CHAPTER 40
ZEPHYR
Three days ago
I DIDN’T FOR A SECOND TRUST DAVINA NOT TO STAB ME THE MOMENT I GAVE HER THE OPENING.
It didn’t matter that I could hear her pleading moans in the darkest recesses of my mind, or feel her body arching into mine in time to the desperate pull of her hand in my hair. Whatever happened the night before between us would not sway her loyalties.
There was a reason I’d refused to let her lodge in the non-inked female barracks, even if she’d shot me a look sharp enough to peel skin when I insisted.
Men weren’t allowed there, and she would’ve had far too many exits.
The administrative building had fewer, and more importantly, I had eyes on them.
After running a few errands, I stationed myself in the shallow alcove of one of the larger buildings across from hers. From there, I had an undisturbed view of the entrance, so I settled into the shadows and waited.
Two hours passed with no sign of her.
Unease began to prickle at my gut. Had she given me the slip already? Slid out before I got into position? I didn’t for a second consider her staying put being an option.
No sooner had these thoughts sprouted than a familiar silhouette moved around the side of the building. Her face and hair were covered by a dark hood, but I could never mistake that determined gait.
No front door, it seemed. Despite being settled in a room on the second floor, she had somehow managed to slip out through a side wall.
This was bound to be good.
Centurion Davina Lachlan was a shadow drifting through the streets of Yek.
Her dark cloak nearly disappeared against the rough stone of the buildings around her.
There was intent in her movements, and I knew she had gone out with an objective in mind.
I guess I shouldn’t have been all that surprised by the fact that she was heading away from the access to the tunnels carved into the walls of the crater.
What are you up to, sly, conniving Davina?
Following at a careful distance, I let the narrow streets and scattered lamplight keep me cloaked. The breeze from the coast carried the scent of salt and dust, grounding me as I stalked her through the mining town’s sleeping skeleton.
Davina was about to turn around a corner when she spun in place.
Only the deepest-rooted reflexes had me vanishing from sight in time.
Not for the first, or the hundredth time in my life, I was immensely grateful for the sap etched along my sternum, granting me the possibility of becoming invisible at will.
I waited and watched. Far away, the low rumble of waves thrummed.
Satisfied with the empty street behind her, Davina moved again, disappearing around the corner.
I allowed for a beat to pass, then broke into a careful trot, rounding the corner just in time to see her figure vanish inside one of the houses at the far end of the lane.
It stood apart from the others, not because of its size, but because of how taken care of it was.
Bougainvillea defiantly climbed around the frame of the entrance, curling in thin green vines along the stone.
A matching crimson-painted door stood boldly against the muted palette of the town.
Easily the brightest splash of color on the entire island.
And I knew exactly who it belonged to.
Now
“I went to find someone,” Davina admits, her voice rough. “A name I’d found in Sircelen’s diary. It was the only name that came up twice. So I thought he might know where the stash was.”
I know this now. Back then, I assumed she was just trying to get an edge on me by learning more about the town layout.
“Leonidas Alkaterre.”
The one and only.
The best foreman Kairis has ever known—most of the time—and a pain in my ass. I do not move a muscle, knowing that Nyak and Abenza won’t, either.
“Me staying in the admin building was a lucky coincidence,” Davina continues.
“Once night fell and the town quieted, I slipped from my room. I took the stairs and phased through the main office’s door not seeing anyone.
Whoever regularly managed the files in there was tidier than even you, which was just another happy coincidence.
In minutes, I had the folder containing all the reports with surnames starting with Al.
” Her head tilts to the side, tongue rolling over her cheek.
“And there he was, Leonidas Alkaterre—picture and all. Younger than I’d expected, and Kairis’ foreman, no less. ”
The slight note of admiration in her voice doesn’t wholly sit well with me.
“It threw me off balance, given what I knew of him. Or at least, what I suspected. Given that he was listed in Sircelen’s journal, and that the doctor’s last dealings hadn’t been precisely under the span of legality, for a close contact to have such an elevated position . . . something wasn’t adding up.”
Clever as ever.
“I was about to go through the other cabinets, digging for more information on either Yek or Leonidas, when the creak of a door opening somewhere else in the house had me cutting my losses. I didn’t know what’d happen if I was caught.
” Her chin moved, wordlessly pointing at me.
“You probably could have gotten me out easily enough, but even that would have been a problem.”
For obvious reasons. Yes, I could have gotten her out of any repercussions derived from her being caught snooping, but she’d still have been forced to reveal why to me.
“And so, I rushed to tuck the folder back where I’d found it, gathered my things, and phased through the wall at the side of the building.”
That explained why she hadn’t used the main door.
“I figured I’d learn the truth through a more direct approach. After my hours studying the island’s layout, I’d recognized the address listed in the file.”
Because of course she had.
“It was easy to find the house in question. Someone of such responsibility had to have resided in Kairis for a while, so the one construction with signs of being remotely taken care of had to be the one I was after.”
“Did it occur to you that someone you knew nothing about would not answer the door in the middle of the night?” The corner of her lip twitches, and I have the uncanny need to know why she finds my question amusing.
“No,” she replies. “He had to be, if not part of the movement himself, at least a supporter of Kaelthorn’s cell.”
It did not escape my notice how she said movement, instead of rebels. My eyes squint, a question churning in my stomach.
Davina, Davina, are you moving to the dark side?
I didn’t dare hope. It’d make my life so much easier, if that was the case. A traitor was so much easier to deal with than a foreign centurion.
“And as it often happens,” she continued, none-the-wiser to my inner rumblings. “The middle of the night is the perfect time to do things you don’t want others knowing.”