I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and do as he asks. Disbelief keeps me silent, as if speaking out loud will break whatever spell caused him to agree to help me. There is a soft sound of metal against metal and then my shackles come loose. In addition to startling acts of violence, it seems Shaw is also adept at picking locks.
His fingertips brush the raw skin of my wrists gently and a spark of pain as well as something warmer and altogether more pleasant shoots through me. He rises behind me, and his voice is a whisper at my ear. “Mirren…”
I shiver, unable to decide if I wish to pull away or extend my throat so that his breath brushes more of the sensitive skin. It’s only the third time he’s said my name, and the thrill of hearing it on his lips, wrapped in his lilting accent only amplifies with each instance.
“You’re going to be the end of me.”
It isn’t a malediction or an admonishment. His voice trails along my skin, sweetly reverent.
Like a prayer.
ChapterFifteen
Shaw
Aggie’s prophecies are unreliable at best, but the night I came to her after Denver’s abduction, her pronouncement was startlingly clear.Break through the Boundary. Capture a Similian with green eyes.
As I followed the prophecy, the rest of the plan unfurled before my eyes. Eulogius, the same Boundary hunter that attacked the girl, pointed me toward Yen Girene. The Achijj, leader of the stone city, is famous for his harem and his penchant for the unique is well known. If I could just overcome the small problem of my conscience, the way in seemed obvious. Blow up the Boundary. Get the girl. Trade for Denver.
A suicide mission to steal slaves from the most vicious warlord on the continent is not just a deviation. It’s an entirely different path.
When I finally slayed the yamardu, my blood was heated magma coursing through my body and my breaths came in ragged puffs. It wasn’t exertion, though I’d come close to death more times than I cared to count before the beast was finally felled by my blade. I’ve been trained to kill without tiring, to run without stopping. It was something else, something I refused to name. Something that will consume me if I let it.
Where is she, where is she, where is she.
The words reverberated inside my skull and against my ribs, a harrowing ratification of everything I’d done to deserve her disappearance. It wasn’t losing her that I cursed—no, that, I certainly deserved. It was that she was headed straight into Cullen’s twisted hands, and it was my fault. I showed her too much; the raw anger that barrels through me at any mention of his name. And Mirren, unschooled in the ways of emotion, plucked it from me as if I shouted it to her. As if I gave it willingly. If only I’d given her the rest.
It was terror that put that pistol in my hand. Pure fear that aimed it at her. Not to kill, but to stop her long enough for me to explain that it wasn’t her death I feared. To explain how Cullen would systematically break her body, how he would relish cutting open her undisturbed skin; how he would make her beg for death long before he would ever grant it.
The thought of it threatened to undo me. It buried every fear of the Praeceptor discovering that I’m alive beneath it and drove me into this gods-forsaken camp after her.
“This is probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done,” I tell Mirren succinctly. She’s crouched next to me, wrapped once more in my cloak. Her curls are a wild halo around her head, having slipped from her braid during the scuffle with Shivhai, and her small hands are wrapped around the locks of the shackles.
She shoots me a wry grin. “Considering you’ve almost gotten yourself killed countless times in the week I’ve known you, that’s really saying something.”
I raise an amused eyebrow. “More times than you have?”
She bites her lip, looking up through her lashes. “We may be even on that account,” she concedes grudgingly.
I watch as she works the pick slowly, her brows furrowed in concentration. She’s a quick study, her movements surprisingly clever and concise. After a moment, the mechanism clicks open and Mirren exhales a surprise gasp of pleasure, her cheeks flushing with pride.
I follow the flush with my eyes, down her mottled throat to where it disappears beneath the neckline of my cloak. It’s oddly enamoring, the way the simplest things bring color to her skin. I wonder if it feels as heated as it looks.
I remember how every bit of color drained from her as Shivhai’s hands pulled at her body like it was something he owned, as if it’s possible to possess something as venerable as those curves. The chasm inside me roared open when I witnessed him try to take what she had not freely given. It was sacrilegious and I was half mad with rage by the time I leaned against that pole. It took everything in me to remember the piece of my soul that remains, to uphold my vow and not tear that man limb from limb. Even now, I have half a mind to burn my way through the camp and finish what I started.
Later.
I shove my rage down where it’s useful, at the bottom of the hollow pit inside me. I am fueled by its fire, ever burning deep within, where it rages and toils in the space where my soul should be.
“Are you ready?” I ask, handing her one of my daggers. Her fingers wrap around the hilt. I wish I had time to teach her how to wield it properly, but something is better than nothing.
She nods once, her soft lips pursed. Her eyes are alight with anticipation, and I notice, with surprise, her hand is steady on the weapon. Though woefully untrained, she’s more of a warrior than I’ve given her credit for.
“As soon as the fighting starts, you do not hesitate. Pick the lock and run as fast as you can. Do you remember the directions to the cave?”
Mirren nods, her curls bouncing. I have the absurd urge to pull on one, to feel the silky tendril beneath my fingers and watch the way it springs back toward the crown of her head.
I shake my head. Thinking of curls instead of the death dance in front of me will only get us both killed. “Whatever you hear, do not turn back. Get them out and keep yourself out of the Praeceptor’s hands. Those are the only things that matter. It’s imperative that you—"
