“Should we be worried?”
“No.” Noc shook his head. “I should check in with Kost.” With a click of his tongue, he urged his Zeelah to pick up the pace and galloped toward Kost. I gripped the reins of my mare so tightly my knuckles turned white.
“Enough of this.” I dug my heels into the sides of my mount and pushed her hard, sending her racing after Noc.
“Leena!” Oz shouted from behind. He let out a grunt, and the pounding of hooves sounded as he followed suit.
I was done with Noc’s caginess. Yes, the oath was affecting his mental state. Yes, he had a list a mile long of things to worry about. But my safety wasn’t one of them, and if he was keeping things from me yet again to protect me, then he was about to get a piece of my mind. Or a swift kick in the ass. Possibly both.
My Zeelah thundered after him, ascending the small hill in record time. “Someone needs to tell me right now what’s going on.”
Kost’s green eyes flared behind his glasses. “Nothing is going on.”
“Don’t you start with me,” I seethed.
“Leena.” Noc placed a firm hand on my forearm. “Look.” He tilted his head down the slope of the hill to a ramshackle two-story manor. Misshapen gray stone was framed by wooden beams, and a gable roof with sunbaked tiles sagged under the weight of years of neglect. A dormer window with iron bars across the pane was dark, and the arched front door was ajar.
“So it’s an abandoned house. Is that supposed to mean something?”
Noc’s smile was tight. “When we come this way for jobs, we frequently stay here. We still need to make sure it’s safe before we enter.”
Oz steered his mount beside me and frowned at the slumped house. “Looks about the same to me.”
“It appears so.” Kost’s voice was barely audible. Slipping out of his saddle and landing quietly on the earth, he shot Oz a quick glance. “Regardless, let’s do our due diligence. Shall we?”
“Yeah.” With the same grace, Oz dismounted and sat low into his heels. Shadows festered around their ankles, swimming upward in a quiet storm of darkness, until they both disappeared into the onyx abyss.
Noc tracked their invisible forms with his stare. “They’re checking for people. We should be able to use it for the night.” He glanced up at the darkening sky. “Better protection against the elements.”
I didn’t care about the damn elements. “What were you and Kost talking about?”
“I told you, he doesn’t think I’m well enough to—”
“Let me stop you right there.” I folded my arms across my chest just as a deep, bone-rattling rumble echoed above us. “I know you’re not telling me the truth. Or maybe you are, but I know it’s bigger than that. It’s time to be honest with me.”
Noc wrung his reins tight. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Is it? So hard to explain that you can talk to Kost, but not to me?”
“Leena…”
Above us, the clouds split in an onslaught of sudden rain. Neither of us moved. Numbing cold settled against my skin, and Noc’s tunic went from dry to soaked, clinging to every curve and contour of his chest. I’d withstand any downpour if it meant I could finally get him to open up. His throat worked as if he wanted to speak, but no words ever left his lips. Fingers trembling, he buried his face in his hands.
He looked so…broken. It wrecked me entirely, and the anger that had been fueling my tirade faded. I edged my mare closer. “Noc?”
“Can I ask you something?” His words were raspy, barely audible over the crashing thunder. Slowly, he dropped his hands, and his pained expression sent a wave of dread coursing through me.
“Yes.”
“What am I supposed to do if you die?”
I blinked, unable to follow his train of thought. My death wasn’t something I’d thought about since I’d been pardoned by Yazmin. “Why are you asking me that? I know the oath is weighing heavy on you, but Noc, I’m not going to die. I’m okay. I’m safe.”
“But what if you aren’t?” He didn’t blink. Didn’t speak. Each moment of silence that followed was a thousand waves crashing in my ears, each more deafening than the last.
“What do you mean?”
He ran his hands through his wet hair, and his locks slicked smooth against his scalp. Trails of water trickled over the high angles of his cheekbones and darted down his face. Brow twitching, he cupped his hands in his lap and stared at his palms. “What if I can’t protect you?”
