Sawyer
Iwait two miserable hours before making my way to Aurelius’s mansion.
Perched on the edge of the bed in a room Zephyr uselessly prepared for me, I sit with my hands in my lap, knee bouncing in sync with my jaw. Staring at the door waiting for the Keepers to arrive.
They didn’t.
They haven’t.
Not yet.
A full moon beams in the starry sky, lighting the path to the Keep too well as I slink ahead—the cold nipping at my fingers and nose while heat blooms on the back of my head. I scan behind for what must be the twentieth time before continuing on.
I listen for the buzz of a drone; flinch at a hoo coming from a tree. There’s no proof that I’m being watched, not even any evidence, but I feel it. Deep within my chest, I feel it.
When I make it to the Keep, Thorne is lying on the parapet wall of the staircase, his biceps bare and bulging as he rests with his hands behind his head, ankles crossed. Stargazing, lounging, yet somehow not relaxed.
As I approach, he sighs without looking at me.
“What do you want, Hansley?”
“I was hoping to check on the girl… I’m assuming Aurelius is finished with her for the night?”
Thorne scoffs, then mutters, “Aurelius will never be finished with her.”
Aurelius’s hands.
Luna’s milky skin.
His—
Stop it.
Thorne rolls his head toward me. His eyes narrow at my mouth.
I clamp my teeth.
“I’m not in the mood to humor you,” he says. “I doubt I’ll ever be in the mood again. So why don’t you just say what you really want so I can tell you no and you can piss off?”
“The girl… I just need a minute with her. Is Aurelius… Is Luna preoccupied?”
Thorne rolls his eyes and goes back to admiring the stars. Or—judging by his expression—hating them. “She’s asleep.”
“Oh,” I say, without anything to follow. I rub the back of my neck, gaze wandering to the door. At least twenty rooms and a basement await on the other side, with Keepers, the help, and Aurelius to guard it.
“In Aurelius’s bed?” I ask when I can’t help it. Foolish, impulsive. “Is he asleep as well? If not, I’d like to speak to him.”
“So speak to him.”
“Thanks for the permission.” I force out a scoff. “But it’ll be most helpful if you tell me where he is?”
No response.
“Is he with the girl?” My voice is more annoyed than anxious. Good. “Because it is very important to her initiation that I—”
Thorne groans, deep and rumbly. He says nothing as he rubs at his forehead, eyelids half-hooded, mouth sunken. Not exhausted. Troubled.
A pin pricks my chest, then another, and another until I hold my breath and clench my hands inside my hoodie pocket.
“Did something happen?” I ask, my pitch a little too high.
“Yes,” Thorne spits. “You happened. I swear to God, this is not the time to pretend to care about Luna. You wanna talk to Aurelius, find him yourself. Tonight…” He huffs. “I am off duty.”
I look toward the front door; almost take a step. But the plan in my mind slowly unravels while I let it play. If I’m honest, it was never any good to begin with.
I turn back to look at Thorne but instead of seeing him in the present, I see his arm wrapped around Luna, his face soft for her, kind for her.
His glare the one and only time I asked for his help, the anger rolling off him while he watched me force Luna to bed.
The food he brought her; his hatred for me.
He is dangerous, but right now … he could help.
“Okay,” I say with a nod. I walk up a few steps toward him to try and draw his eyes, but his head doesn’t budge. “I’ll stop pretending to care about her if you admit that you do.”
When he looks at me, his eyes narrow.
“I can see it all over your face.” I take another step his way. “You don’t like this. You know how depraved Aurelius’s goals are, how depraved I am. You know this is wrong.”
“I will do what’s best for my people at all costs,” he says like a robot repeating an automated response. Or like a guy who grew up in a cult.
“Isn’t Luna included in that now? You help her, you’re helping your people.”
“Oh, Sawyer…” Thorne laughs bitterly and rubs his hand over his forehead.
“Tonight will not be the only night Aurelius rapes her, Thorne. He’s going to do it again and again before passing her off, and then he’ll do it to dozens of other girls. Is that really something you think you can stomach? Is that the type of man that you are?”
Tension floods the air as Thorne’s enormous muscles wind. He sits up and turns his body toward me, nostrils flaring. If I saw him in the sunlight, I’d say he looked angry. In the light of the lanterns that line the staircase, he looks enraged.
“Is that the type of man that I am?” He stands and stalks the few feet toward me.
He stands over me like the giant that he is, his chin level with the top of my head—David and Great-Value Goliath.
