Booted heels thundered past. A small army’s worth of guards.
They swept her fear along with them.
What did she have to lose?Everything,said her head.
Shaw’s hands were splayed upon the stones at her back, enclosing her shoulders, his hard chest flush against hers. He bowed toward her, his breaths grazing her temple in warm pants. They hadn’t run far; his shouldn’t have been so ragged.
She knew hers shouldn’t have been either.
“I didn’t hurt you?”
She shook her head, and her nose brushed the hollow of his throat. His scent caused her eyes to flutter closed.Everything!her head reminded. But for the first time in her life, her heart protested the idea, and said,But you don’t haveanythingnow.
“Stupid on my part not to realize it’d bring so many. I’m sorry.”
And saints above, how she wanted something. Even if it might hurt. Even if she couldn’t keep it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For judging so harshly, for not letting you explain, and for still being unsure if what you’re doing is right.”
Shaw’s lungs filled, his body pressing harder against her. His slow exhale sent a lock of hair over her eye. “I judge too harshly, too.” He straightened, one hand dropping to his side, and the other pausing partway in its descent.
It rose again to finger the wind-dried strands caressing her cheek and finally, to push them aside. She swallowed against the urge to lean her face into the sensation. When she lifted her eyes to his, his hand fell from her skin.
At once, an overwhelming anger came upon her. Over how badly she wanted his touch to continue. Over howstarvedfor it she felt.
Over how she couldn’t feed that want here.
She crossed her arms over her chest, dividing the space between them. “May I ask you something?”
His gaze lifted from her elbows jutting into his front. He raised an eyebrow in response.
“What the devil was that thing?”
Shaw grinned. “Aline’s invention. She’s brilliant. If you could see the sketches, the models she’s thrown together, of the things she wishes to create. They’re magnificent.” Lux didn’t try to hide her answering smile at the pride in his voice, and his faded as his gaze dropped to her mouth. “We should go. The entrance is near here.”
She bit her lip, trepidation over entering the prison again dousing all other feeling. But he hadn’t forced her to come along, she’d done it willingly. “What do you hope to do if it’s found?”
Shaw peered down the length of the silent hall. “Steal what I can and destroy what’s left.” He stepped from the alcove, his hand outstretched. “Still desire to come?”
Lux didn’t hesitate. She grasped it tight.
The passage Riselda hadushered Lux through upon saving her those few days ago had been lit with torches every few steps. There was no such light in this one.
The door hadn’t been barred, just as Shaw had assumed, and it opened with a jarring creak that left them both stiff and breathless as they waited to be found out. But no one came. This entrance didn’t appear to be utilized often—if at all.
She followed Shaw inside, faltering only when cobwebs clung to her face. Spiders didn’t trouble her all that much, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed them crawling through her hair. Shaw, on the other hand, appeared much more bothered. She was left to tug on the door, muscling it closed as he raked his hands over his face.
He shuddered, arms falling to his sides. “Ihatespiders.”
Lux smiled into the gloom, knowing he couldn’t see it.
With a hand upon the wall and Shaw’s body heat directly before her, she took her first step down. The musty air grew thicker with the coat of dust stirred by their boots, and she fought back a cough more than once. She hadn’t any idea where this particular passage would spit them out, and she didn’t want to take any chances on any small sound echoing ahead and alerting the Shield.
Shaw, for not being able to see even the barest shadow in front of his face, maintained a steady pace as they spiraled down. Until, at last, they were met with a forlorn, flickering torch. She squinted against its brightness, attempting to peer around his shoulder to get a glimpse of the tunnel beyond, when a gust of frigid air found her skin from the opposite side.
She spun with an inadvertent gasp, but only darkness greeted her. Tentatively, she stretched out her fingers.
“This way.” Shaw motioned her forward, and her hand stilled.
