Page 2 of Secrets of Ruin

Only two witches who’d helped the amsirah in Doomed Valley remained. The others had succumbed to the ophidians’ endless torture. Kaylia shuddered as she recalled what it was like to suffer at the hands of those monsters.

CHAPTER TWO

Sensing her distress, Brokk squeezed her hand. A smile curved his mouth when she shifted her attention back to him. That smile didn’t reach his eyes, but it revealed the tips of his retracted fangs. They were still more visible when not extended.

Despite his weight loss and the dirt and blood marring him, he was still gorgeous. Kaylia’s heart beat faster, and her breath caught as she basked in his smile.

Before being tossed into this dungeon, her feelings for him had grown to the point where guilt and uncertainty over her emotions battered her daily. She’d pledged to spend the rest of her life with Fabian, a man taken from her by the senseless act of a vampire; she shouldn’t be experiencing anything for another man… but she was.

To deal with Fabian’s loss, she’d locked herself away in the crone realm as she tried to come to terms with losing the only man she’d ever loved. Free of that realm, and in Doomed Valley, she’d discovered a sexual reawakening with Brokk, but more, she’d developed feelings for him… something she’d believed impossible.

Immortals only ever loved once; it was the way of things. They didn’t give their hearts easily, but when they did, they never gave them again.

Over their time in Doomed Valley and inside these bars, she couldn’t deny that she’d come to care deeply for Brokk. If she ever got the chance to escape this place and destroy these monsters, she’d gladly make the ophidians pay for what they’d done to him.

Never had she enjoyed taking a life; she killed when it was necessary, but she would relish slaughtering these reptile pricks who’d stolen the twinkle from Brokk’s eyes and their freedom.

“Everything okay, beautiful?” Brokk inquired.

His voice was far raspier than before they entered here, but it still made her heart beat faster. A small shiver ran down her spine as her hand tightened on his.

She doubted she looked beautiful right now, but when he said it, she felt it and believed he meant it. No matter how she looked, he found her beautiful.

“Just another day in paradise,” she whispered.

He smiled as he traced his thumb across her palm. The bars were so close together that he couldn’t fit his hand through them, but she could get hers through without touching the ensorcelled metal.

If they accidentally touched the bars, the metal could shoot them across their cell. She’d made the mistake of touching one once; she wouldn’t make it again.

“What’s your idea of paradise?” Brokk asked.

They’d spent countless hours discussing different things, asking each other random questions, and learning more about one another. Sometimes, they would lie silently, holding onto each other, but she enjoyed learning about him.

“I’m not sure,” she answered.

At one time, her answer would have been easy. Paradise was anywhere with Fabian.

That answer didn’t come to her now. And neither did the guilt that once accompanied the realization her dead fiancé, the man she’d loved more than any other, was becoming less of a once-in-a-lifetime love to her.

She should have remained in love with Fabian and loyal to him until the end of her days, but Brokk changed that. She still loved Fabian and always would, but he’d ceased being her idea of paradise.

Someone else was steadily replacing him as that man. Guilt flared but faded when she met Brokk’s eyes again.

“Anywhere outside of here and….” Her words trailed off as they lodged in her throat.

He kissed the tips of her fingers. “And?”

“Somewhere warm but not humid.”

He chuckled as his smile widened. After their time in Doomed Valley, neither wanted to experience the oppressive humidity of the jungle again.

“Somewhere with friends who have become family.” As she spoke, her words came out more broken as a sob lodged in her throat. “Somewhere… outside of… here.”

He rested his forehead against her palm. She shouldn’t say it, but he deserved to know how much he meant to her; they might never leave this place, and she couldn’t hold the words back.

“Somewhere with you.”

Brokk lifted his head, and when their gazes locked, the steely gleam in his eyes rattled her. Did I say something wrong?