I took one, longing look at the bed, then sighed and placed my knee in his cupped hands. He squeezed, stroking my knee with one thumb. “I considered it as well,” he graveled. “But with that squeak, the neighbors would be woken, and I don’t think I could do justice to you in the short time we have. Just a few more hours, Love.”
I leaned down to take his face in my hands and kissed him, then braced one hand on his shoulder while he lifted me to the window, and I clambered as quietly as I could, out onto the roof of the building.
Silently, Donavyn led me along the roof, then down the ladders at the back of the Inn that stopped above the windows on the first level. Then we walked through the city again, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, not speaking, except in our minds.
‘Tell me every step we took to get here and to leave, and how you’d do it alone,’he said, passing me the key to hide in the jacket of my leathers.
I quickly recounted the steps, the location, the name of the Innkeeper, the code to notify him of who I was, and the escape from the window and down the ladders.
‘Very good. In a dire emergency, or the event someone comes for you at the Inn itself, if there’s only time to hide, Horace has cellars under the Inn—the access is around the corner from the ladders, but you can get out there by running straight back through the hallway we saw at the base of the stairs. Don’t hesitate if there’s any chance your life or identity are in danger. Better to hide when you don’t need to, than to waver and be caught.
‘This is your bolt-hole. Your safehouse. If you enter our rooms at the castle and believe someone has been there, or feel like you’re being watched, you leave and come here. If you’re attacked and escape, you leave and come here. If you’re ever with the nobles in the city and your instincts say there’s danger, you leave and come here. I will find you, you understand?’
‘Yes.’
‘But if something happens to me, if I don’t follow you, you don’t stay here more than a night and a day. You know if you disappear, this is the first place I’m looking. If I haven’t foundyou within a day, something has happened. You get your ass out of Emberholt and straight back to the king and queen, reporting everything you know.’
‘I will.’
‘I’m deadly serious, Bren. You don’t stay here and remain in danger because you’re worried about me.’
‘But, what if you were hurt, or trapped and I could—’
‘There is no but.’We’d reached the main Wall Road and would soon be out of the city. Donavyn turned and took my hand, pulling me into the shadows under a nearby lean-to. He tipped my chin up and locked eyes with me, staring intently as he spoke in the link.‘The difficulty for us will be separating personal needs from our jobs, but I cannot be clearer than this, Bren: It is the job ofeveryFang member to protect the kingdom. We all vowed to lay our lives aside—that means each other, as well. When we are in the field, if there is an attack, or we’ve been revealed, it is every man—or woman—for themselves. Not out of selfish gain, but because one of ushasto get back to the king and inform him what’s happened. Even Ciar, in his misery, fulfilled that role.’
His tone was urgent, and brimming with authority. I blew out a breath and nodded.‘I understand.’
‘Don’t wait for me if there’s a problem.’
‘But, would you wait for me?’I asked genuinely.
Donavyn frowned, then straightened, rolling his jaw.‘I shouldn’t.’
‘Donavyn—’
‘It would depend on the circumstance. If I thought I could get you out—’
‘—you can’t do it either!’
He clawed a hand through his hair and nodded.‘No. I know. I will honor my own instructions,’he said. But he didn’t meet my eyes as he said it.‘Don’t worry for me, and I won’t worry foryou. We’ll get out of the city and back to our dragons, and we’ll be reunited in Vosgaarde, if not before,’he said firmly, as if the universe was listening and would obey.
I touched his face, and he kissed me quickly, then we were moving again, and we didn’t stop until we reached Kgosi. Just before we mounted, he pulled me against him in the darkness of Kgosi’s shadow, as his dragon rumbled.
‘There won’t be time we can be certain of being alone after this,’he murmured in the link.‘From now on, whenever we speak of the mission, we speak in the bond. Any word that leaves our mouths must be one we wouldn’t mind another overhearing.
‘Thank God for the bond,’he added.‘We’ll work on expanding our reach to each other while we’re here, as well, since duties and relationships will take us apart. But from now on, this is it. This is the only way we communicate with any openness, you understand? Even back at the camp with the servants and Faye.’
‘I understand.’
He kissed me deeply, then. His hands shook as he cupped my face and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. Then he inhaled deeply and straightened, staring down at me.
“Are you ready?”
I shook my head, but smiled.
And he smiled back. “Yes, you are.”
49. Destination Here
