Paige’s face crumpled. Slowly, she released him and stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself. Skye wanted to go to her. Wanted to gather this brave woman into her arms and tell her everything would turn out all right between them. But she couldn’t. Because it wouldn’t. Not ever.
Instead, it was Taran who gathered her close, held her as she buried her face and her mistaken dreams in his chest.
Austin turned sharply to his guards. “Keep them here. All of them. Watch them closely. No one leaves.” He straightened his tunic. “It’s already mid-morning. I should have reported to the Keeper with an update long before now.”
He looked at Skye. “You will accompany me to assure your father that after your night of…reflection,you’ve seen the folly of your actions, and you now recognize the wisdom of our arrangement and have agreed to the marriage.”
The sound Noah emitted, low and tight, had the guards stepping closer.
Skye couldn’t look at him. Instead, she forced herself to meet Austin’s gaze and nodded. “Let’s not delay, then. There’s work to do in the tunnel.”
The walkto her father’s study felt longer than expected. Or perhaps it was simply that each step carried her further from Noah and closer to a performance that would require every shred of composure she possessed. Her father was no fool. Convincing him of her sudden conversion to his schemes would not be easy.
Austin knocked and pushed open the heavy oak door without waiting for a response.
The Keeper sat behind his desk, as usual, his silver hair a stark contrast to the strength he emitted, his pale eyes lifting with the careful assessment of a man who trusted nothing.
“I’ve come to report the successful removal of our visitors, as directed,” Austin stated.
Skye noted his steady, confident voice. One of a very practiced liar. She hoped she could be half as convincing.
“I also brought your daughter,” he continued, positioning himself just behind Skye’s shoulder with a hand resting on the small of her back. “She has something she’d like to tell you.”
Her father’s gaze swept her length, taking in her disheveled appearance. Finally, he leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. “I’m listening.”
Skye drew a breath and lowered her eyes, not in shame but in the careful mimicry of it. She’d watched her father wield false humility as a weapon for years. She understood its power and reached for it now.
“I am ashamed, Father. It’s clear to me now, I made a terrible misjudgment.” She kept her voice steady, stripped of defiance, stripped of everything except contrition. “I was weak and allowed myself to be influenced by outsiders when I shouldhave known better. I see now that their desperation clouded my thinking. Made me question things I had no right to question.” She paused, letting the words settle. “I’ve learned a valuable and embarrassing lesson. And I’m prepared to fulfill whatever role you need of me, without reservation.”
The Keeper studied her as silence stretched between them. Skye endured his scrutiny the way she’d endured every test he’d ever put before her. With stillness. With patience. With the mask she’d spent a lifetime perfecting without ever realizing she’d learned it from him.
“I’m pleased to hear it,” he said at last, and something in his posture relaxed. “I was confident you’d come to your senses once you gained some distance from such unsavory influences. You are my daughter, after all.” He gestured dismissively. “Begin making plans for the wedding. I expect a lavish affair. Something befitting the alliance we’re building.”
“Of course, Father.” The words tasted like ash. “Although I beg to be excused for the remainder of the day.” She gestured at her soiled, crumpled gown. “After such a grueling night, I’d like to get cleaned up and rest properly before beginning preparations for such an important event.”
He waved her away. “Go. Restore yourself.”
Austin took her arm and she let him lead her from the study, all the while maintaining the measured composure of a dutiful daughter until the door closed behind them.
“I want to take food to Paige and the children. I’ll stay with them while you and the others work on clearing the tunnel.”
Austin studied her with that calculating gaze she’d come to despise. “I will allow that. But you will not leave there. Not until I come for you. Everyone must think you’ve taken refuge in your chamber. I will, of course, leave a guard with you. The other three will accompany me and yourfriends.” The word drippedwith contempt. “And let us not forget Keir.” His voice went flat and cold. “Our traitor.”
Skye said nothing further as she went with Austin to the kitchens to gather what food she could without drawing attention and followed him back toward the alcove where the family she loved waited for the moonless night and the miracle they needed.
The tunnel was worsethan Noah remembered.
He’d only been inside it briefly that one time before, just long enough to suspect it might lead toward a portal, long enough to note the instability. But in the days since, the deterioration had clearly advanced with alarming speed. Fresh cracks spiderwebbed across the stone above their heads. Small cairns of rubble dotted the passage where sections of wall had given way, and the air carried the metallic tang of rock dust that coated his tongue and burned his eyes.
As they fought their way deeper, the tunnel narrowed, forcing them to move and work in single file in some sections while their torches cast long, jerking shadows that made the walls appear to breathe.
A low rumble rolled through the stone beneath Noah’s boots. Pebbles rained from the ceiling, and he threw an arm over his head, pressing against the wall until it passed. When he straightened, a fine layer of dust coated his hair and shoulders.
“Bringing our family through here might well be leading them to their deaths instead of the future,” he said to Taran, keeping his voice low.
Taran wiped grit from his face and met Noah’s eyes. “Aye. But no’ bringing them a’tall will certainly lead tae Emily’s.” Helet that settle between them. “And Keir’s for sure. Perhaps all of us, if Austin decides we’re nae longer worth the bother o’ his bargain.”
Noah seized a chunk of fallen rock and hurled it away. Then another. He threw his body into the work, shoving rocks and debris aside with fury driven by the image of Skye standing beside Austin, her chin lifted, her voice steady as she bargained away her life.
