Chapter 57

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Ryker

I loathed the tremble in Ellery as I held her against me. She dug her fingers into my nape and buried her face in my shoulder. I didn’t feel the wetness of tears, but I sensed her sorrow.

I wanted to carry her far from here, but I didn’t move. My eyes remained locked on the hooded figure standing in the hallway’s shadows with their sword still lifted in preparation for a fight.

Their mouth hung open as their gaze continuously flicked from me to Ellery. “What the fuck?” they muttered, the voice confirming he was a man.

My hands tightened on her as I glared at him. He was another who would die tonight. No one could walk out of here after seeing her in these tunnels and with me .

“My mother,” Ellery whispered.

“I saw. I’m sorry.”

I ran my hand over her wet hair while leaning back a little to look at her. When she lifted her battered face from my neck, a fresh jolt of rage seared through me. I’d gladly kill every one of them again.

I stroked my thumb over the lump on her cheek and the black bruise forming there. It was one of too many. “Are you okay?”

“No, but I’ll survive.”

“This shouldn’t have happened.”

When my gaze shifted back to the hooded figure, they gulped. I was sure they’d seen their death written all over my face. They’d dragged her down here and nearly gotten her killed; they would pay for that.

My gaze fell on her ripped bodice and the black bra it had exposed beneath. “Did he do this?” Because I’d shove his dick down his throat if he had.

When I looked at the hooded rebel again, his sword wobbled, and he stepped back. There was nowhere to run, something he recalled as he stopped moving.

“No.” Ellery rested her hand on my cheek and pulled my head toward her as she spoke. I reluctantly tore my attention away from the already dead man standing at the end of the corridor. “No. He saved me, Ryker. If Callan hadn’t pulled me off the dance floor?—”

“Callan?” I interrupted harshly.

She gave me a look that said she was not in the mood to deal with my jealousy. It took some doing, but I reined in the emotion. I knew he wanted to fuck her, but she was mine, and he’d soon realize that if he tried anything with her, it would result in the worst possible death for him.

“Yes, Callan,” Ellery said. “If he hadn’t pulled me away from my mother, I don’t know if I’d still be alive. He tried to get me out of here, but we took a wrong turn somewhere.”

Now that I knew who he was, I liked the man in the hood even less. However, since he’d saved her, I couldn’t kill him… yet.

“How are you involved in this?” I demanded of Callan.

Callan’s gaze continued to dart back and forth between us as he edged a little out of the shadows and toward us. He stopped a few feet away.

“My sister is one of the earl’s servants,” he stated.

“I think we should discuss this later,” Ellery said. “We should go, and you have to return to the ballroom.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe,” I told her.

“They’ll notice you’re gone.”

“Let them notice. Everyone who can is fleeing the castle; they’ll assume I did the same.”

“You can’t put yourself in danger.”

“I’m going to make sure you’re somewhere safe, and that’s final.”

She gave me a wan smile before burying her face in my neck again. I closed my eyes as I crushed her against me. Beneath the aromas of blood and dirt, she still smelled of apples, and I relished the scent.

I could have lost her. I did lose her mother, and I would always regret that I wasn’t able to do more, but if I’d lost her….

The possibility of it caused a chasm to open within me so deep and so suffocating that I couldn’t consider it for more than a second. I’d never wanted to be this tied to another, but Ellery had become a part of me, and I wouldn’t lose her.

“We should go,” I said.

Ellery kissed my neck before unwinding her legs from my waist. When her feet hit the ground, I crushed her against me again before reluctantly releasing her, but I couldn’t carry her through these tunnels and kill everyone we encountered. I’d need my hands free for that.

My gaze fell on the ruined remnants of her skirt lying in a heap by the wall. “Who did that?”

“I did,” Ellery answered. “It’s a lot easier to move without the wet garment clinging to my legs.”

“We can’t leave it behind. There can’t be any evidence of you down here.”

“I’ll get it.” Callan walked over, lifted it, and tucked it under his arm before rejoining us.

“You’re hurt,” Ellery said.

I grasped her hands before they could touch my thigh. “I’m fine. Just some arrows, but the wounds have mostly healed already.”

Her eyes were full of concern when they searched my face. “You’re not very good at avoiding those.”

My lips twitched toward a smile as I squeezed her hands and released them. “No, I’m not.”

“There were other guards,” Ellery said. “I’m not sure if they’re dead or not.”

“They weren’t, but they are now. I made sure of it.”

And I would ensure the two whose skulls I’d crushed were dead too. I stalked over to the sword Ellery had dropped, lifted it from the ground, and cleaved the heads from the two guards.

When I rejoined Ellery and Callan, I glowered at him. “How do we get out of here?” I demanded.

He gulped again. “I think I should have taken a right back at that last fork, but we were rushing, and I got confused down here.”

“Let’s not do that again. Take your hood off and leave it with the guards. It will draw attention to us.”

Callan untied the string and pulled it off. He tossed it onto the guard whose heart I’d torn out.

When I held my hand out to Ellery, she took it, and our fingers entwined. Callan gawked at us, but when I told him to lead the way, he closed his mouth and headed back the way we’d come.