16. CHAPTER 16 #2
Lance's tone softened so much it hurt. “I am here, though.” Though his head angled toward her, he didn't look at her, and she thought he did that for her. To give her space. “I won't bring it up ever again, but you can come to me any time. I'll help however I can.”
Each word, every inch of his posture, even the inflection of his voice, bent to her, to ensure she didn't feel pressured or alone. His care was so apparent and so tender.
Miya didn't panic often, but it rushed through her with the swiftness of a flash flood.
Another voice echoed with Lance's, one that sounded as kind to her at the time.
The worst predators wore the disguise of good men, and they hurt people in ways once unimaginable.
The violence of pretending to care in order to destroy another person dwarfed any danger the captain posed.
Fortunately for Miya, true terror obeyed her need for survival and let her easily hide it away.
So even though that seemingly heartfelt gesture terrified her, she shifted toward Lance.
And when he didn't shift away, she rested her head against his shoulder, overcoming that thin barrier of space between them.
Her knuckles brushed his, and he took her hand loosely, eyes on the sky. Still giving her space.
The consideration of his light touch burned like lava. He'd never know how she felt. She hid so well. If Lance meant what he said, then he wanted to help her and comfort her. And this was the opening she had waited all week for. So, she seized it.
If he happened to be one of the most effective predators she'd ever met in her life—one this convincing—then all the more reason to give him what he wanted.
Miya thought Lance meant it, though. If he knew she didn't want to touch him, he'd be horrified. But she'd never again believe in a man's kindness, not without certain proof.
The terror sank back into her depths where it belonged, where it lived, and she breathed more easily. Soon, she escaped its clutches enough that his shoulder and kindness no longer hurt. That glorious distance between her work and herself widened until the fear faded away.
The usual tactics weren't working on Lance. He didn't need her to kiss him or fuck him. He needed her to have fun with him and care about him. The wholesomeness of that unsettled her as she considered. This wasn't going the way she expected.
A distant rumble caught her ear. She shot up. “Did you hear that?”
“No.”
Military her ass.
Something rumbled again. A vehicle. Now Lance shifted forward. He pointed at the house and nudged her toward it while he hurried into the shed, returning with a pair of binoculars.
Miya lingered while he climbed a tree to drop onto the roof of the shed.
No way was she leaving. She hoisted herself onto the lowest branch and picked her way up the tree to join him.
He put the binoculars down. “Go back to the house.”
“Are those night vision?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’d you get those?”
“Military.” Lance frowned. “You shouldn’t be up here. You don’t see other maids on the roof, do you?”
“I don’t see any Krowes on the roof either but that didn’t stop you.”
He wouldn’t chase her off. If danger approached in the night, she wanted to see it coming. Needed to. So, she ripped the binoculars away and scanned the distance.
Lance reached to snatch the binoculars back, but she shoved him with her elbow. Her vision swooped over movement in a dense grove of trees, and she backtracked to the right.
“Soldiers,” she said. Not good. “Ciondian. They’re driving down a path in the woods.”
The fight for the binoculars resumed, the two of them wrestling for full control, pushing their cheeks against each other’s. They each ended up looking through a single lens.
“I can hardly see anything.” Miya jabbed his side. “I need a better look.”
“Ow.” He trapped her arm against the roof with his own. “They’re attaching something to a tree.” He sat up, taking the binoculars with him.
Miya yanked him down. “They’ll see you.”
“Looks like a bag.”
What if the squad noticed them? The captain expected Miya to work Lance, not spy on his soldiers with him.
“We should leave,” Miya said.
“You should. What if the captain sees you?”
“You too. Let’s go, Lance.”
He lowered the binoculars, hesitating. “You're right.”
Miya needed to find out what they were doing in the woods and figure out what the captain wanted with Lance. Getting caught watching on the roof with her target sounded like the worst way to accomplish that.
Normally, Miya preferred cautious approaches. Her line of work opened her up to many unexpected dangers, but not knowing may kill her in this situation.
She’d learned her lesson as a girl that no one would give her a thing, even something rightfully hers.
Despite being her father’s oldest child, the promise of the throne passed onto her younger brother, because a woman had never ruled Caspador.
As the crown prince, he took all the power that would have been Miya’s.
The captain wouldn't grant Miya permission to save herself.
They took her power in the palace. They took it at Rafferty & Company. The captain wouldn’t hesitate to take it as well. If she wanted leverage, she had to do the taking. And she'd become incredibly good at that.
Hopefully, if Lance was innocent, this didn't hurt him in the process, but she was done waiting for answers about him.