NO STRANGER TO DEATH #2
“Hmm.” I nod as if we have all the time in the world. “I see. So your plan is to stay here and wait for the king to return? Or perhaps, you’re hoping to take your chances in the tunnels?”
Wren lifts her chin. “I’ll find a way to get myself and my sisters out.”
Her sisters. I file the information away, grateful for an answer to at least one of my questions.
“You’ll never make it out.”
Her nostrils flare. “Yes, we will. I got us this far.”
“Do you consider this a success?” I gesture to the scattered bodies around us. The blood on the floor.
She lifts her chin, and the defiant look in her eyes does something wholly inappropriate to me.
“We’re alive, aren’t we? I’d consider that a version of success. Even if . . .” Her voice falters as she looks at her dead friend, then away, regaining her composure. “Yes,” she says more firmly, “it is.”
Gods, this woman. Her fight is strong, and I’m drawn to her fire like a moth to a flame. Her Mark glows brighter, casting us both in blue.
“I can get us out of here,” she continues, not seeming to notice her flaring Mark. “We can get to the Sapphire Coast. We’ll find a boat, and—”
“No, you won’t.” I laugh, but it lacks all warmth.
“No?” She sounds incredulous. “Yes, we will.”
I shake my head. “The king will find you. You have angered him, and he will use every means in his possession to find you.”
And when he does . . .
My back constricts as memories of hundreds of lashings race through my mind. Every time the king had a bad day, or he was in a foul mood, or he wanted to have some “fun,” he would seek me out and use me to get his demons out.
His own bastard son.
One of the twins whimpers, and a tear slides down her cheek. “Birdie, I don’t want the king to get us. He scares me.”
“I know he does. He’s not a good man.” Wren gathers her sister against her side and glares at me. “See what you’ve done? You frightened them.”
My eyes bulge. Me? I’m the one scaring them? Wren’s the one suggesting that they stay down here and wait for the king.
Something tells me that particular argument won’t go over well.
I gesture behind us with my free hand. “These tunnels run for miles in every direction. They are mazes. Without a guide, you will never find your way out.”
The pathways beneath the palace were once used to transport goods throughout the capital city. Some are older than others, and not all of them have survived the test of time.
I spent countless hours down here as a child, and I know this place like the back of my hand. There are dead ends all over, tunnels that lead to nowhere. Grandmother used to tell me stories of people who got lost down here, never to be seen again.
Wren pales, her eyes darting over my shoulder. “I . . . I don’t—”
Sensing that she’s wavering, I gesture to the corpses scattered around us. “The king will be back, little bird, and he’ll make you pay for this.”
He’ll make us both pay.
The king’s threat to sever my bond with Mist is still fresh in my mind. He finds pleasure in inflicting pain on a good day . . . and today was far from good.
“Did you just threaten me, Gabriel?” Holding her sisters and moving them as far away from all the death as she can, Wren scowls up at me, fire flashing through her eyes.
As if I’m the one she should be worrying about right now. As if I’m the one whose soldiers she killed. As if she hasn’t angered a bloodthirsty tyrant with bottomless power at his fingertips.
I scoff. “No, it wasn’t a threat.”
“Really? Because it sounded like one.” She glares defiantly at me.
Fuck, why does that look send heat coursing through me?
“Did it?” I raise a brow, running my thumb down the hilt of my sword. I shouldn’t be pushing her, but it seems I can’t fucking help myself.
One of the twins whimpers, burying her face against Wren’s shoulder. The other looks at me and breathes, “Yes.”
“Interesting that you took it that way.” I step towards them, and Wren releases the twins, pushing them to her side.
I don’t spare a glance at the girls. That force in my gut is drawing me even closer, and I don’t think I could stop even if I wanted to. I step around her friend’s body, and she backs up.
Into the wall.
She gasps, her fingers splaying against the stone. Trapped.
I step into her space. I can’t help it.
Wren hitches a breath, the sound carrying through the tunnels. Or maybe that’s just the way it seems to me.
“That was not a threat.” I lift my hand slowly, reaching for the gods-blessed. Her lips part, and her Mark glows steadily, but there are no sparks as I touch her chin, redirecting her eyes to mine. “It’s a promise,” I say solemnly. “One made from years of experience.”
She studies me, each moment feeling like it lasts a lifetime, and her swirl brightens. Sapphire sparks swirl around her fingers, flitting off the stones. Gods above, I’m captivated by her power. I shouldn’t be intrigued by this woman I was hunting, but I am.
She swallows, releasing a shaky breath. “What do you mean?” Her voice is softer than before.