My pulse races and I’m frantically looking behind and forward to where only darkness awaits.
Shadows dance under Bardhyl’s eyes, the pitch-black snatching away everything else in its grasp. “Not long now. I’d offer to carry you on my shoulders, but…” He glances up to the low ceiling.
“I want to get out of here.” My voice wavers and more sweat drips down the side of my face.
Lucien reaches into the bag he’s carrying over his shoulder. He pulls out a bottle with water. Yanking the cork top, he offers it to me. “This should help.”
I swallow past my dry throat and greedily accept the bottle with two hands. Pressing the opening to my mouth, I tilt it back and gulp down several mouthfuls. Cool water runs down my throat, chasing away the heat and dryness clinging to my insides.
“We spent many weeks working down here, fixing these old tunnels,” Lucien assures me. “We are very close to reaching the end. Just a bit longer, beautiful. All right?”
I nod and wipe my mouth as I hand back the bottle. He takes a drink then passes it to Bardhyl. Soon enough, we are on the move again.
“What were these tunnels used for before?” I ask, needing a distraction from the sensation of the walls closing in around me. I’ve never felt so claustrophobic before. Then again, I’ve never been in such tight confines with no way out. I think that’s the problem… a lack of escape and feeling trapped.
“This is Râșnov Fortress built by Knights to protect local villages against invasion from other countries,” Lucien explains. “Afterward, the Hungarians and Saxons expanded the location, so it could have been any of them. But most likely, it was used as a way to defend their land, using these passages to surprise invaders.”
“Remember those two skeletons we found down here?” Bardhyl asks.
Lucien starts laughing, leaning against the wall alongside me. “I swear they died while having sex. It was vanilla sex, but still freaky to see them in the position. Now that is a good way to go.”
“Really?” I butt in, trying to hold back my laughter at what they remember from this tunnel.
Bardhyl smirks. “There are only two ways I want to go. Either in battle, or buried deep in…” He pauses, looks at me shaking my head, and shuts his mouth. But the rest of the conversation dissolves and the flame on his torch flicks wildly to the point of going out.
“Well, hopefully, that never happens to us,” I respond, rubbing the goosebumps out of my arms. “And for the sake of all things, don’t let the light go out.” A small whimper escapes past my lips.
“It’ll be fine. We won’t let anything happen to you,” Bardhyl says. “Even if the flame goes out, I can get us out.”
“That doesn’t reassure me.” I wrap my arms around myself, hating how this confined space is affecting me so much. “Does it feel like the tunnel is getting smaller?”
Lucien pipes in. “Two of us can stand side by side, babe. It’s not narrowing. But I agree, it’s not a big deal if the flames go. Means we no longer have to stare at the sausage in Bardhyl’s pants.”
“What?” Bardhyl and I say in unison, turning to Lucien.
He sighs and blows a long breath out. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but fuck, bruh, why did you select those pants? Your plums and cucumber are sticking out like a damn sore thumb. I mean, you almost made poor Kinley faint back in her house when you came out with your bed snake on show.”
Bardhyl glances down, lowering the torch, and I can’t stop myself but follow his gaze. The fabric clings to his cock, which sits at an angle, and hell, he is a huge boy even when not turned on. I must agree that when I first saw him in those pants, I almost choked on my breath because the material concealed nothing, curving over his ridge and bump. The saying about guys having three legs is not wasted on Bardhyl, and my skin heats at the image.
“Why are we talking about this now?” I ask, unsure of Lucien’s point, except that it comes from a place of jealousy, and I don’t want Bardhyl to feel bad if those pants were all that fit him.
“It looks incredible, right?” Bardhyl answers, and it’s not the response I expect.
“Told you, he wore them on purpose to fling his pecker around. There was a reason Kinley sent you quickly to get dressed. Then you came out like this.” Lucien flings his hand at him.
Bardhyl laughs and is already walking away. We are hurrying up behind him, and I’m just shaking my head that this topic is even being discussed.
“There was another pair. If I knew you’d be this jealous, I’d have brought them out for you.”
Lucien scoffs and reaches down to grope himself. “What I’m packing leaves Meira gasping, but I don’t wear fancy pants to draw attention to my ammunition.”
“Hmm, don’t bring me into this,” I murmur as we walk faster.
“Babe, you are completely in the middle of this sandwich,” Lucien answers.
While Bardhyl still laughs, he glances over his shoulder. “Later, you can try on my pants and then we can let Meira judge who looks best in them.”
“Um, no,” I respond.
“Deal!” Lucien answers.
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, I’m not sure why guys are so obsessed with the size of their penises. You don’t see females going around flashing their… their flowers for comparison.”
“There’d be nothing wrong if they did,” Bardhyl responds. “I wish you would.”
“Yes, finally we both agree,” Lucien adds.
I glare at Lucien, who winks at me, and while the discussion is absurd, my knees wobble slightly at how easily he affects me.
The path curves to the left and only once we clear it does a small light come into view from up ahead. I’m suddenly bouncing on my toes. “A way out!”
A whistling wind curls around us, and relief washes over me. “We’ve reached the end. That’s the best sight in the world.”
I’m moving faster, the men right there alongside me.
“Feeling better?” Lucien murmurs.
I turn toward his smiling face, and it takes me a few moments to really understand what he’s talking about. Then it collides into me like an avalanche. “You orchestrated that whole conversation about Bardhyl’s pants to distract me, didn’t you?”
He blows me a kiss while Bardhyl faces us, and those delicious eyes narrow seductively.
“You bastards,” I tease. “Here I thought you both had major jealousy issues. Though I will admit, those pants are super tight.” This time, it’s me who laughs about the fact that they so easily fooled me. “Thanks.” I move to hug them both, and for a few moments, we hold each other. How in the world did I get so lucky to score these smartasses as my mates?
Finally, we take a step out of a gaping hole and into an oversized cave, with its opening at least twenty feet away. I hurry forward, never wanting to be in another tunnel ever again.
The sight of the woods stretching out before us, the fresh smell of pines and rain fills the air… I missed it. I can’t see exactly where we are, but we are definitely outside the compound.
“It wasn’t that terrifying,” Lucien murmurs as he pushes the strap of the backpack higher up his shoulder.