The softest brush of sound. Like fabric on stone.
There was someone outside my room. Someone incredibly quiet. Someone…sneaking.
Someone would only be sneaking outside my room if they weredoing something they shouldn’t, like trying to kill me.
The latch to my door jostled, and I closed my eyes just as air drifted over my body. Those barely-there footsteps came closer, cutting around the gore.
A meaty hand landed on my mouth.
I snapped my legs up, one of my feet connecting with skin and bone. The hand on my jaw shifted, and I bit down hard. There was a slew of low curses as that hand flew away, and I took in a breath to scream—
Heavy weight landed on me, trapping my legs to the bed as the air was punched from my chest. A palm jammed my lips shut again, strong fingers wrapping around my jaw. I screamed beneath the hand, the sound no more than a muffled squeal as I pulled at my legs, trying to free one from the meaty bulk that held them down. This wassonot good.
“Calm the fuck down and be quiet.” The harsh whisper belonged to the tree man.
I paused my fight. Earlier, he’d been gruff, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to hurt me, despite what I did to him the last time we met.
But then, he’d been following orders and delivering me to Koerlyn. Now, he was clearly here for a different reason.
I resumed my squirming, yanking at my legs and twisting my neck in panic. He only pressed harder, stilling my head against the bed.
Lips pressed against my ear. “Stop fucking moving, or you’ll never get out of here,” he hissed, clearly angry.
Get out of here?What? I stilled.
“That’s right. I’m giving you a chance to get out of here and run back to Harthon. But if you fight me again, you lose it. I won’t be punished for you. Understand?”
He…he was going to help me escape? Why in the Domus wouldhe, of all people, betray Koerlyn and help me run?
I slowly nodded. I might not understand, but I’d be a complete fool to pass up this opportunity, no matter how confusing it was. Domus knows I’d been foolish enough in delivering myself to Koerlyn.
“Not a fucking word,” he ordered before releasing my jaw.
“Why are you helping me?” I whispered the moment I was free.
Those fingers landed back on my cheeks, resting there in warning. “Do you not know what ‘not a fucking word’ means?”
I rolled my eyes. Keeping my voice nearly soundless, I said, “I need to know that you aren’t setting me up. That this isn’t some trap to get revenge.”
He was silent for a moment. “Harthon is an old acquaintance. This is the one favor I’ll do for him.”
It wasn’t nearly enough information, but the importance of escape trumped any caution. Sensing my cooperation, he rolled off me and released the bindings. Just like before, he dumped my hands at my belly.
I sat up and rolled my shoulders through the ache. “What exactly is your plan here?”
A big, imposing shadow standing before me in the dark room, he leaned forward, nearly shoving his face into mine. “You follow me, do exactly what I say without question, and keep your mouth shut. If we’re caught, I’ll be saving my own ass and handing yours over to Koerlyn with a smile. Got it?”
In other words, he’d turn on me at the first sign of trouble. The tree man was no hero, that was for certain. He wasn’t a friend or an ally. But he was my only chance to leave this place.
So I nodded.
He pulled me to my feet, gripped my hand with rough fingers, and tugged me around the edge of the room to my door. There was no sound beyond the room. Slowly, he opened the door, revealing an empty low-lit hallway.
No one was out there at the moment, but we were going to be completely exposed. I prayed to the stars that he knew what he was doing. The fact that there was no soldier currently outside mydoor offered some hope that he at least knew the guards’ rotation schedules.
He jerked me out of the room, and with his hand still wrapped around mine, we hustled down a hallway to the right. A sharp left, and then footsteps sounded around the corner ahead.
Quickly, he lunged for a door beside me, throwing us both inside the pitch-black room. He just closed the door as those footsteps turned into our hallway.
