Chapter 16 #3
Skye had not told her about the bargain.
The words had risen to her lips a dozen times, but the sight of Paige’s strained face stopped her.
The weight of her burdens was already too much.
She would not add to it. Not when Paige needed every ounce of strength to believe Emily would survive not only the night, but whatever came after.
Brody lay next to Emily, his small body positioned protectively beside her. He looked up and began talking to her with the innocence of one child speaking to another.
“Mamma said we’re going to have a whole new life in a new place, Emily.
A new house and everything. And Da already said when we get there, we can have a puppy.
” He traced a careful finger along the edge of her blanket.
“I’d like a spotted one. But you can choose whatever you want.
I don’t mind. As long as it’s not a mean one.
” He paused, studying her still face with a worried frown.
“You have to get better first, though. So hurry up, all right?”
Skye pressed her knuckles to her mouth and turned away before anyone could see what Brody’s words did to her.
The candle burned lower. Outside the alcove, the single guard Austin left behind stood with his back to them, clearly bored by the assignment of watching two women and children.
“It’s taking too long,” Paige said worriedly. She glanced toward the alcove’s entrance, then back at Emily. “It’s past dark, I’m sure. If we lose this chance...”
“We won’t,” Skye said with a certainty she did not feel.
“You don’t know that.” Paige snapped, losing her composure for the space of a heartbeat.
Skye watched her fight to pull it back with visible effort.
“I’m sorry,” Paige whispered. “I know everyone is doing all they can. It’s just..
.” She looked down at Emily and her face contorted.
“She’s running out of time. I can see it. ”
Skye reached across the stretcher and covered Paige’s hand with her own. “Then we hold on. For as long as it takes. We hold on.”
They waited. Minutes crawled past like hours. Skye strained to hear footsteps, any sound of approach, any sign that the men had been successful. But the silence persisted, broken only by the guttering of the candle and the whispered, halting lullaby Paige sang to Emily.
When the footsteps finally came, they came in a rush.
Taran appeared in the archway first, his face streaked with grime, his clothes torn and covered in rock dust. Finn was right behind him, already moving toward the stretcher.
Behind them came Noah, Austin and the guards, all filthy, clearly spent, but moving with a desperate urgency that told Skye everything about how little time remained.
“Hurry!” Taran’s voice was hoarse, stripped raw.
“’Tisnae time tae bring anything. ’Tis crumbling, even as we speak.
” He and Finn took their positions at either end of Emily’s stretcher, lifting her with practiced care.
“Paige,” he looked at his wife with all his fear, love, and determination painted across his dirty face, “whatever ye do, dinnae let go of Brody’s hand. ”
Paige seized Brody’s hand, tugging him tight to her side. “You found it then?”
“A possibility,” he replied, already moving out of the alcove.
Noah crossed to Skye and reached for her hand, revealing the raw wounds on his. In his face she saw the toll hours of brutal labor had taken, and beneath it all, the terrible war still raging behind his eyes over the promise she’d forced from him.
Austin grabbed her, yanking her roughly to him. “She stays here. The tunnel is too unstable.” He motioned to a guard to stay with her and another to guard Noah.
Skye ripped her arm from his grasp. “There’s no negotiation on this!
” Her voice sliced through the cramped space with an authority that surprised even her.
“The bargain has been sealed. If I don’t see them walk into the portal, I will spend my life making sure you regret it.
As will my father, after I reveal everything to him. ”
“The tunnel is collapsing as we speak. It’s a death trap! For once, use your head instead of your emotions.”
“Stay if you want. I’m going.”
“We’ve nae time for this!” Taran barked from the archway. “We must go! Now!”
Austin seized Skye’s arm, his fingers biting into her flesh. “You will stay beside me the entire time.”
She wrenched her arm but couldn’t pull free. “Then move.”
They hurried through the abandoned kitchen, through the darkened corridors, silent at this hour. The only sounds they heard were their own footsteps and the labored breathing of exhausted men.
Skye glanced over her shoulder at Noah, followed by his appointed guard.
She noted the rigid set of his jaw. The fury in every stride.
The way his empty hands kept flexing at his sides as if reaching for a weapon that was no longer there.
She understood the battle he fought. Knew what it cost him.
Had calculated it with merciless precision in those wretched moments outside her cell, knowing the only answer left was the one that would break them both.
Emily’s life overrode it all. Seeing the people she loved walk through a doorway that would offer healing and a new life was worth the sacrifice.
She had to believe that, knowing she could never follow them. Never see them again.