Over and over, I kept repeating that magical, unbelievable phrase to myself.Lochlan likes me. Lochlan likes me.
It felt as though a tether had connected my heart to Lochlan’s, slowly reeling me in so I wanted to spend more time with him. I was safe with him. I could tell him anything,anything, and he would be on my side.
“So, I’m guessing you’re one of the Syndicate’s bounty hunters?” he asked with a light squeeze of my fingers. A lantern bobbed along in his other hand. “Were you sent after us and told to bring us in?”
“Actually, I was discouraged from coming, but I’ve been looking for my family and one of my earlier leads said Roderick might have been involved, so I came on to find out who he sold my sister to.”
“Well, with any luck, we’ll find a lead. If you want, I can take you to Roderick’s vault where he keeps his records, but you can never tell anyone. Roderick would have my head.”
My heart leapt and I nodded vigorously. “I promise. When can we go?”
Lochlan glanced up at the clouds that had thickened to block out the moon. “We might make it there now if we hurry. It’s actually closer than the cottage, and it’s about to rain.”
Right on cue, there was a distant rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning that illuminated the tops of the Briarcliff Mountains in the distance.
Lochlan followed my gaze. “Good thing those old mines were abandoned years ago,” he said. “The miners used to get a lot of injuries trying to navigate their way up and down the mountains after rainstorms.”
A raindrop landed on my nose. “Don’t the aqueducts help with the water flow?” I asked, quickening my pace as I eyed the massive stone arches supporting the large aqueducts that led to all the cities.
“Yes, but the mountainside would still be slick.” Lochlan turned off the path, tramping along a narrower trail while thorns snagged at his pants. “Roderick keeps all his records hidden in a secret compartment at an abandoned cabin,” Lochlan told me.
It felt as if I was the one tingling with lightning. “How far?” I asked. Another droplet hit my face, followed by another and another.
“Not far.” Lochlan looked up at the dark sky. “But we’ll need to hurry.”
As he said it, rain began pouring down in torrential waves, immediately drenching us. It was as though the sky had opened just to dump buckets of water repeatedly over our heads.
“Run!” Lochlan said, and we took off through the forest.
I could barely see where he was and ended up grabbing onto his shirt so we wouldn’t get separated. There was a colossal boom of thunder as we ran into a clearing where an old, run-down house was. The roof sagged under a layer of moss and the chimney leaned to the side.
“How is this a safe house?” I called, still keeping my fist clutched around Lochlan’s soaked shirt.
“No one would ever suspect it!” he shouted back as the sky was split apart by a giant bolt of lightning.
When we reached the porch, Lochlan wiped the water from his face and began running his hands along the wooden pillars holding up the porch roof. “There’s a key here somewhere,” he muttered, then gave a small “aha!” and pulled a key out of a hidden compartment.
There was another brilliant flash of lightning, so close that I jumped. Lochlan rammed the key into the door and turned it. The door opened, and we tumbled through and slammed the door behind us.
The inside was probably warmer than it was outside, but it felt much colder because the sopping wet clothes plastered to our bodies made the air feel cooler. Lochlan’s lantern was still barely flickering, and he used the dim light to start building a fire in the hearth. Most of the wood in the woodpile had grown soft over time, so it caught easily.
“There,” Lochlan said. The fire illuminated the interior of the cottage, which looked thoroughly unremarkable.
“So, where’s the vault?” I asked, looking around at the barren interior. A solitary bed was in the corner, and a broken wardrobe with its door hanging off stood next to a singular tipped-over chair. “I thought you said Roderick hides things here.”
“He does, but I’m not touching any papers until we’re completely dry,” Lochlan said with a shiver. He stripped off his jacket then crouched in front of the fire and extended his hands.“He keeps them in a trunk locked in a hidden compartment on that wall over there.”
“It’s going to take forever to get dry this way,” I informed him, but copied him after peeling my jacket off. Water slowly dripped off us to puddle on the floor beneath our feet and the sound of the storm continued to rage outside so ferociously that the windows rattled and the walls of the cabin groaned in protest.
“I seem to remember some old clothes around here somewhere,” he said, digging around in the dilapidated wardrobe. He pulled out a few items. “They won’t fit well, but at least we’ll be dry. Now don’t look for a minute,” he went on, pulling on the collar of his shirt. I turned away and heard the splattering sound of him wringing out his shirt and changing into something else. “There. You can look again.”
“You forget I lived for months on a pirate ship,” I told him with a grin. “I’ve seen plenty of men’s chests.”
Lochlan blushed a little. “It’s not saying much if I’m more modest than a pirate. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” He crouched back down beside me. The clothes he’d picked out fit him well enough, and he handed over a fresh shirt and set of breeches. “For you.”
“It’s your turn not to look now,” I told him, waiting until he turned before I slipped out of my own shirt and pulled on the clothes he’d given me, which swallowed me whole. “Were these Roderick’s or yours?” I asked, trying to find a way to cinch up the pants.
“Mine,” Lochlan said, eyes still covered as he ensured he couldn’t watch me change. “Are they still too big?”
