“Okay,” I say. “Let’s go.”
The floor beneath us is slippery from all the blood. We climb the stairs slower than I’d like, but we make it to the top and then outside into the back gardens.
“Where are we?” Jax asks, limping next to me.
I can’t believe he doesn’t know. How did they bring him in here? I push the dark images that rise in my mind away.
“It’s Daegel’s estate,” I say.
Jax follows me through the garden towards the back wall in silence. It’s a loaded silence, I can tell. But neither of us speak as we rush to put as much distance between Daegel and us.
Jax stumbles. I can tell he’s in a lot of pain without having to open up my senses. I drop his arm over my shoulder and allow him to lean on me.
“You’re so lean, yet so heavy,” I say. “That’s unexpected.”
Jax chuckles and then coughs terribly. When he pulls his hand away from his mouth, there is no blood in his palm.Thank the gods.Even if his ribs are broken, at least they haven’t punctured his lungs.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says in a rough voice. It’s like stone on stone. “Always keep them expecting something else than you can offer. That’s the secret, Phoenix darling.”
He must have screamed so much when they tortured him that he ripped his vocal cords. And to think that all of it was happening while I was upstairs in the bedroom with Daegel…I push the guilt away.
I huff a laugh. “And he’s back, ladies and gentlemen.”
Finally, we reach the back of the estate’s gardens where the stone fence I always climb is. It’s twice as tall as me. I have no clue how Jax will make the climb when he can barely walk. Jax is thinking the same thing—it’s written all over his face.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I curse. “Wait for me here. I’m going to check something quickly. Lay low.”
I leave Jax leaning against the stone wall while I rush to see if there is a gate. There must be. The front entrance gate can’t be the only way in. I bet his staff isn’t arriving every day to work through the main gate.
I follow the stone wall in the direction I haven’t been. I already know there isn’t any gate on the other side. I almost miss it, it’s so overgrown with ivy and bushes. But the little woodendoor is there. I rip the overgrown greenery from it with my bare hands.
It stings, but I don’t care.
The door is locked. Of course it is. I almost roar from frustration. Glancing around, I try to find a place where the key might be hidden. There is a large rock. I try to move it, but it doesn’t budge. The key is definitely not there.
I venture farther away from the door, inspecting everything around the gardens. Finally, I come across a little clay frog nestled between the lush flowers that line the gravel pathways all over. I pick it up and the metal inside the frog clinks. I smash the frog onto the gravel and it breaks. I pick up the bronze key and rush back to the wooden door.
At first I think the key is not for this door, because the key doesn’t go in. When it finally does, it doesn’t twist. I ram my shoulder into the door and tug on the handle. After a little struggle, the rusty lock clicks and the key twists to the side.
The door to our freedom is open.
Barely keeping up with breathing, I rush back to where I left Jax. My heart pounds, and I’m terrified that he’s not there. But he is. Exactly where I left him. His eyes light up when he sees me and it breaks my heart. Did he think I would leave him?
“Let’s go. There is a small gate right there,” I say, jerking my chin.
I once again take his arm and he leans on me. We slowly make our way towards the door. I hate that it’s the middle of the day. If anyone looks out the window from Daegel’s estate, they will see us. Daegel might spot us any moment now.
When we reach the wooden gate door, I open it.
Jax halts.
I turn to face him. “What’s the matter?”
“Thank you.”
Those two simple words are loaded with so much meaning, so many emotions, I can’t breathe. I swallow, trying very hard to keep my emotions in check. I can’t break down. Not yet.
I clear my throat and say, “Don’t thank me just yet. We might still not end this day alive.”
