CHAPTER 26
ZEPHYR
Now
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THIS STARTED, I find myself wishing she’d skimmed through the events with less detail. I have not enjoyed her recounting how close she was to death on that mountainside, the memory burden enough.
Perhaps Davina and I were enemies, but it wasn’t by our own choices—at least not then.
In the split of a second where I thought I wasn’t going to be fast enough to grab her, all I could think was how I’d give up everything I knew about the case for the chance to go back one step.
To notice the gap in the stone walkway before she sank her foot through.
Even though I still told myself I didn’t like her, back then.
And yet. As bad as it was to listen to that moment, it’s been even worse to have her recount our conversation after.
I’ve been holding my fucking breath as she uttered word after rebellious word, both waiting for and dreading my companions’ reaction.
How she has not realized how risky it is to do so while handcuffed in a room with three Kobrants—three that she can see—is beyond me.
It’s one thing for her to spill the words when it was just us tucked into the side of that mountain, but a much different one is doing so here.
And she’s too clever not to have realized it.
Or maybe she merely doesn’t care anymore, considering her current predicament. The thought doesn’t sit well with me.
Ah. But there it is. The defiance in those icy eyes.
Just like that, I understand.
She’s hoping to elicit a reaction. She knows I won’t be fazed, but Nyak and Abenza are a different story. If they’d threatened her integrity, I might have had to intervene. And I have no doubt she’d make the most of the distraction.
Cunning, ruthless Davina Lachlan doesn’t miss.
I’ve lost count of the amount of smiles I’ve had to bite back so far, but here’s one more.
The only fault in her plan—and the reason why it fails—is how good Nyak and Abenza are at what they do.
And while I hear the change in the former’s breathing and see the tic on the latter’s finger, I’m reminded of why I chose them when there’s no further reaction.
“Continue,” I demand.
A tick in her jaw is the only sign of her disappointment.
“I’d like to have some water.”
I squint my eyes at her, wanting her to know I know what she’s doing. Then, I turn towards Abenza. “Well?”
Her chin shifts briefly to the side in a trait that is so her that I’d be concerned if she didn’t do it.
Then she shakes her head. “You know how these work, Zeph. It’s not that easy.
” Her attention lands on our cunning prisoner.
Davina holds her gaze, completely unfazed.
“She does want water. Whether she needs it or not, is too subjective.”
Icy blue eyes focus on me, a silent dare in them. ‘What now, Kentar?’
And yes, it’s the surname she knows I despise she uses, even in my head.
“Fine.” I reach for the canteen I refilled earlier in the kitchen and approach her. “Nothing funny, Lachlan.”
The glint in her eyes is ruthless as she cranes her neck. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“That’s a lie,” Abenza warns.
A chuckle rumbles from my chest. “Oh, I know.”
But instead of giving her the benefit of a retreat, I raise an eyebrow and bring the canteen to her lips, daring her to do something.
Does she even know how much I would enjoy punishing her under different circumstances?
I get the impression that she might when her eyes never leave mine as her lips close over the rim. She tucks her neck slightly and I tilt the canteen so that water flows into her.
Her lips part and her mouth fills before she swallows. Again. My attention falls from her pouty lips to the ebbing of her delicate throat—
I pull back with a grunt. “Enough.”
Damn her, I think, fighting to get rid of the image that was taking shape in my head of a very different setting.
I get away from her with one quick stride and take a seat before anyone can realize how fucked up I am. It might work with Abenza and Nyak, but the foxy glint in Davina’s gaze tells me enough of how conscious her action was.
“Continue.” My tone is harder this time.
She tilts her head backwards, shaking it slightly so that her hair falls behind her back, leaving the column of her throat even more exposed.
A menace indeed.
“The winds did not die that night.” She continues where she left off.
“So we were forced to stay in that cursed groove.
When we awoke, the sky was clear. The wind had still not disappeared fully, but it was much more bearable than the day before, so we trudged on.
