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“Okay. Alright. Gag stays in.” She replaced the gag and shot him an extremely sarcasticare-you-happylook.
She really had no fear of him.
Amazingly, he felt his lips nearly twitch in amusement. He’d forgotten how unwittingly charming she could be. He drew upon the memory of poor Lizbet to bolster his anger. “Take it out again and I’ll shred both our clothes to bind you with.” In fact, he might decide to do that anyway once they got where they were going. “There’s a hidden bunker around here somewhere.” If only he could remember where it was. His paranoid father had installed many such hiding places around the white forest, their locations secret but to the most trusted of his court.
Khalstorm glanced around, his keen night vision coming in handy. Witches usually used magic to provide light for their inferior eyesight. Right now, Celeste must feel almost blind as she lurched after him, relying on his guidance for her footing.
When she tripped on a fallen branch and stumbled, a part of him actually felt sorry for her, but he quickly quelled it. He would relish her struggle. Not only would it keep her off balance physically, but mentally as well, forcing her to concentrate on staying upright rather than charming him . . . as she used to do so easily. There had been a time when a simple smile from her would make him melt. He once believed he would have done anything for that smile.
No more. Never again.
Yet he discovered there was still something of his old self hidden in his black heart when he lumbered over a fallen tree and absently helped her over it too. He immediately chastised himself and left her to climb over the next fallen tree on her own. She did so . . . carefully, and impossibly slow, so he decided that wasn’t a good idea either. If they had all the time in the world, he’d force her to stumble through the forest in the dark without his help at all, just for his amusement, but they were too exposed and could be found at any moment, so he hastened their movements however necessary. When she showed signs of running low on energy, he scooped her up and carried her. She made no objection but did watch him warily.
After several hours of walking, they finally came to a marker indicating the location of an underground bunker. The entrance was concealed next to a bush of pure white willow flowers which, oddly enough, were once foreign to the white forest, but since they blended in so well, no one would be the wiser unless they knew Garnath’s history.
After setting Celeste on her feet, he brushed aside the bush, revealing a hatch in the ground.
Opening the hatch, he peered inside, but only saw a thin ladder that led to darkness. He gestured for her to enter. She leaned over and glanced into the pitch-black hole with trepidation and mumbled around the gag, “You ‘ant me to go ‘own there?”
“There’s a ladder,” he pointed out. When she continued to hesitate, he added, “Either you climb down on your own, or I toss you down. Your choice.”
Her eyes narrowed on him, flashing with anger, but she did crawl into the opening, cautiously, taking longer than he thought was necessary to find the first rung. When he followed her in, being sure to close the hatch tight behind him, total darkness enveloped them. He heard her feet hit the landing and her breath came more rapidly. Was she frightened of the dark? Or perhaps it was being enclosed with him. Had she finally registered her dire situation? He told himself he was glad of it; she should be afraid. It was so dark, even he was having a hard time seeing. He contemplated letting her sweat it out in the dark, but when it sounded as if she’d stumbled he quickly switched on the light.
Can’t have her cracking her head open before I get my revenge, he reasoned.
Celeste flinched at the sudden brightness then took in her surroundings. The sterile-looking room was small and shockingly bare. A single raised mattress sat against the far wall. In one of the corners there was what looked like a hastily plumbed shower with no curtain and scraps of unused pipe littered about. There was a set of cupboards along one of the walls that should have been stocked with supplies, but this hideaway had been plundered, probably long ago. He checked the small closet. A single black cloak hung on an otherwise empty rack.
Without preamble, Celeste stumbled toward the mattress and flopped on top of it face first. Then she let out a deep, luxurious purr that Khalstorm felt deep in his bones. His aggravation ratcheted to new heights. “You sleep on the floor.”
She turned her head and peeked her tired eyes up at him, mumbled something from behind her gag, and then defiantly burrowed deeper into the mattress.
He stormed to her side, rolled her onto her back, and pulled the gag down. “What did you say?”
“Since I saved your life,I’mtaking the bed.”
He was flabbergasted. So much for his theory that she finally realized she should fear him. “The hell you are.”
She rolled over, brazenly giving him her back, and yawned as she added, “Don’t be an ass. There’s enough room for the both of us.”
He gazed down at her in disbelief.Remarkable.Zero fear of him at all. He would have to remedy that soon. But right now, she had a point. They’d been running on adrenaline for hours. The ordeal had taken more out of him than he’d initially realized. He felt his eyes grow heavy. The more he eyed the bed, the more his muscles begged for rest.
But before he scooted in beside her, he returned to the hatch, intending to lock it, only to find the sliding latch missing. Luckily the set of half rings meant to house the latch were still fixed securely in place, so he grabbed a length of pipe, shoved it through the rings and then used his considerable might to secure the makeshift lock by bending both ends of the pipe back on itself.
When he returned to the bed, she was already snoring.
7
Celeste awoke to find Khalstorm slumbering beside her. In another time, another life, she would have snuggled up close to him and just listened to his heartbeat as she fell back asleep. But there was no chance of him welcoming her into his arms. And this could be her one and only chance to escape.
She had no way of knowing how long either of them had slept. It could have been hours or minutes. Either way, she didn’t feel refreshed in the least. Her muscles still ached from the long fight to shore, and then the grueling march through the forest.
She was surprised to find Khalstorm had left the bunker lights on, so thankfully she wasn’t blinded by pure darkness as she had been upon first entering this place. With careful slowness, she inched her way off the mattress so as not to disturb him, then padded to the latter and quietly climbed . . . only to find a makeshift lock prevented her escape.
“Dammit,” she muttered. She could already tell she wouldn’t be strong enough to unbend the twisted piece of metal.
A dark chuckle sounded from below. She ducked back into the bunker to find Khalstorm sitting up on the mattress, leisurely resting an arm over his casually bent knee. “It may become my greatest amusement to watch you try to escape me and fail every time.”
She stood before him, chin raised in defiance. “Until the day I escape you for good.”
