CHAPTER 43
DAVINA
Two days ago
“ZEPHYR!” I called, arm outstretched toward him.
He surged forwards, the tips of his fingers brushing mine in the softest of caresses as he tried and failed to grab me. To save me one last time.
“Lachlan!”
His voice cracked with panic, and the desperation etched across his face was the last thing I saw before the gravity claimed me. I held my breath, eyes squeezing shut, bracing for impact.
As soon as it started, it stopped. The soles of my boots struck solid ground, and I dropped into a crouch on instinct, softening the landing. Pain jarred up my bones, sharp but not shattering. I waited for the pain of broken bones to back it up, but it didn’t come.
Everything stilled. Ever so slowly, I opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings.
“Davina!” Zephyr’s raw call reached me, far closer than I’d have expected.
Dark stone veined with rust-red streaks surrounded me.
It stretched deep into the crater wall, a tunnel carved by either man or nature, I couldn’t tell.
The mineral-rich walls gleamed faintly, the ore pulsing in them like shimmering veins.
Behind me, a jagged opening let in daylight, casting a wide circle on the ground where I stood, painting me in soft gold.
Above, scattered shafts of sunlight pierced through holes in the stone ceiling and upper tunnel wall, turning dust motes into stars spilling into the cavern. They hung in the air, swirling around me in lazy spirals, settling along a dawning realization.
I just found the entrance to the catacombs.
I didn’t move. I waited for anxiety to creep in, for the sharp sting of fear to prick at my skin.
It came, but distantly, held at bay by the light.
A false safety, for the wide opening led only to a steep precipice, rising hundreds of feet above the ground and offering no escape from the unending stone of the catacomb.
I embraced it, though, as well as the sunbeams filtering through the smaller gaps scattered around the tunnel ahead.
As my heartbeat quieted, my focus sharpened, scanning the walls and looking for signs of human presence. It was far easier than I’d anticipated. What seemed to be a day tally carved into one of the walls shook me into motion.
“Lachlan?”
I froze, having almost forgotten him. Panic laced Zephyr’s voice, so at odds with his ever-stoic demeanor. My mouth opened to respond, then snapped shut.
This is the opening I need.
Let him believe I’d been lost in the fall, buried under stone, or swept down the crater’s side. It wouldn’t be hard to believe. He was still above, likely standing within the ruined temple, too far to see me.
Ignoring the odd tug within my chest, I darted down the tunnel on silent feet. His voice reached me, calling my name, further away with every step I took until I couldn’t hear it at all.
I wasn’t stupid. He’d find his way down here sooner or later. I had to move fast.
The first turn appeared ahead, and I dashed through, breathing easier knowing I’d be out of sight from Zephyr when he got into the tunnels. Another turn.
Before I could take another, Zephyr Kentar appeared like a demon of vengeance at the other end of the tunnel.
“Lachlan!”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
How in the world has he gotten here?
I called forth relief, forcing it to flood my face. “Zephyr!”
His features softened, if only a notch, and then he advanced towards me, closing the space between us in seconds. His eyes blazed as they traced every inch of my skin, searching for injury. Other than a few scrapes and tender skin that would eventually bruise, I was fine.
I held my breath, waiting—expecting—the unavoidable accusation that was about to leave his lips.
Instead, without a word, he crushed me to his chest.
Every thought fled my scattered mind, and there was only the feeling of his arms like steel bands around my shoulders, one cradling my head. Of his warmth engulfing me.
“I thought I’d lost you.” The words were barely a breath, spoken into my hair.
A myriad of protests rose to my throat—you shouldn’t touch me like this; you should have lost me; I left you behind; you’ll wish you had; I’m not yours to lose.
And above all, this is going to make everything so much harder.
None made it past the tangle of emotion growing tighter around my lungs.
Wings fluttered, low in my stomach, and warmth crept across my chest, spreading like fire through dry brush.
I felt myself softening against him, yielding to the comfort of his hold, and something inside me screamed in warning.
Say something. Anything.
The only thing I could muster was a soft “I’m okay.”
It was enough. He stepped back, and with the sudden loss of his touch, air finally rushed back into my lungs.
