He raised his voice. “Then why did you attack her?”
“He attackedyou,” Eleanor interrupted from much closer behind him than Phin expected.
Though he wanted to turn and warn her to stay back, he felt it more prudent to keep the other man under his gaze. Because of that, he noticed the faintest flicker of acknowledgment in his expression after she spoke.
Tilting his head, Phin scowled. “Fine. Why did you attack me?”
The prisoner lifted his chin to stare with a hard gaze. “Perhaps you should explain whyyouwere hiding in the shadows of the lady’s garden.”
Phin tensed. “I was there to protect her.”
The other man stared back at him, silent for a moment. Then he nodded, a single dip of his chin. “From a danger you invited.”
“I invited nothing.”
“You involved her.”
Phin clenched his teeth as guilt pierced his gut. He wanted to argue, but the man was right. Instead, he took a step forward. His voice dropped. “Whatexactlydid I involve her in?”
The other man arched a black brow. “You have no idea, do you?” His tone was subtly but undeniably taunting.
Phin tensed, but before he could reply, Eleanor stepped up beside him.
“This conversation is going nowhere.”
Though Phin wanted to loop an arm around the woman’s waist and sweep her back behind him, he noticed how the prisoner instantly lowered his gaze to the floor and closed his mouth. Though subtle, his deferring manner was undeniable.
Phin and Eleanor shared a look as they both noticed this.
“You had no intention of hurting me. Did you?” she asked quietly.
He lifted his gaze to him once again. “Of course not.”
“Then why were you there?” Phin pressed. “What was your purpose?”
The man straightened in his chair, something that should have been difficult considering his many bindings. His voice was strong as he replied, “I am a Protector. As my father had been before me and his father before him and his father. Going back centuries.”
“What do you protect?” Eleanor asked.
The prisoner replied earnestly, his tone very different when addressing Eleanor as opposed to Phin, “That is difficult to explain, Kumari. My responsibility cannot be described in just a few words. Or even a single conversation. It is the dharma earned by my family hundreds of years ago that has flowed through generations to me.”
“Dharma?” Phin asked.
The man’s brows lowered and his jaw tensed. “It is a duty of righteousness and redemption.”
“A duty that somehow justifies lurking in the shadows of my home?” Eleanor asked with a regal tilt of her head.
The man did not reply. His posture remained proud and his expression stoic.
She did not soften beneath his silent stare. “I’ve a right to know what cause you had to be there last night.”
Phin watched her with a rush of deep admiration. Her inner strength, when urged to present itself, was stunning to behold.
“Not if the knowledge will bring more peril to your door.”
“What peril?” she pressed, clearly getting a bit frustrated. “If you are not a risk to me, who is?”
The man turned his gaze back to Phin. “Ask the thief.”
