CHAPTER 32
ZEPHYR
Now
“LET’S STOP THERE,” I say, standing up before Davina has the chance to continue where she left off. “Nyak, Abenza—let me go grab something to eat, and then I’ll take the first watch.”
“Sure,” the former says with a firm nod.
Eyes squinted at my captive, I say, “Behave,” a clear warning note in my tone.
Her arms twitch when she tries to stretch them around the cuffs behind her back. “Don’t have a choice.”
My jaw clenches, but I don’t deign her with a response before walking around the sofa and escaping the room. Leon’s smirk is the first thing I see as soon as I emerge into the corridor—sap curse him. He’s been so damn quiet I almost forgot he’s been listening all along.
Every, cursed, damning bit. He knows better than to speak before we’re out of range, so I am not surprised when he starts for the kitchen on impossibly silent feet. Knowing there’s no escaping this conversation, I follow.
The door is barely closed when he muses, “Brother, you are in so much shit.”
With a sigh, I deflate against the wooden counter. “Don’t I know it.”
“How is it possible for me to know exactly how you’re feeling when she’s the one doing the talking?”
I glare at him and grunt, “Because you’ve known me since before I knew how to jerk off.”
His snort echoes around the small room. “A useful skill to have, right about now.” His pointed stare at my groin is unnecessary, the meaning of his words clear enough.
My glare only deepens.
I had braced for Davina to make things as difficult as possible for this whole process, and the fact that she isn’t throws me off my feet.
I’m sure there are things she’s keeping to herself, but many of her concerns and struggles I didn’t expect to get half as easily as she’s offered them.
To the point that, at times, she’s sharing too fucking much about her feelings and some of our interactions, not realizing or caring how dangerous it is to do so.
For both of us, as Leon’s reaction is about to prove, I suspect.
Not leaving my perch on the countertop, I lift one hand and use the power inked on my forearm to draw a glass from the cabinet on the other end of the room and levitate it to the faucet. I let water trickle into it until its sloshing brushes the rim, then call it to me. I drown it in a single gulp.
“What about me?”
“You have two hands to get your own.”
His silent chuckle echoes around the tiny kitchen while he grabs himself a glass of water and refills my own, even though I’d only need half a thought to do so myself. When he hands it to me, I spot the unmistakable tilt in the corner of his mouth.
Bastard.
“Do you have a verdict?” I ask.
“Already told you—you’re in deep shit.”
“Leon.”
His smirk falls as he lets out a rough exhale. “You know I don’t have one, Zeph.”
He leaves his glass near the sink, turning to gather a few ingredients from the otherwise empty cupboard. He must have got those while we brought Davina in earlier. Yesterday?
Gods help me. I rub my eyes.
“Not yet, at least,” Leon continues, unusually merciful. He extends two flatbreads on twin plates and begins to spread cheese onto them. “Most of what I’ve heard speaks of a firm loyalty to the Republic. And to the Supreme Strategos.”
Don’t I fucking know it.
All that comes out of me is, “Yeah.”
A pause. “That makes things easier, no?” His tone is lighter, but I hear the underlying tension in it.
Despite him not having been able to see my reaction to what Davina’s recounted so far, what he’s heard tells him enough. Meaning, he’s now well aware I don’t want things to be easy.
Leon’s palm lands on my shoulder with a soft clap.
When I look up, I find one of the rolls he prepared, haphazardly folded onto one of the plates, extended in my direction.
“Let’s get some rest and hear what else she has to say.
Once we have a verdict, we’ll make the corresponding hard choices.
” He’s reading me like I’m a godsdamned open book. “Now eat.”
I don’t have the will to fight him.
When I walk back into the room half an hour later, everyone is frozen in the exact same position I left them.
Nyak is tense as a rod, watching Davina like she’ll become a swirling tornado of blades any second.
Abenza’s gaze is also set on our prisoner, but I can tell that her eyelids are heavier than their unwavering focus is letting on.
Davina is . . . well, she’s her usual sharp, raging self.
The night sky through the sole, tiny window is at its darkest, the few candles scattered around the room more than halfway consumed.
“Go grab a few hours of sleep,” I tell the Kobrants. “We’ll continue once you’ve rested.”
Nyak hesitates. “Are you sure you’re good on your own with her?”
I muster a smirk. “She’s going to have to sleep if she doesn’t want to pass out.”
Davina, surprisingly, bites her tongue.
His eyes narrow on her but he relents with a slow nod. “If something goes wrong, just call.”
“Yeah,” Abenza echoes. “The walls here are thinner than paper.” This last part she says once she’s walked past the sofa, punctuated with a widening of her eyes.
A warning.
My and Leon’s voices might have been audible from here. Most likely not enough to discern the words, but enough so for Davina to figure out that it’s not just the three of us. Shit.
Enough to recognize—
No. No. Impossible.
My jaw clenches. We can’t afford mistakes.
“Will do,” I say.
The soft thuds of their footsteps echo all the way up to a room that’s just on the other side of the corridor.
A door closing followed by the loud groan of old springs, and then I’m all alone with the menace.
She watches me carefully, her posture once again tense.
In fear, or is that mind of hers plotting my demise?
“You should sleep too,” I say.
“Wouldn’t be very clever of me.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Why? Afraid of what I could do?”
Her snort has the corner of my lips twitching. “No. Afraid I’ll miss an opportunity to escape.”
Ah.
“I’ll save you the effort, there won’t be one.
No one knows where we are. You don’t know where we are.
” Leaning forwards, I let my voice drop an octave.
“Even if you somehow managed to get out of this room, the place is a fortress.” Not true, but she has no way of knowing that.
“You are not making it out of here unless it’s on my terms, Lachlan. ”
Her eyes narrow, assessing. When a minute goes by and her lips have not parted, I know not to expect an answer.
I lean back again with a sigh. “Sleep, Davina.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“What? Your name?”
Her nostrils flare. “It’s Centurion Lachlan to you.”
My chuckle is deep. “No, it’s not. You are my captive. This isn’t Widesight, and you’ve lost the right to the protection of the King of Kobra after your stunt. So, right now, and until I say otherwise, you are whatever I want to make of you.”
Ice. There’s only blazing, scorching ice in her blue eyes.
Come on, Lachlan. Let me see that fire. Let the walls fall.
But she doesn’t argue nor does she rise to the challenge. She knows she’s at my mercy and there is absolutely nothing she can do to change it.