“Enough. Let’s eat and take a break before Erin gets back with his orders.” I motioned to the blond girl who served the lonely visitors of the tavern.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ALINA
While we ate our disgustingly oily and burned scrambled eggs and washed it down with weak, lukewarm coffee, I scrutinized Tynan. He was suspiciously quiet. His dark eyes returned to my face over and over as if he was trying to solve a riddle. I shifted forward, picking up an uneven piece of hard, grainy bread then spread some oversalted butter on it.
I had to get away, but my captor was constantly shadowing me. He would not even leave me alone while I was in the bathroom. My nostrils flared when I thought about the humiliation of him standing behind the door, as if I was some kind of a dangerous criminal. To be fair, if he had not, I probably would have tried to escape. One thing these peopledid not seem to understand; I would do anything to be free. No amount of shaming me for not wanting to make their life easier would do them any good.
I chewed the bread, watching my guard. All I needed to do was to come up with another plan.
Fortunately, I was good at planning and I knew how to deal with different types of people. That was my day to day task back at home. I made sure my family’s castle ran smoothly, placing the right people in key positions and managing all the conflicts and drama. I could do it, I could best him.
I just needed to learn more about Tynan, despite him being so reserved, and unpleasant. Maybe if I pushed his buttons a little, I would have a better idea what to do about him. That was an uncomfortable thought because it absolutely went against my nature to be nasty to someone on purpose. I sighed.
“I want to go for a walk!” I demanded.
Tynan’s eyes shifted back to me and he scowled.
Victor smirked, watching the two of us.
I stood up, committing to the idea. If we could get into a thick crowd, I would be able to lose him and escape. It was a simple plan, too simple perhaps, but it was certainly worth trying.
The truth was, I was not sure if Tynan could be so easily manipulated. To my surprise, he slowly got up. I turned away from the table feeling nothing short of triumph for making him do something he did not want to do.
In the meantime, I approached the front door and my hand just landed on the door knob when Tynan’s closeness made me hesitate. He placed his hand directly on top of mine, trapping me.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” he whispered in my ear, and shivers ran down my spine.
“Or what?” I said before I could stop myself.
“Or you will see how unpleasant I can be,” he responded, letting go of my hand and opening the front door for me.
I gave him a side eye, realizing that he used the exact same word I thought of when describing him. Carefully, I stepped outside.
“What? You can be more unpleasant than you already are? I don’t think that’s possible,” I said, watching his lips press tightly together.
“Trust me on this,” he said and I looked away.
The sun was shining directly into my eyes, I squinted, covering my face. Maybe this would be the perfect distraction I needed. I quickly got up on the sidewalk, avoiding a collision with a street seller’s cart.
“If you are so unpleasant, why did you come with me?” I asked, looking at his profile.
“Why? Did you change your mind?” he asked, and I bit my lip.
“No, I did not.”
There had to be something, some weakness I could exploit. I needed to figure him out and use it to my advantage.At the same time, I thought about what it would feel like to be one of his friends. Someone he trusted, someone he was ready to sacrifice himself for, to save and protect. He treated his little group as if they were his family, and maybe they were.
I concentrated on my destination, watching the rows of merchants and numerous soldiers who walked with hefty white dogs on leashes. After I saw several similar groups, my eyes returned to Tynan.
“Why do they have dogs?”
“They are looking for the infected. In a big city like this one, one crawler could create mayhem,” he explained.
“Why would infected people try to get into the city?” I asked.
“Why do people do what they do? Many of them are selfish, ignorant or suicidal.” Tynan watched the crowd and my eyes kept returning to his profile.