Temperature went up significantly during the day despite the altitude we continued to gain, so much so that we ended up getting rid of our jackets.
I began to worry when it continued to rise through the night.
“Water began to run low, so we were forced to ration it despite the relentless heat. Our moods weren’t great that third night, so we barely exchanged a few words before sleeping.
We did agree on one thing while we ate, however.
We’d ascended enough to start considering walking around the mountain in search of those catacombs.
It was unlikely that the catacombs would be too close to the broken top, where the risk of landslides would make it unreachable.
“And so, on our fourth day in Keftara, with hardly enough water to last us the—at least—two days that it would take us to go back, we left the main path and started around what were just lifeless rocks by that point. For hours, we walked around the northeastern edge of the mountain.
“Around midday, thick dark clouds appeared and the wind stopped. The temperature dropped, too, and the hope that we would be able to use rain to refill our canteens had us going harder. Said died about half an hour late, when the skies opened.”
But it wasn’t rain that they brought.
“A hailstorm broke out, instantly beating us with icy rocks. They pounded against my skin, leaving me numb within seconds. I started to phase, using the reprieve granted by intangibility to search for cover, but there was none to be found. Every time I had to let go of my ability, the hail stole my ability to think—to breathe. We did refill the canteens with it, but it wasn’t clear whether we were going to last long enough to need it. ”
Fiery hair flies as she shakes her head.
“I do not know how Zephyr was able to remain so stoic, but he did.”
Blue eyes find mine, and . . . is that reluctant admiration in them?
“Panic started to take root. We flattened against the side of the mountain in hopes of getting some cover, but it was useless. For what felt like forever, we went on. Hoping for some cover, in any form, to appear. At some point I started to lose my footing, the melting ice turning the ground slippery, with or without my ability to become intangible. The terrifying possibility of us dying on that mountain started to sink in.”
My stomach clenches at her admission, an echo of the anguish I felt that day blossoming in time with the memory. The picture of Davina frantically phasing in and out in front of me, struggling to find purchase on the unreliable ground . . . my teeth clench.
I was desperate. Guilt over not having insisted on waiting for Kani to return, or having found someone else to get Armand back to Kamea, assaulted me. All because I’d been so focused on making it harder for her.
Fear that it might truly cost us our lives began to sink. All the while, pelting lumps assaulted me from every angle. My one solace was the hand I firmly wrapped around Davina’s waist. The timid warmth of her against the chill coating my skin was an inferno keeping me sane.
“Zephyr kept me from spiraling,” she says, stunning me. “He all but growled ‘We’re not dying here, Lachlan, so focus on where you’re stepping and keep going.’”
Our gazes collide, and for a second there, we’re not in this shaggy room.
I’m not her captor and she doesn’t hate me.
It lasts less than two heartbeats, but it’s there.
One unaccounted fraction of time in which we’re just Davina and Zephyr, Zephyr and Davina, and everything we could have been in a different universe.
I swallow, fighting the urge to look away first. I’m rewarded after a few beats.
“I wasn’t convinced that there’d be any to be found, but his resolve fueled mine, and we continued.
” There are once again traces of shame in her posture.
She’s thoughtful for a few more moments, then her armor slips back into place, raised chin and all.
“Thankfully, after a while, cover did appear. I was freezing, teeth chattering and an uncontrollable shaking was starting to take hold of my muscles with every step. But then, there it was. An opening in the side of the mountain, much larger than the crevice we’d used to hide from the worst of the winds.
We went straight in, the instant reprieve from the hail nearly dizzying.
“It took me a moment to get my bearings. My ears were still ringing and my teeth continued to chatter so hard that their sound was almost the only thing I could hear. Imagine my surprise when I was finally able to take in our surroundings, only to find that not only had we found cover, but also the very place we’d faced Keftara for.
“A grotto that extended beyond where the light reached—into the mountain. We found the cave.”
And fuck, that cave.