I ignored the partial complement and craned my head to peer up at Liam.“I guess I didn’t free you after all.”
He’d certainly done a good job of pretending to still be in her hold. The commitment he’d shown when he brandished that dagger had been very convincing. If he’d been an actor,I’d have nominated him for an Oscar.
He brushed my hair from my face, his expression tender.“You did. Thomas couldn’t break her hold over me.”
Thomas’s frown turned grumpy.“Only because I couldn’t catch you.”
“And you wouldn’t have caught me,” Liam said with a meaningful glance.“Not until it was too late.”
Thomas didn’t argue, conceding the point with a small noncommittal shrug. He looked around, his gaze searching.
What was he looking for?
“Did you see which direction the stag went?” he asked.
“Why do you want to know?” I couldn’t help but feel a little protective of the creature. His interference had probably saved my life several times over. There was no doubt in my mind he could have escaped well before the hunters had closed in, if not for my slower self.
“Aileen,” Thomas said, a warning in his tone.
I didn’t answer, my thoughts turning to another.“Where’s Nathan?”
He looked away. The enforcers had grown silent as well.
I pushed away from Liam.“Thomas, where’s Nathan?”
“He’s alive,” he admitted grudgingly. By the way he said it you could almost hear the‘for now’ after that.
I narrowed my eyes at him.“Unharmed?”
He looked away.
My eyes widened and a growl slipped from me.
His gaze swung back to me.“Careful. My tolerance only goes so far.”
“I see some things still haven’t changed,” a quiet voice said from the trees to our left.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A man stood there, the early dawn shadows wrapping around his body. They didn’t quite shield all the bare skin on display.
He seemed perfectly at home among the trees, as if he was a forest sprite and we were the interlopers.
His hair was nearly white and his skin pale as milk. His eyes were an electric blue, at once familiar and yet strange.
Motionless, Liam and Thomas looked toward the stranger with haunted expressions.
“Connor,” Thomas whispered, stepping slightly forward.
My head whipped towards Thomas. Connor. As in Thomas’s yearling? The first one? The one who’d disappeared after some argument no single person would tell me about?ThatConnor?
What was he doing here? Now?
I shifted my attention between Liam and Connor. Liam must have known about this. He’d told Connor to protect me during the fight. I hadn’t realized it at the time, too consumed with survival. I blinked as realization sunk in. Connor had been the person Liam was looking for when he left. Did Thomas know?
Connor’s focus was fixed on me, the expression on his face almost shy.“I wanted to thank you for freeing me.”
I blinked at him, having no idea what he was talking about.
