Chapter 9 Kai #2
At least some things were still going according to plan. I tilted my head and tracked the direction of the sounds before snapping my focus back to her. “We need to move. Now.”
I loosened my scarf and dropped into a crouch, reaching for her leg.
She swatted my hand away, then snatched the scarf from me with a glare. “You don’t need to be touching me there.”
Of course not. She could never make things easy.
I exhaled through my nose as she set the torch down and tied the cloth around her thigh herself. Her breath hitched when she tightened it, and she grimaced for a split second before she forced the expression away.
I took a step toward her, but she grabbed the torch again and straightened like she hadn’t just been injured.
All I wanted to do was help and protect her, but I should’ve known she wouldn’t have it. A low growl built in my chest.
“Which way?” She gestured with the flame at the branching tunnels around us.
Crystal walls caught the light and shattered it into a dozen shifting paths, each one looking just as treacherous as the last. “Because I’ve been wandering this nightmare for what feels like hours, and I still can’t tell the difference between the blue that means safety and the blue that means giant catfish monster.
And if there are more of those things down here—”
I stared at her because now I was the one confused. “Catfish?” Once again, I wasn’t quite sure we were speaking the same language.
She huffed and glared. “The big thing attacking me! You remember? That was only like a minute ago. And Aunt Maureen claimed I had a short memory!”
I shook my head, refusing to entertain this conversation further. “It was a barbelo.” My mind ran through the tunnels and the ticking pressure of time closing in around us. It didn’t matter what she called it. It was dead. Others might not be. “We need to go.”
The torchlight glowed in her eyes, picking up the gold flecks in her hazel irises as she glared up at me, her defiance burning bright despite everything.
She stood there in clothes that didn’t belong to her, three sizes too large, smeared with ink, blood, sweat, and crystal dust, and she was still arguing.
Still pushing.
Still herself.
Something hot and possessive flared in my chest before I crushed it down. “We don’t have time for this.”
I moved before she could argue again.
In one motion, I bent and hauled her over my shoulder like she weighed nothing. The contact hit harder than expected, and a tight knot in my chest loosened.
“What the—put me down!” Her fists slammed into my back, and the torch slipped from her grip and clattered onto the stone behind us. “Kai! I swear to every god and Fate and whatever else you people believe in—”
All of a sudden, something sank into my side and pinched my skin and the leather of my coat. What the hell?
I glanced over my shoulder to find her biting the leather of my coat.
It barely hurt, but it didn’t improve my mood.
A low growl rolled through my chest, and I swatted her backside.
Her yelp and the crack of my hand making impact echoed off the crystal walls.
“Be still. We aren’t stopping in the middle of a cave system to debate this while the Night Court closes in.
” Still, the way her body pressed against mine was going to cause some issues if I didn’t focus on what needed to happen.
She went rigid for half a heartbeat before her entire body lit up with outrage. “Did you just— You absolute— I’m gonna gut you like a fish!”
“You are welcome to try. Later.” I adjusted my grip, locking my arm more securely around her thighs as I started forward at a run. “Right now, hold on, and stop trying to get us both killed.”
“Where is your torch?” she snapped, twisting around and smacking me on the ass in retaliation. “If you had let me walk, we could have both had one.”
I smacked her back again without slowing. “I don’t need it. Now, behave.”
The cavern blurred around us as I ran, each turn coming faster, cleaner, as the layout of the tunnels slid into place in my mind. It was not conscious thought so much as instinct. Memory layered over scent, over the faint shifts in air and stone that guided me back to the main passages.
Behind me, she huffed. “Oh, I will absolutely succeed later. I will make you pay for this. I was perfectly capable of walking.”
“You were limping.”
“I was not—” She cut herself off with a frustrated sound. “And if you had not been in such a hurry, we would still have the torches.” Her voice dropped into a growl. “But no. Someone had his panties in a twist and had to take off.”
A part of me was shocked that she would bring that up now. “I would be very careful bringing up panties,” I shot back, “considering your history with them.”
“Oh, you found my surprise?” There was a note of satisfaction in her voice that shouldn’t have been there, given the situation. “Good. I hope you were uncomfortable the entire time.”
“Hush.” The word came out more harshly than intended as I slowed abruptly.
The cavern had gone too quiet. No whistles. No movement. No distant echo of my warriors navigating the tunnels. Nothing.
My pace dropped to a measured step as I angled us closer to the wall, turning slightly so her body was shielded behind mine.
My grip around her legs tightened as I adjusted her weight, my free hand reaching for my sword.
Only the faint luminescence of the deepest violet crystals offered any guidance, their fractured sides blank without light to make them shimmer.
She must have felt it too, because she went still. Tension replaced the earlier fury, and her fingers curled into the fabric at my back, gripping instead of striking.
“For the love of Pete,” she whispered, “if we’re about to walk into a fight, put me down and let me stand on my own two feet.”
Pete. Who was this Pete, and was she wearing his clothes? Every ounce of me wanted to demand answers, but we could be in dire trouble. Once we were safe, I’d have him killed quickly.
“Be still.” I drew my blade, the whisper of steel loud in the silence as it slid free. The familiar weight settled into my hand, grounding me.
Then I heard footsteps.
Fast. Closing.
Coming straight toward us.
My muscles tightened as I shifted my stance, bracing. Hannah coiled her body, ready for anything despite her position.
A flicker of light appeared ahead, torchlight catching against crystal and scattering in flashes.
A figure broke through the passage…and I drove my blade forward.