the skirmishes at the borders.”
“The Queen has put down dozens of rebellions over the last few centuries. This is nothing new.”
“The last one was a close call… supporters of House Aeternas have been rallying the last couple of decades, waiting for another chance. Waiting for their leader to join them. To finish what they started.”
Their leader. The hairs up the back of my neck prickle as I realize they’re talking about Daemon. The man standing right beside me in a dark secret passageway. The man who also, quite possibly, tried to poison me.
“And that is why he does not leave the castle grounds,” the man says, though his voice is so laced with tension it could snap.
Except he does leave the castle grounds. I know he does because he’s the reason I’m here.
I turn slowly and look up at Daemon. His body goes rigid as he senses my gaze, but he doesn’t look at me, remaining fixed on the conversation on the other side of the wall.
“It’s all connected somehow,” says the woman. “This girl showing up, war on the horizon… I may not be able to override the Queen on having a traitor living here, but I’m not going to be quiet any longer about our new arrival. I’ll speak to the Commander about it.”
“Julian will not be happy…”
“Just because he took pity on the human, doesn’t mean the rest of us have to sit here and watch catastrophe unfold at our feet.”
“If she’s a spy, that doesn’t track with someone breaking into the castle to poison her.”
“Do you really think someone was able to get inside these walls?” An audible snort. “Someone else probably suspects the same thing I do.”
“Suppose you’re right… and she is a spy… have you noticed her spending time with Daemon?”
This time he does turn, and our eyes meet in the semi-darkness.
“No…but I doubt they’d be so obvious about it…”
The voices begin to drift away, it’s clear the professors are leaving the room.
Daemon still has his eyes locked on mine, and that same intensity sweeps between us.
It moves through me like a storm, like the rough crash of the ocean against a rocky shoreline.
It’s completely illogical, foolish, that I’m standing here with a man who quite possibly tried to end me, a traitor and an enemy, and I’m not running screaming.
I should have taken my chances with the professors, admitted my nighttime wanderings and accepted my punishment.
They want me kicked out of here anyways.
But somehow, I’m still standing here.
“I know you’re the one who brought me here,” I say.
Daemon’s face grows even darker, his lips pulling into a thin line. “You are clearly delusional.”
“I’m not delusional,” I snap. “After I fell that night, when those men were almost upon me… I looked up and saw your face. And next thing I knew, I was outside the castle gates.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he says through gritted teeth. “But you’re mistaken. You must have hit your head really hard when you fell.”
“So, how did I get here, then? How do you explain that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. And I don’t care.”
I’m not sure why his words sting, but they do. “You’re a liar.”
I’m expecting anger, but he actually smiles. A sharp, glittering, dangerous smile. “Oh, yes. And a traitor and murderer, too. Don’t forget that.”
A shiver runs over me as I realize again what a dangerous line I’m walking. He could kill me right here, right now, and no one would ever know. But somehow, inexplicably, I don’t think I’m actually in danger with him. Despite what people say about his family. Despite the rumors about the poison.
I glare up at him, defiance blazing in my eyes. “If you don’t care, then why did you save me? You could have just let them find me.”
He scoffs. “Because I wanted to eavesdrop, obviously. And if they’d seen you, they wouldn’t have spilled all their juicy secrets, would they?”
I stiffen. “I guess. Plus, they apparently think I’m sharing information between you and your…army or whatever. So, if I was found here, that’d confirm their belief.”
Now it’s his turn to tense up. He looks mildly alarmed for a moment, then his face falls back into a scowl. “Perhaps you are a spy for another faction…”
“And maybe you’re a traitor and revolutionary.”
Silence falls between us as we lock gazes again, heat and venom humming between us. I cross my arms over my chest, realizing belatedly how absurd it is that I’m standing here in a wet nightgown in the dark, with a complete stranger who clearly hates me.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Daemon growls, a low rumble that rises from his chest.
“You’re the one who yanked me in here, remember?”
“I mean at Shadow’s Keep. You don’t belong here.”
“Well, you heard the professors. I’ll be gone soon enough.”
I reach for the latch to the panel to let myself out, but Daemon’s hand shoots out and grabs mine. His hand is rough and envelopes mine entirely. Heat pulses where our skin touches, and a jolt of adrenaline spikes through my veins.
“They might still be out there somewhere. And I have no intention of confirming their suspicions,” he snarls.
“I’m surprised you care what they think.”
“I don’t,” he says. “I just don’t want to give them the satisfaction.” He’s still holding my hand, though he’s holding it down by his side, and as if realizing that he abruptly lets go. “This way.” He jerks his head to the left and beckons for me to follow him.
I hesitate for only a moment, then move down the narrow passage behind him. The walls are stone here, and it smells mustier the farther we move away from the entrance. As we move, I catch the sound of the rain again as we travel toward the exterior of the building.
“Does anyone else know about these passages?” I ask softly.
He’s silent for a moment, as if he’s not going to answer, then, “not to my knowledge.”
“So, how did you find them?”
“I look for things others don’t.”
Silence falls again. The passage turns sharply to the left and we continue along it, then turns left again before ending abruptly.
So abruptly that I run right into Daemon as he’s turning around.
I stumble backward, and his arm shoots out to steady me, his fingers sliding around the small of my back.
Our eyes meet again, and then he drops his hand quickly as if I’ve burned him, his look of momentary surprise replaced by a scowl once again.
He turns a latch, and a small doorway, barely tall enough to step through, opens in the wall. A glimpse of night peeks through, and the scent of rain rushes around me.
“I would say thanks, but you’ve made it clear this wasn’t a personal favor.”
His jaw rolls. “Let’s not repeat this, shall we?”
The passage is so narrow that I have to practically slide along his chest to step out through the door.
I try not to look at him, but I can feel his eyes on me, and there’s that connection again, that electricity like lightning in the clouds.
As I step outside, my willpower breaks and my eyes move up to meet his.
The tension that rolls between us makes another shiver roll over me.
“Agreed,” I say. “The Commander will have me out on my ass tomorrow, no doubt, so we won’t ever have to see each other again.”
He stiffens at my words, and something moves across his eyes, too quickly for me to read.
I don’t wait for a response. I turn and stride off into the dark, rainy night.