“After seeing the ash, McQuoid and I left his men to deal with the residents and then bounded down the tunnel. Golem met us right when we reached the road to gorge…”
“His face,” Keane shakes his head, “Ancients, his face. That’s something else I’ll never forget. He had the look of genuine nervousness in his eyes… something I have never seen on my father’s Golem in all the years that I have lived. His face told me everything I needed to know as we ran hard through the crowd. Not a single person was aware of what was happening outside, but when we met Mana at the steps of the library, he told us that Cal and Holis had already ran in-”
“-Cal broke the rule for me?” I ask in astonishment.
“Of course,” Keane looks down at me softly, “why would that surprise you?”
“I guess it doesn’t,” I shake my head with a frown, “not really. But I am worried that he’ll get in trouble.”
“I doubt he will,” he skims his fingers back up my shoulders, “only McQuoid and our group know that he was inside, and none of us would even consider bringing that information up in any setting.”
I nod into my arms and take a deep breath, “so he brought me down?”
Keane hesitates. “Yes.”
I look back up at him and narrow my eyes, “there’s more.”
He watches me for a small moment and then gives the briefest of nods.
“I assisted, more or less, in bringing you down the rest of the heights.”
I can tell he doesn’t want to divulge any more on that part of the story so I let it go and sigh back into my arms. Keane releases a breath and keeps his fingers moving in a steady caress, finishing his story.
“McQuoid led us all back through the mountain city and into the fortress while Clair set up this guest room on a private wing. You’ve been asleep for a full day. It’s nearly sundown right now, day four.”
“Did you carry me all the way from the library to here?” I ask, closing my eyes.
“Yes,” he replies softly.
His fingers stop their motions on my back as his palm timidly flattens against my skin.
“Alexis,” he begins quietly.
“Hmm?”
“Had you been crying?”
Ancients.
I must’ve looked such a mess for him to notice that. I open my eyes and push off the tub, grateful for his sturdy touch behind me.
“I was properly bawling,” I nod.
“Why?” he frowns.
I avert my gaze back to the water and slowly lift my knees to my chest. Keane moves his hand around my shoulder and slips two fingers under my chin, angling my gaze back on him. The kindness in his eyes as he looks at me does so much more damage than he knows. They remind me too much of his father’s… of the man who I will have to go home to empty-handed.
I try to turn away from his gaze but he holds my chin in place.
“Talk to me, Alexis.”
Shame washes over me, as does the same disappointment I felt on that thirty-second height. I watch in my mind as the corners of the book turn into ash over and over again, the book disintegrating into nothing and leaving me with no proof that I found what he was looking for.
How will I tell Zander? How can I even begin to explain what happened? Will his eyes no longer look at me with the same kindness as hisson’s do now? Perhaps he’ll kick me out of Castle Bardot.Oh, Ancients, what a thought. I may really have to take Yara up on her offer of employment in Fumagalli. But at least I’ll be close to Keane.... unless he thinks I’m a failure, too.Fuck,I don’t think I could live with that.
The tug of his fingers brings me back to him, his eyes darting back and forth over my face in real concern.
“Whatever it is, Alexis, you do not need to fear telling me.”
