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“I’m laughing so hard I can hardly catch my breath.”
“But it’s like…a trap. He’s finally got me. No? Nothing? Well I think it’s funny.”
“Look. I need to get out of here now. I can’t…you’ll have to wait here until I get back with help, so keep—“
“Ben, I assume the walls were reinforced with granite. You have two knives. How are you going to—?”
“Hush.” Ben squeezed him very close and whispered in his ear, “What other choice do we have, baby? Be still, keep warm, and I will come back for you as soon as I can. Now, move over to one side as far as you can.”
“Ben, please, don’t—” But the agony of shifting stopped his words as a ragged gasping breath took their place.
Ben extricated himself from the warmth and familiarity of Nikolas’s body and stood, knives in hand. His plan was to stab one firmly into the side of the shaft, hang on it, thrust in the second a little higher, and by this method slowly lever himself up, tiny increment by tiny increment. He shook out his hands, beat his arms around his body to bring some life back into them and flexed his knees.
The first knife went in easily. Angled, it gave him his hold. Using it to bounce and reach slightly higher for the second plunge, he got the next hold secure and hung from it while pulling out the first.
He slid back down to the floor of the shaft when his full weight pulled the third hold out.
On his next attempt, he managed to get four holds done before the same thing happened again. Far from being granite, the sides were too wet, composed of loose peat, and the blades would not stay in when he applied his weight.
At least he’d warmed up bit. That was something.
He felt carefully around for Nikolas and slid once more behind him, opening his legs and crossing them loosely over the thin waist, transferring some of his warmth to the shivering man. “I’ll try again in a minute.”
“Okay.”
That quiet agreement was more worrying than the earlier scepticism.
They were silent for a long time. Ben was hoping Nikolas was sleeping. It was the only respite he would get from pain, and so he tried not to move or breathe and wake him. Apparently, he wasn’t asleep, for after what seemed a very long time, Nikolas murmured, “I have been thinking.”
“Colour me surprised.”
“No, this is different from the usual things I think. It’s important.” He apparently only heard what he’d said when Ben snorted, and he huffed, annoyed. “Listen, Ben. I think we have to face that this might be the end for us. No! I mean it. There are things to be said.”
“Shut up! AndImean it! You think this is the end? For us? After everything we’ve been through and survived? Christ, you’re unbelievable. We’re just stuck in a hole in the ground. On Dartmoor! This is not the end!”
“Yes, well, that’s exactly what I was thinking. A hole, in the darkness, broken. It seems I’ve come full circle back to where I belong.”
“What? You think you deserve this? Some kind of cosmic karma?”
“What I did—to have you. Those actions were the time bomb buried deep under everything I’ve done since, and so when we—when I taunted him for the final time with that book, it just blew up, and everything has now unravelled.”
Ben craned around a little, staring at Nikolas’s indistinct profile in disbelief. “You think he planned this? In revenge? You think the Prince of Wales has trapped you in his shaft?”
They were both silent for a moment until Ben muttered, embarrassed, “Hole.” Then corrected this too. “Mine! Whatever!”
Clearly suppressing quiet amusement, Nikolas replied, “No. But that karma, if you like, or fate, has decreed that this is where I should be.”
“And what about me?”
“You were supposed to cut me loose! You are such a fucking annoyance sometimes, Benjamin. I said cut me loose.”
“Yeah, well. I thought I was the anchor around your neck, remember?”
Nikolas’s hand came up and cupped the side of Ben’s face. He gave it a little shake. His fingers were icy, so Ben took the hand and put it back under the covers, holding it in his own to warm it. “That’s why we need to talk. All right, I will believe in your belief that you will escape and save us both, but…just in case, Ben. We should talk.”
“You, talk? Now I’m really scared.”
“Will you at least try to take this seriously?”
