At least Saedra was keeping a low tone, but Garik’s fingers fisted about the handle. If he wanted to break her hold, it would be easy enough despite his current state. This might very well be a trap set by Lord Maurin—all to play upon Garik’s weakened state. Mental torture, sending a woman who exuded innocence and teasing Garik with the possibility of escape was a truly brilliant strategic move.
Saedra herself was an excellent actress if that was the case because Garik believed her. Gentle touches. Desperation. It was a nice touch and had gotten under his guard.
Fuck, he’d mated her. If she chose to betray him now or this was an elaborate scheme, he wouldn’t be able to kill her due to the unspoken vow of lifelong protection.
He eyed both women carefully. The plump dark-haired servant with the skin of warm brown he could take out easily. The trembling woman beside him...Garik wasn’t sure he could look her in the eyes and incapacitate her. She was his bond mate for better or worst. He’d made a commitment and for Gerelins it was life or death, no mind changing. It had been a calculated risk, one he’d known and accepted when she’d made her problematic offer.
Killing her after making the vow he’d made would go against his every instinct and dangerously destroy something within his core.
“Are you...leaving?”
Garik stilled. At any moment, he expected the newcomer to scream of their presence to his enemies.
“Yes,” Saedra responded.
For the first time, Garik took in how both females were dressed. The servant in a light blue sleeping gown with a robe of darker blue thrown over it. He recognized the poor quality clothing from his first glance and a match to the material that made up Saedra’s worn black dress beneath her cloak.
“With him?” the servant asked in a timid voice as she threw a stealthy glance at the door opposite the one they’d entered.
His senses screamed for Garik to eliminate the threat, but still he hesitated. As an assassin such a mistake would see him dead.
“Yes,” Saedra said again, then straightened to her full height, which didn’t put the top of her head much beyond Garik’s shoulders. “I’m leaving, Meka. I have to.”
The servant faced Garik as she took a step backward toward the safety of the second door which Garik assumed would lead to another part of the house. He eased around Saedra. There was no way he could let her summon the guards or Lord Maurin for that matter.
“I see. Does Lord Maurin know?”
Saedra dropped his arm and took a determined step in front of Garik. To protect him? Or the servant? He snorted. It would be nothing to get around her slight frame. In the brighter light of the kitchen, he could see Saedra’s face better. He was correct in his assessment that she wasn’t a female to be hailed as a great beauty. Her features were sharp, intriguing angles, and a jutting chin that tipped toward the ceiling this very moment.
“He doesn’t.”
Garik’s body pulled subtly on the low feed of energy from Saedra to heal his wounds. It was instinctive between mates, but by drawing on her strength, he would be prepared to fight their way out if need be.
“And the man with you?”
It was the first time Garik witnessed Saedra falter. Her hands clenched into fists at her side and she didn’t break the servant’s stare. “With me. He’s going with me, Meka.”
“I see.” Meka lowered her head and spoke. “Peace to you, Lady Saedra.”
Saedra exhaled, tears glistening in her brown eyes. “Thank you, Meka. For everything.”
Then she grabbed Garik again and he let her lead him toward the counter and around it. Behind them, a door slammed. Saedra jerked, her fingers tightening convulsively on him. Garik threw the kitchen knife at the first man who entered and dropped him dead, the hilt of the blade quivering in his throat.
Meka gasped and fell back into the wall. Two more men charged in on shouts of alarm when they spotted him and Saedra. She pressed a panel on the wall with a fleur-de-lis design and the panel cracked open to reveal a dimly lit interior. “Hurry, Garik.”
There was no way he could fight them all. Not without a weapon and not with Saedra in danger beside him. He ducked inside with her and the door closed with a thud. This time Garik took the lead and wrapped his fingers around the wrist of her right arm. If anything attacked them in the dark, he would be in the front shielding his bond mate.
She squawked in outrage, but it was a tiny sound, quickly muted. He bit off a smile and asked, “Now what? That won’t hold them off.”
Once inside, she banged her free palm on a button to the right of the jamb and a lock whirled into place. Fists immediately pounded from the other side. Then to his surprise, she ripped the casing off the security panel with a savage grunt.
Impressive. Garik’s estimation of her increased with her every action. “Do you happen to have any weapons?”
Though her voice quivered, she stood strong beside him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have time and with the way my room is searched routinely, it would have been hard to keep them hidden without getting caught. Not to mention my punishment would have been severe.”
Punishment? Who was she in this household?
She urged him forward with a light push to his shoulder. Garik stumbled as his mind tried to process what she’d just revealed. Who exactly was his new bond mate? Servant or slave? Had she been imprisoned by Lord Maurin as well? If so, it would explain her poorly spun clothing and why she and the servant were on good terms.
They raced down a steep and curved stairway so narrow they bumped and rubbed against one another from shoulder to hip. It also agitated some of his more critical injuries. Still, Garik ignored all of that, especially since it meant escaping and having a chance to repay his enemy at a later date.
The steep stairs leading downward seemed endless, the pounding and shouts behind them eventually fading into silence. Garik hated to be so unaware. He planned missions through and through, seeing all the options and preparing for any eventualities. “What’s ahead?”
“Long tunnel then another at the end. It opens into a path at the back of the main house,” he explained between ragged breaths.
Garik realized he was tugging her along and his own pace while far from his normal speed prior to the torture, was still faster than she could run.
His ribs continued to burn like a bitch too, and his head throbbed, but for the most part he felt better than he had since Lord Maurin and his men had tortured him for two long weeks in that hellscape.
They reached the end of the tunnel which opened into a cramped space with hardly anywhere to move around each other.
“Now what?” Garik asked.
But she was already digging into the pockets of her skirt. She withdrew a fist-sized ring with two square key reading chips. Garik remembered she’d used another set to access his cell in the dungeon.
“I stole these.” She entered one in the slot on the door. There was a pneumatic hiss and click. The door opened and a breeze smelling of grass, dirt and the brisk night air flowed in the tiny room. It was pitch black out and his pulse leaped. Garik did his best work in the dark. “We should hurry. Lord Maurin would have been made aware by now.”
No sooner had she spoken, then there was a distant crash resounded through the tunnel. Lord Maurin’s guards had breached the kitchen door. The sound of alarms screeched directly after.