I understood.In his place, I would be furious as well.
“I have had enough of deceit.I will not give your people the chance to put a dagger in my back.”
“That won’t happen, not after what I said in the arena.Trust me—"
“I do not trust, and I do not wish to stay here one more minute longer.”He held out a hand.“Come.”
My mother pushed his hand away, and he directed his blue-green gaze to her.“Woman, if I wanted to hurt your daughter, if I wanted to kill her, I would have done it.”
I swallowed, feeling the raw pain in my throat.I might have argued that hehadhurt me, but I knew it was nothing compared to what he could have done.He hadn’t kicked me or punched me.Even when he’d been choking me unconscious, I could feel the way he’d controlled his strength and power.He hadn’t wanted to truly hurt me.
“Mama, will you leave us alone?”
“Mara, no!”My mother gave me a horrified look.
“Finnrey, will you take her outside the door and wait?”
Finnrey gave me a look that said I must be knocked in the head, which of course, I was.But my injury hadn’t affected my senses.She sighed.“Come, Lady Aine.We’ll hear her if she calls.”She took my mother’s arm and pulled her away.I fixed my gaze on Taio and held it until the door thudded closed.
He raised his brows and crossed his arms over his broad chest.Annoying how magnificent he looked when he was furious.His eyes were so penetrating, his face slightly flushed.
“You have no reason to trust me.No reason to trust any of us after what happened today.”
“But,” he said, his expression wary.
“But I had no part in the plan to deceive you or kill you.When I realized what was happening, I stopped it.”
He made a non-committal grunt.
A grunt wasn’t a rejection, so I continued.“I ask you to give me one night.I want to say goodbye to my family.I want to gather the things I need.Most of all, we need a plan else we’ll be killed as soon as we’re in the outerlands.”I desperately needed to consult a map of the western part of Earsleh and see if I could trace the best path to take to Zulen.
“You speak of the creatures your people call Hollows.”
I took it as a good sign that his wary expression had changed to one of interest.
“Yes.Before you came, I was out on patrol only about eight hours from here.We found a family who had been eaten by Hollows.”All except that one little boy.But I wouldn’t think of him now.I closed my eyes.“If we leave now, we will be setting out late in the day.It’s been my observation that Hollows are most active at night.It’s better to go first thing in the morning, so we can cover as much distance as possible when it’s daylight.It’s safer in the light.We have time to search for a place to sleep where the Hollows won’t find us.”
“You make your argument soundreasonable,” he said.
“Because it is reasonable.”
“Perhaps this is a trick to keep me here, so your friends have the opportunity to kill me and my men.”
“They wouldn’t do that.”
He raised a brow.
I sighed.At this point, even I wasn’t sure what my people were capable of.I’d never expected what happened in the arena today.“We can leave at first light tomorrow,” I said, which was a large concession in my mind.“You can manage to stay alive one night, can’t you?”
He gave a bitter laugh.“I can, and as...what is the word?Insurance?Yes.As insurance, you will stay at my side.”
I shook my head.“I need to go home, take a bath—”
“Then we all go to your home and sit with you while you take the bath.”
The image of Taio sitting beside my bathtub, watching me wash, was not one I had prepared for.My belly, which still felt as though a large rock rested at the bottom, tried to flip that rock over.I felt my cheeks heat.
Taio’s gaze narrowed.“I have made you nervous?”
