Page 19

"I did not."

"You looked like you wanted to."

"Did you kill them?" I ask. "All of them?"

"Some," Kaelen says. "The rest ran."

"How did you even find me?"

"We heard you shouting," Zarek says, still talking into the blanket. "We got there just before they attacked."

"And where is here? Exactly?"

"Our cabin."

"Where is your cabin?"

"In the mountains."

"That's not an answer. Everything around here is in the mountains."

Rhydian grins so wide I'm worried his face might split. He looks like I'm the best entertainment he's had all year. "She's good," he says to the others. "I like her. Can we keep her?"

Zarek ignores him. "You were unconscious and dangerously cold," he tells me. "We brought you here because you needed to be warm before you got seriously ill. That's all. We checked you for wounds. We wrapped you in blankets. We let you sleep. No one has harmed you, and no one will."

I search for the lie in it. I can't find one.

"You're safe," he says. "And you can let go of my arm whenever you're ready."

I don't let go right away. I'm not about to let him think I'm easy.

But my grip loosens a little. The longer I sit here, the more I realize that if these men wanted to hurt me, they've had plenty of chances. They had me unconscious in their bed for gods know how long. They could've done anything.

Instead, there's soup.

Maybe I overreacted.

A little.

"Are you finished trying to defeat me?" Zarek asks politely.

I narrow my eyes at the back of his head. "Maybe."

"Is that a yes?"

"Fine. Yes."

"Good," he says.

And then he just stands up.

He doesn't break my grip. He doesn't twist or throw me off. He simply pushes up off the mattress like I'm not even there, like the arm I was holding behind his back was never really trapped at all.

I let out a squeak I'll deny for the rest of my life.

Down his back I slide. My hands grab at nothing, and the edge of the bed is right there, and I'm going over it.

His arm catches me around the waist.