But Zephyr Kentar wasn’t done torturing me just yet.
His hands rose to cradle my face, coaxing my eyes to meet his. There was something foreign in them. Something I couldn’t read, mixed with a desperation that I couldn’t understand. And despite every reason why I shouldn’t, it drew me in. Just another moth, flying dangerously close to its demise.
It was a struggle to think beyond his touch. He held me like I was both the finest treasure he’d ever touched, and a weapon pressed to his throat. I held onto him like he was both my lifeline and the noose around my neck.
In the end, none of it mattered. We were both trapped in the blaze we’d fed from the start.
It wasn’t frenzied or wild. Just the firm, searing press of his mouth against mine. With it, he stole the breath from my lungs and the will from my body.
Wrecking me.
Because that was heartbreak threaded through the want, whispering between our mouths.
As quickly as he’d started it, Zephyr pulled away, leaving me panting and confused. My heart thundered in my chest, blood roaring furiously in my eardrums. I could not understand what was happening, why it felt like the ground under my feet had disappeared again.
It had been the chastest of kisses—
And then it clicked.
It was goodbye.
My chest constricted as understanding settled my buzzing nerves. Zephyr knew what I’d done. Knew I’d try to give him the slip. He was as aware as I was of our collaboration coming to an end. We were verging on the precipice of discovery, and there could only be one winner at the end.
Neither of us spoke. We didn’t need to.
It was written all over our souls.
For the larger part of ten minutes, we walked in silence down the main tunnel.
The further we went, the fewer holes punctured its ceiling, yet just enough light filtered through to keep us moving.
Not so in the narrow, winding corridors that branched off from the main passage.
Those were shrouded in a creeping darkness that made my heart thunder and my skin tingle for reasons that had nothing to do with the man beside me.
Fear surged, but I squashed it.
The catacombs had clearly served as a refuge through the centuries. Perhaps even millennia. Signs of past lives lingered everywhere. Faded symbols had been painted across the stone and glints of shattered glass caught occasionally in the dim light. I took it all in. Every detail. Every shadow.
And then it appeared . . . the widening at the end of the tunnel.
I tensed. At my side, so did Zephyr.
This was it. The moment that would change everything.
The hidden stash we’d been chasing for so long.
Columns of light crisscrossed the space beyond, illuminating the widening cavern. The beams painted the iron-veined walls in stark hues, glinting off the surfaces beyond.
I faltered, breath catching in my throat. Slowly, I turned to glance at Zephyr. His gaze darted around the space before locking onto a recess in the wall, just shy of the threshold. My stomach knotted as I followed his eyes and spotted it: the unmistakable print of a large boot in the dust.
My change in demeanor made him turn, and our eyes met one last time before his slid toward the tunnel’s end, to the flood of light spilling into the space beyond. His jaw tightened, every muscle in his frame taut. He stepped forward and I matched him, step for step.
Together, we headed for the larger cavity meant to forever haunt our dreams and nightmares.
The echo of our footsteps rang out, loud in the oppressive hush. I forced myself to breathe evenly, focusing on the simple act of movement. One step. Then another. The cavern was massive, enough so to make my fingers tingle and goosebumps rise along my spine.
You can do this.
The beams of sunlight sliced through the cavern, cutting across ore-streaked stone and dancing with motes of dust. The floor beneath us had leveled out perfectly.
The height, the remoteness . . .
The cave was the perfect space to hide a stash of sap worth millions.
And it should have been perfect.
But it wasn’t.
Because it was empty.
Now
Zephyr’s cold, bitter chuckle has my jaw ticking, even though the interruption does not surprise me. I knew this was coming. It is, possibly, the sole motive why I’m still breathing. I’ve had what I estimate to be almost two full days to brace for this.
The real reason why I’m here.
My body thrums with coiled energy, held at bay only by the cuffs around my wrists, as I wait for my captor to pose the accusation that will finally and irredeemably doom me.
“Only . . .” Zephyr drawls slowly as he leans closer, a downright terrifying smile painted across his lips. When his eyes find mine, there’s a savagery in them I’ve never seen before. A shiver runs down my spine. “It was far from empty. Was it, my dear Lachlan?”