AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But…he didn’t say no again, and I didn’t give him a chance to. “Having a jewel, meek and submissive beside you, is the perfect cover. You’re merely looking for a place to play with me. You got lost and—”
“A place to play with you?” His eyes snapped open. Fury glowed silver in his stare. “Do you hear yourself?”
“I’m merely following our script.”
“And driving me mad at the same time.”
I dropped my hand and sighed. “I’d rather you have to hurt me than be hurt yourself. This is bigger than us. It’s about them—all those bleeding, brutalized slaves—and…I can’t let them down. You can’t let them down.”
Slowly, his shoulders slouched.
His eyes latched onto mine.
Unlike the torn-apart openness of before as he rode me, the shadows over his soul closed ranks, blocking me out. “It’s dangerous.”
I shrugged. “I know.”
Chewing on his bottom lip, he tapped his pocket where he’d put his knife. “If I don’t succeed, you’ll pay the same price I will.”
I held his stare. I repeated two words that turned into a vow. “I know.”
His nostrils flared. He didn’t move.
Finally, he nodded and opened the door with a harsh yank. “So be it.” Slipping into the darkness, he somehow became part of the night. “Follow me.”
I stepped after him, cursing fresh trembles down my legs.
The moment we left the sanctity of his room, I second-guessed everything.
The castle swallowed us whole.
Oppressive and chilly, watchful and sly.
I’d never really had a reason to be stealthy before. I’d never crept up on my brother or played hide-and-seek, yet as I followed Henri down shadowy stone corridors, I suddenly wished I had. I wished I knew how to mute my footsteps. Wished I knew how to use the night to become invisible.
Hissing as low as he could, he muttered, “Walk behind me, head down, hands by your sides.” His eyes scanned the t-shirt I’d pilfered. “I should probably take that off you but...ah, well. We’ll deal with that later.”
Our gazes held.
I had the feeling he wanted to say something else, lots of ‘else’, but he merely pinched the bridge of his nose, cleared his throat, then snapped his fingers. “Come.”
I fell into step with him as we moved through his floor and toward the curved staircases in the heart of the castle.
Carved steps loomed out of the darkness. Candelabras flickered with electrical warmth, mimicking candle fire without the mess of dripping wax and threat of flame-wrought disasters.
Henri paused on the first step, his eyes narrowed. His head tipped to the side as if listening for footsteps.
I stopped breathing, waiting.
My senses prickled, but I only felt stone and rock, not bone and blood.
With a tense nod, he beckoned me forward.
Slowly, quietly, we started to climb.
Third floor, fourth floor, fifth.
Still, we kept going.
