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I go silent, letting my arms fall to my sides and dangle like dead fish. He is right about that. No matter what, she is lost to me. Whether she finds out the truth about the assassin or if I choose to help Egretz win her over, she will be gone in a snap, out of my life and into the ether.
I slide down to the floor, my head still leaning up against the bars. Everything goes quiet as Egretz remains, water dripping from a distant faucet, voices muffled in some room. My body has given in, as has my heart.
“Very well, then,” Egretz says, then swirls his cape around to depart the keep.
I hear the patter of his feet going up the stairs, and the heavy door closes behind him. Soon after, another guard leaves, leaving me and one other person in the dim to brood over my sin.
“Lana …” I whisper to myself.
Her name is poetry to me. Gorgeous, eclectic, strong, comforting. That is all that will remain with me once she is gone.
“Get up, Sys.”
I wonder if I am hallucinating when I hear Lana’s voice close to my ear, warmth tickling the shell of the lobe.
Then, I look up and see something miraculous.
“Lana?”
The guard that remains in the keep pulled “his” helmet off to reveal her, my beautiful girl, her long, black hair emerging and spilling over the suit of armor. Her eyes are dull and serious, yet I am enchanted to see her.
“Stand up so we can get out of here,” she insists.
I do as she asks, standing with my heart chittering in my chest as she unlocks the cell. I want to embrace her, but she seems to be focused and knows what she is doing.
“How the fuck did you get in here?” I murmur.
“Security here is a joke,” she responds. “Egretz is far too egotistical to think anyone would even try breaking in here.”
I nod, amused by her wit, and follow her to the opposite side of the keep. She shows me how she got in, which is through a tunnel that looks to be a few thousand years old. We crawl through it with ease and end up just outside Egretz’s lair, all without a peep of commotion heard above us.
We scurry to find a hideout before speaking again, both of us panting and dirty from the tightness of the tunnel. She is bent over with her hands on her knees when I place a hand on her lower back.
Her reaction is as fast as a ur’gin’s strike. Instead of giving me the kiss I had been yearning for, she smacks my hand away, then proceeds to launch her fist into the side of my face.
Lana opened her hand halfway through the projection, giving me a half-slap, half-punch in the side of my mouth. Either way, it stung, mostly because it had sprung, seemingly, out of nowhere.
It scrapes me, too, somewhat, and I realize within a split second that it was the one with the coin embedded.
My head flicks to the side as I bring my hand to the wound, which has already started to throb.
“Aw, shit!” I howl. “What the fuck was that for?”
“What do you think?” she bellows, staring at me with razors in her eyes. “Use your head for a fucking second.”
I rub at my lips, licking them slightly to detect a rust flavor of blood. But Lana doesn’t seem the slightest bit of concern.
“I heard everything, Sys!” she called out. “Here I am coming back from Milthar, wringing my hands to tell you about my developing feelings for you.”
My mind is swirling after having been knocked about, my face stinging from the sudden smack. I stand there, dumbstruck, but I know exactly what she is referring to.
“Lana,” I whisper. “Please. Let me explain everything.”
“There’s no more explaining for you, Sys,” she snaps. “Get your shit out of my tower. There’s nothing left for us here.”
Lana walks away from me toward the tower, and all I can do is trail behind her. She isn’t wrong; there really is not much left to be explained.
EIGHTEEN
