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The second we land on the launchpad, I punch the blade so hard to Killian’s neck, blood begins to bead around the small wound at the tip.
“I saidpretend,” he snarls through gritted teeth.
“That’s for the kissing comment,” I say. Then loosening my grip only slightly, I add, “This is for pretend.”
Killian clears his throat, adopts the posture of a guy who’s been dragged through time against his will. But to me, he whispers, “Well, he doesn’t change, now does he?”
I turn to find Arthur striding toward us, his gaze darting between Killian and me, but whatever he’s thinking is for him to know and for the rest of us to ponder.
“I was beginning to worry.” Arthur comes to stand before us. “You were running down the clock. But it looks like your Trip was successful after all.”
“Is this what you wanted?” I jab the tip harder, causing Killian to wince.
“Easy, tiger,” he mutters under his breath. Relaxing his stance only when Arthur lowers my arm and removes the weapon from my grip.
“I take it you ran into some trouble?” Arthur stops a moment to examine my hastily crafted blade before handing it off to Keane, who’s also joined us.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” I smirk at Killian, but he’s too smart to respond.
“Are you okay?” Arthur bends his head in study, granting me way more interest than he gave to the weapon. But that probably has more to do with my disheveled appearance than anything else.
The honest answer would be,I’m not sure.
Possibly followed by a long list of reminders of how he purposely put me into a dangerous situation, to do a dangerous job, in a time when it was dangerous just to be a female in the world, let alone one accused of committing a crime.
I was assaulted.
Tossed into a cell.
Nearly raped.
And destined to die.
It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, but I’m in no mood to relive it. For now, I’d rather focus on the triumph, and how with a little ingenuity and a streak of ferocity I never would’ve guessed at, I managed to survive.
To Arthur, I say. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
He motions for Keane to escort Killian into the control room, while Arthur concludes our debriefing.
“He didn’t want to come.” I watch as Killian refuses to cooperate, forcing Keane to grab him by the arm and forcibly drag him away.
“But you managed to convince him.” Arthur offers me a seat, but I prefer standing.
“You going to tell me who he is?” I ask.
“He didn’t tell you?”
For a moment, I freeze. Does Arthur know we’re only pretending?
Maybe.
Probably.
Arthur knows pretty much everything. But I’m committed now, so I need to keep going.
“He told me his name is Killian de Luce, but it sounds made-up.”
