Chapter 25
HARK
The urge to grab her had been all consuming. He hadn’t expected her to leave – didn’t like the fact that she was unsupervised and that nothing good had come of leaving Arla Reinhart to her own devices.
But she had been terrified.
Hark didn’t know how she had mastered her fear so quickly, how she had pulled herself together and rendered Kase and his crew speechless.
But she had left quickly and he knew there was no amount of talking and distracting her that would have persuaded her to spend another moment under the ground in those tight, narrow tunnels.
So he didn’t reach for her as he watched her saunter out of the chamber his friends had made their own. He didn’t force her to spend another second choking down her terror. He wished he didn’t care.
‘No wonder she drives you to drink,’ Sebastian said with a chuckle, hauling Hark out of his thoughts and averting his eyes from following the ghost of a golden braid down the pitch-black tunnel.
‘She’d drive me to cut my own throat,’ Kase spat, and Hark smothered the smirk widening across his cheeks.
It would do Kase good to have someone equally matched to her fiery temper and lack of compassion.
He’d had to work hard not to explode into a fit of laughter when Seb had caught his eye during the girls’ back and forth.
‘She’s beyond difficult,’ he said on a sigh, dragging a hand through his hair as he made his way to a chair and accepted the glass sloshing with amber liquid that Jack handed him.
Gods, it was too early in the day to be drinking but he couldn’t deny the temptation to knock it back and welcome the fiery burn in his throat.
‘But she’s deadly, and careful, and the fact Elrod holds some of Hadalyn’s citizens in his camp means Reinhart is more determined than any of us to get the slaves out.’ He didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing yet.
‘She’s unpredictable, and she’ll blow this entire operation.’
Hark had expected some resistance, but he hadn’t expected it to come from Jaz.
His friend looked … concerned as he leant against a table marked by knife slashes, his arms crossed firmly over his chest as he eyed Hark in the low light. Hark couldn’t help the flare of irritation.
Fuck. Arla was getting under his skin.
It had almost been easier to hate her than to feel this … thing that was growing between them. Was it friendship, or something far more dangerous?
Enough. Last night was a mistake. She’d said so herself.
‘And what would you have me do, Jaz? Her King sent her out here, and she discovered the truth more quickly than even a cautious estimate could have accounted for. If we don’t include her, we’re as good as dead – in both kingdoms.’
‘So kill her—’
‘I think,’ Jack interrupted, his cane scraping the floor which made Hark wince at the sight of it. It was his fault that Jack had ended up this way. If he hadn’t goaded this band of criminals into helping him, his friends would still be fine.
‘I think,’ Jack continued, ‘Reinhart might be of use to us. If her reputation is justified, the soldiers on the northern border can begin counting their hours rather than days.’
‘Are you serious?’ Kase slammed a hand down.
‘Enough.’ Sebastian’s voice cut through the simmering argument. ‘If Hark trusts her, I trust her. If he says she’s an asset, we treat her as one. This is about the slaves, not about Arla’s attitude or Hark’s growing fondness of her.’
Hark shot him a vulgar gesture, earning a wink back from his friend. He was glad he was here; he could count on Sebastian to back him in anything, be it stupid or reckless. If it involved Arla Reinhart, it would likely be both.
A silence settled upon his crew and Hark was sad to realise that ice had formed between him and his companions in his absence.
Get a grip.
Too much time away at Castle Grey. The dynamic had changed since he’d last been in their company, and he was conscious of the gazes that held for a split second too long between Jack and Kase, and how Jaz gritted his teeth each time.
‘I’m not growing fond of her,’ Hark muttered, stretching his legs and stifling a yawn.
‘Believe what you like, my friend,’ Seb said. He sighed then pulled a map from beneath the table and spread the yellowing paper across the wood. ‘But the Hark I know would have cut her throat long before he could ever write a letter about her.’