I almost smile at the ridiculousness of the thought but don’t.
I keep my eyes pinned to his, my jaw tight.
If he thinks he can intimidate me by size alone, he’s mistaken.
“Listen to me, you tiny, little ant.” He grabs the top of my hoodie and shakes.
“The moment, and I mean the moment I get the green light to hurt you, I’m going to cause you so much pain, you’ll be begging to take the place of these whores you want me to think you care about.
” He sucks in a deep breath, fueling to spew more while my mind catches on a word: whores.
All his sadness, all his guilt vanishes with that one, derogatory word, and shatters the empathy I swore he had.
I’ve missed something.
But no… No, I know he feels for Luna. I’ve seen it.
“I’m going to start with your teeth.” He stares at my mouth. “I want to know what you sound like without them.”
“Hopefully, not as daft as you.” I shove his hand from my hoodie and pull my shoulders back. “You think you can intimidate me because you can dish out pain?” I laugh.
Thorne’s glare breaks with a smile. Sinister. Sadistic. Because he really is going to get his chance, and he’s absolutely going to enjoy it.
I know. I know it’s coming. Any time now.
My hands lower to my sides as I take a step back and let my scowl loosen.
“Listen… We don’t like each other. We can agree on that.
” I straighten my hoodie and dust off my arms. “But whether or not you want to admit it, we both care about the girl. If we put our bullshit aside, we can help her, Thorne.”
His smile fades, expression blanking. His eyes dance around my face like he’s sizing me up. Searching for truth. For once, he’d find it. “How?”
My chest releases, and with it comes my first breath in hours.
I’ve got him.
“Take me to her.” I shift closer. “I just need five minutes to tell her what I know. If she trusts you, you can take it from there.”
If she trusts him…
I think she will. I think she’ll have to.
“And what is it that you know?”
My lips draw tight as a second passes, a pause that somehow feels loud without words. I study his eyes, the draw of his brows, the arms bent with tension. It’s a risk telling Thorne. It could be a fatal mistake.
But I let myself picture his arm around Luna once again… And I just can’t see the odds tipping in my favor.
Any minute now, they’ll come for me.
No one is coming for him.
“I know a way out.”
“Out of the compound,” he clarifies.
I nod.
He stares.
I stare back.
Where is it?
I wait for him to ask, hope for him to ask. If I tell him, Luna becomes his responsibility.
I could leave.
I might still have time.
But he doesn’t ask. He breaks his gaze from mine; runs a thick finger absently along his tattoo. Considers it. Really considers it.
Then, “Okay.” He nods slowly and returns his gaze to mine.
“But you have to go to her yourself, and be very careful, Sawyer. She’s staying in the Head Keeper’s quarters.
It's a highly restricted area, so if you get caught…” He blows out a breath, a flicker of amusement twinkling his eyes. “I don’t know if I can help you.”
“Why is she there?”
His brow arches. “Hmm?”
“You said she’s in the Head Keeper’s quarters.” I shake my head when it spins. “Why—”
“It’s the most guarded.”
He gets close and peeks around as if someone might be watching us. “Luna’s room is on the east side of the building, on the second floor. It’s the third window from the north. There’s an ivy-covered trellis that leads straight up.”
My mind starts to map the path, a new plan forming immediately. But there’s a hitch… The slightest hitch slows my blood along with my thoughts, but when I try to analyze it, I can’t. I don’t know what it is.
I’m missing something.
The flicker of humor is gone in Thorne’s eyes, but it was there. Like he’d be thrilled if I got caught—or at least part of him would be. He could be setting me up…
No. I just admitted everything to him. I am already ‘caught.’
He would gain nothing from me climbing into the wrong room.
“You should hurry.” Thorne looks behind him. “There’s no telling when my mate will return. She’s known to be feral.”
So I’m told.
I follow his gaze behind him before nodding. “Okay… Thanks.”
He says nothing more as I turn and walk down the steps.
The trellis is exactly where Thorne said, leading straight to a window, to Luna’s window presumably. Moonlight glints off the darkened glass, free of bars. No Keepers walk the perimeter.
Its convenience only unsettles me more. And unlike when I arrived at the Keep, I’m not eager to go inside.
I’m missing something.
As I begin to climb, the thought repeats… But I climb anyway. There may be another way to get to Luna, but there isn’t any time.
I’m an idiot. Each inch I move up the trellis, I know I’m an idiot.
I just don’t know why.