His face was devoid of any emotion, cold and stoic. He reminded me of the soldier my brother hired to guard our family castle who only recently returned from the war. His eyes bore a sharp, restless look, as if he got a glimpse of hell and came back, but not all the way.
I returned my eyes to the horizon, thinking hard about escaping these lands.
We walked for a good portion of the morning. My eyes darted from the stores to random pedestrians we saw passing by. The only other city I had ever visited was Rottestadt, but it was so very different, always cold and coveredwith thick fog. At least the weather was mild here, but again my brother’s city did not have crawlers.
“How did you meet the others?” I asked.
Tynan turned to face me and I could plainly see that he was not prepared to have a casual conversation with me.
“We grew up together,” he said after a long pause.
“Here? In Riolle?”
“No, far from here.”
I sighed, looking at the pavement beneath my feet.
“You’re quite the talker.”
“So are you,” he responded.
“Are you going to be rewarded for dragging me to the capital?” I asked.
“Rewarded?” He frowned.
“There should be a reason why you would do something so... dishonorable.”
Tynan frowned, but said nothing.
“I hope your masters pay you well,” I continued.
“It’s getting late. We should head back,” he said and his broad hand landed on my shoulder.
I clenched my teeth, and followed him through the busy streets.
The noise of the crowded tavern and the smells of pork and sour wine invaded my nostrils when an enormous platter of roasted vegetables and meat was placed in the middle of the wooden table. I picked up my bent spoon and dug into the food.
This time, Frid joined us, but she sat on the other side of Solomon. From time to time, I caught her staring at me. I did not need a crystal ball to see that she was still really angry. I shifted in my chair uncomfortably. If there was one thing that I absolutely did not feel good about, it was that I knowingly took advantage of her. And there was no way to fix it, especially because I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Solomon concentrated on his food, his strong profile and dark skin reflected the lights of the candles. From time to time, he raised his head to scrutinize the crowd of tavern visitors before returning to his meal.
I looked at Victor, whose eyes were glued to the busty blond girl behind the counter. It would be so incredibly easy to trick him and escape if he was the one guarding me. But, unfortunately, it was not meant to be.
Almost against my will, my gaze shifted to Tynan. His hard profile was outlined by the soft glow of the low hanging chandelier. He was amazingly beautiful and absolutely rotten.
How was it possible to have everything he had, and not be kind or compassionate? Why won’t he just let me go? Why couldn’t he tell his commanders that I died in prison and let me escape? Whydid he want to drag me back to another prison cell? What did he say about other people? They were selfish, ignorant, and suicidal.
It was obvious that he did not like people in general, except for the lucky few who have been with him since they were children.
I bit the inside of my cheek. My time was running out. I only had one more day before Erin would return, and he could bring more people with him. I had to make my move. My eyes landed on Tynan’s broad shoulders and strong neck. He was too big for me to overpower. To be honest, all of them were larger than me. If I wanted to make a run for it, I needed to come up with a way to immobilize him. My hand brushed the side of my dark brown pants. The handcuffs were sitting snugly in my pocket.
Just then, the blond approached our table and purposely placed herself directly in front of Tynan. She leaned forward, revealing her cleavage. His gaze briefly landed on what was barely concealed by the light blue, cotton bodice before meeting her eyes. And a sudden idea as much as exploded in my head.
If I can’t overpower him, maybe I could use another means of distracting him.
I returned my attention back to my plate, thinking through my options.
“Don’t even think about escaping again,” Victor said when Tynan left the table to get another drink.
