CHAPTER 39
DAVINA
Three days ago
NO MENTAL TALK COULD HAVE PREPARED ME FOR THE FLUSH THAT ROSE TO MY CHEEKS THE INSTANT I STEPPED INTO THE POD STATION THE NEXT MORNING.
Zephyr was already waiting. In a plain grey shirt, black cargos, and his loyal vest snug across that broad chest, he spoke with our pilot, head cocked in focused attention.
I could still feel his hands on my skin, taste him on my tongue.
Despite knowing how bad an idea it had been, I couldn’t bring myself to regret what had happened between us.
Not with the way my heart had rushed under his touch.
Not when, for the first time in a long, long time, I felt seen.
Not ruthless Centurion Lachlan, but . . .
Davina, the woman. Deserving of admiration and desire, for once.
I’d overheard Tetteh saying that Kwabena had been pulled into a different case, and Armand would depart for Widesight that evening or the next day, once the paperwork cleared.
I’d slipped into his room early this morning before leaving, sharing with him my advances, and how I was certain that the stash had to be in Kairis, rather than Kamar.
I told him to update Ludwig on that, as I was sure the Supreme Strategos would be first in line to receive him when Armand got off the transport pod.
That left the captain and I.
And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I kept telling myself, willing the heat in my lower belly to stay far away from my cheeks.
Only when we found ourselves back in Kamar’s podport did I discover that Kairis had no podport we could fly directly to.
Apparently, its terrain was laced with rare metals that confused a pilot’s navigation.
We were transferred to Kamar’s east harbor, where a seapod waited.
Sea pilots relied on hydrokinesis, not metal sense, but there was no ability that could fight against the much stronger resistance of water, so the crossing to Kairis took almost as long as the flight from Kantria despite the much shorter distance.
By the time we stepped onto a narrow wooden pier, the sun already tilted west.
A breath got caught in my chest at the brutal landscape that met us beyond the small harbor.
The dark sand outlining the shore gave way to jagged, razor-toothed peaks that stretched on either side like the massive jaws of some beast. The stark contrast of the deep blue of the sea against the dark greys and blacks of the land was unlike anything I’d ever seen in Widesight.
Other than the few people milling about the pier and nearby portuary buildings, there was not a single living thing on sight.
No animals, and no vegetation, the land too indomitable for anything to willingly inhabit it.
It was a two-mile trek to the closest mining town where we would be based, Yek, and as the wind picked up with the descent of the sun, I found myself grateful for the arm wraps I’d donned.
Fifteen minutes into our trek, the flat roofs of the mining town became visible on the horizon, made of the same dark rock.
Yek was both wholly unprepared for tourism and stretched to full capacity.
There was only one single room available in one of the designated lodges for inked representatives, and Zephyr politely offered it to me.
I opened my mouth to say I didn’t mind sleeping in whichever other lodgings were available, uncertain of why there was a difference in the first place, but before I had the chance, the captain said, “I’ll sleep in one of the common barracks.”
As it often happened with him, there was no room for argument.
It was better that way, anyway. After last night, the idea of sharing the room had briefly flickered through my mind—then promptly extinguished itself.
It didn’t take a genius to see how catastrophically stupid that would have been. For more reason than the obvious one.
We agreed to start our search at dawn. I didn’t know the layout of the town, but Zephyr promised he’d come for me at the first sign of light.
The less logical part of me resented having to spend the night apart from him. No matter how bad of an idea it was, I couldn’t help but wonder, what would have happened, had we been led to neighboring rooms? Or worse, the same?
Nothing good for you, Davina.
But the thought was betrayed by the memory of my body coming alive under his touch.
The room I was assigned was located inside an administrative building used to host the king’s emissaries when they visited Kairis to oversee mining operations. Despite how spartan the entire town had looked, this particular building was brimming with luxuries I hadn’t seen even in the capital.
Not that it mattered. I wasn’t planning to spend much time in it.
I dropped my bag on a velvet divan without ceremony and pulled out my journal and the map of the island I’d requested upon arrival.
Spreading them out across the large wooden desk, I sank into a chair with gilded adornments and got to work, tracing the island’s layout, and the three towns spaced like clock hands around the massive central crater.
According to the map, the hollow was completely uninhabited, its heart taken up by a lake that made the island resemble an atoll, albeit one carved of volcanic rock instead of coral reefs.
Hours passed in restless study. I flipped pages, circled points on the map, then went back and did it again.
Sleep wouldn’t come, the room felt too quiet and my thoughts too loud.
Eventually, I gave up. Tugging my arm wraps tighter as a protection against the chill, I slipped outside for a walk, hoping the night air might still my mind enough to finally let sleep in.
After all, I would need all my strength come morning.
Now
Zephyr’s snort interrupts my narration. A knowing smirk adorns his lips. The giant soldier at his left sneaks a brief glance at him, and the truth-teller straightens.
Every sense goes on high alert.
“That’s not all you did, though. Is it, my dear Davina?”
My mouth dries.
There is no way for him to know, I tell myself, commanding my body not to show a reaction. “I also wanted to walk down the streets, see how they aligned with the map I’d been studying.” Not a lie.
“And what else?” Zephyr presses, unrelenting.
Anxious butterflies flutter in my stomach, but I don’t budge. “And after going down all the main and secondary streets, locating the main landpoints and accesses to the crater’s tunnels, I returned to my room and slept.”
“Lie.” The sentient’s word comes down on me like a maze on glass.
The captain doesn’t miss a beat. “Oh, I know.” My captor’s tongue pushes against the side of his cheek as he nods. When his burning gaze meets mine, it’s all I can do to brace for whatever he’s about to ask. “You didn’t enter any buildings?”
No, no, no, no . . .
“No.”
The word has barely left my lips when the woman calls again, “Lie.”
It’s funny how a tiny word, just three letters, is about to make my already precarious predicament so much worse.
Or is it?
Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. Zephyr must have a reason to ask. Impossibly, against all odds, he already knows. Which means, my fate was sealed from the very beginning.
“Care to try again?” It’s posed as a casual question, but I hear the underlying threat nonetheless.
He’s daring me to lie again. To come up with a version of the facts that skirts around them enough to save my skin. And maybe, fresh, nurtured Davina could have been able to spin it in such a way. But I am so, so tired.
What’s the point anymore?
With a muted sigh, I accept that another nail is going to be adorning my coffin, and there’s absolutely nothing that I can do about it.