Lexi sighed and turned to face Orin. The beam found him standing in the corner of two adjoining tunnels. His black eyes glimmered with malice as he studied her with a look that made the hair on her nape rise, but she didn’t back away from him.
“I was helping to save one of your brothers,” she retorted.
Those words knocked some of the ire out of him, and he gaped at her before covering it up. Confronted with him again, that niggling guilt tugged at her again.
She’d kept his presence here a secret from Cole. But she was sure Cole had plenty of secrets of his own, and it wasn’t like they were in a relationship and he’d told her everything.
She tried to reassure herself with this reasoning, but the guilt wouldn’t let go.
“You could have left,” she said. “Believe me, I would have preferred it if you did.”
“I can’t just pop out of here,” he retorted. “I have no idea where any of these tunnels go or what I’d emerge into. Plus, you shut some of the gates, so I don’t have many places to roam.”
Lexi shrugged, but as much as she wanted him gone, she was glad he hadn’t decided to find his way out. It could have been disastrous, especially if one of those ways entered into the manor.
“What do you mean you helped save one of my brothers?” he asked.
She filled him in on what happened with Brokk but emitted all details about Cole and herself. However, she must have given something away as his calculating eyes ran inquisitively over her.
“And you didn’t tell them I was here?” he asked.
“You’re still here, aren’t you?”
Instead of answering her question, he asked another. “And how is Cole?”
She somehow, miraculously, managed not to blush as she responded. “Fine. They both returned to the Gloaming today, which means I can take you out of here.”
She pulled the cheese from her pocket and tossed it to him. He caught it with ease.
“If you’ll follow me,” she said.
“And what if I decide not to go back out there?”
“Then that’s your choice, but I’m not coming back here. You can let me lead you out somewhere safe, or you can wander around here until you’re half-starved and desperate. Once that happens, you’ll have to take the risk of leaving here and someone seeing you.”
“And then they’ll catch you too.”
“I. Don’t. Care,” she enunciated.
It was a bald-faced lie; of course, she cared. They both knew that, but she was not going to be at his mercy anymore. She’d rather be crisp fried by a dragon than continue to live like this.
“I’m not going to keep putting myself at risk by continuing to come down here. Either leave now, or you’re on your own.”
He bit into the cheese and chewed before swallowing. “Lead the way, little human.”
She glowered at him but refused to give him the satisfaction of telling him off. Turning on her heel, she didn’t look back at him as she led the way to a door that opened into a shed on the edge of her property.
The shed housed all sorts of garden tools, fertilizer, and some seeds, but few knew its location as it was tucked within a copse of trees. She had no doubt it would be safe to emerge there.
Climbing the stairs to the door, she slid the bolts locking it free, grasped the handle, and pushed it up. The scent of dirt and earth enveloped her.
Though she was sure it was safe, she still poked her head cautiously out to look around before climbing into the shadowy interior of the shed. She stepped out of Orin’s way before hurrying over to one of the three windows.
Even if someone had their face against the glass, they couldn’t see into the shed. Her father had made sure of that with tinted windows.
Still, she approached the glass slowly before peaking outside. Nothing moved through the trees, so she went to one of the other windows.
She checked that one before going to the last window. The last window held her attention longer than the others. Through the trees encircling the shed, she could see smoke coiling insidiously into the air from the remains of the marketplace.
The smoke made her recall the thunderous booms that shook the earth and the way the dragon destroyed without remorse. Screams echoed in her head as that helpless feeling descended over her again.
She despised feeling so powerless in this new, uncertain world. There had to be something she could do to put an end to all the death and senseless violence, but she had no idea what.
Orin’s reflection appeared in the glass as he came to stand behind her. “What happened there?” he inquired.
“The Lord decided there was a traitor in the marketplace.”
“Was there?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That makes sense.”
She turned to face him. “How does that make sense?”
He shrugged as he rubbed at the thick layer of stubble lining his chin. “Because the only thing the Lord does consistently is killing and destroying indiscriminately. Now that the war is over, he has to focus his bloodlust somewhere, and it doesn’t matter to him if that focus deserves it or not. He enjoys killing too much to stop now.”
Her blood ran cold; the beings in the marketplace were most likely innocent, but she wasn’t. Harboring him made her a traitor, but that might not matter. The Lord could get bored and send his dragons here anyway.
However, she preferred to lessen her chances of that happening. Terror spurred her into action, and she pushed against Orin’s solid chest as she nudged him toward the door. “You have to go.”
She expected him to resist her or offer up some wiseass response, but he relented to her desperate hands. When he arrived at the door, he rested his hand on the knob and faced her.
“Don’t ever tell anyone I was here,” he said.
“Do I look like an idiot?” she retorted. “Don’t ever come back. You’ll find the shed locked as well as the entrance to the tunnel. I also plan on shutting some gates and blocking off this section of the tunnel.”
His black eyes were as emotionless as a shark’s as they roamed over her. She didn’t shrink beneath his scrutiny. Instead, she scowled at him as a smile curved the edges of his mouth.
“Farewell then,” he said.
He opened the door and stepped outside. She started to close the door behind him, but he held out his palm to stop her and nudged it back open.
“If I were you, I’d stay away from my brother. Cole’s even more ruthless than me.”
With those final words, he released the door and sauntered away like he didn’t have a care in the world. The bastard shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled while he walked.
It took everything Lexi had not to slam the door behind him. Instead, she quietly closed it and turned the locks. She would have to remember to bring the keys with her the next time she came to the shed; there was no way she was leaving this door unlocked again.
She refused to consider his words as she slipped into the tunnel and slid the bolts back into place before retreating into the tunnels. She closed a few gates behind her to ensure the tunnel was blocked off further.
When she finished, the only thing she had to do was think on Orin’s parting words as she walked back toward the stables.