14. Firion

Chapter 14

Firion

T hree days later, I woke before Talia and though it was still dark in the cell, I could see well enough to watch her sleep. My mate was beautiful, and I was falling in love. Each day, we worked in the mines. After we ate in the evening, we bathed together in the tub provided by the stone god. And each night, we found pleasure with each other. What we had together was sublime. Nearly perfect.

If only we weren’t still locked below the ground in the Veerenad mine.

I was losing hope that the stone god would find a way to help us. If they didn’t show a way out of this soon, I’d enact the plan I’d come up with myself. Would the others cooperate in this or were we on our own? If my plan failed, we’d be in a worse situation than we already were.

“Morning.” Talia smiled at me and seeing the affection and trust in her eyes was enough to still my racing thoughts. We were going to get out of here. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. Within days, if I had my say in it.

“Morning.”

Like the other mornings, I ached to kiss her, to roll her over on our bunk and show her how much she meant to me already. But anyone could be watching. The rooms weren’t dark enough, and if I revealed how close she and I were, the Veerenads would take her. I knew this in my heart.

So like the other mornings, we sat on the edge of the bunk and waited for them to bring us our meal. Once the carts had left the hall, we turned slightly and pretended to eat, though instead, we gulped down the food provided by the stone god. We tucked the Veerenad meal into our hands and used the excrement chamber, furtively dumping the food down as well.

She discreetly donned the clear gloves the stone god had provided her second morning here, and we sat again, waiting for the guards to come collect us.

We took the stairs to the base, and this time, they guided my group to a different chamber and grunted for us to start working. After filling my bucket, I helped Talia, though the gloves the stone god provided protected her hands, and her muscles had hardened. She could almost keep up with my pace. I'd never been prouder of her. She handled the tight chamber with only a subtle shake of her hands, and she kept her gaze on me or the wall to ground herself.

When the guards escorted three more Veerenads into the chamber we were working in, a familiar dread settled into my bones. They'd never added crew before, though this was a new chamber for us.

I couldn't shrug off the feeling that something was off.

The hairs on the back of my neck pricked when the new Veerenads watched Talia with an intensity that made my skin crawl. They should be working. The guards should be snarling at them to do so, but instead, the guards talked together, ignoring the three.

There was a subtle shift in their behavior today, and the feeling made my instincts scream. I didn't understand their gestured whispers or what they said to each other in hushed tones before their gazes raked over Talia’s vulnerable form.

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a lizard examining something with cold curiosity, like a predator contemplating a weaker prey. But this was different. A new heat burned in their eyes. Something possessive. Lecherous. And worst of all, proprietary.

Talia, oblivious to what was going on around her, continued to pick at the wall and fill her second bucket, her body moving with confidence.

Until she looked up at me, and her hands stilled. She carefully glanced around the room, her gaze landing on the three who still were not doing much to fill their first buckets. She pivoted sharply and attacked the wall, but now, each swing appeared less sure. She was growing aware of something, too, and it was unsettling her as much as me .

My worst fear could be becoming a reality. Had the others figured out that she was female?

One of the lizard miners hissed a word I couldn't quite catch, followed by a jagged chuckle that ricocheted off the walls. I didn’t need to know what it meant, and my teeth clenched. A growl ripped up my throat, but that only made the three laugh harder.

Talia was my fated mate, and whether it was simply a guess on their part, or they had discovered her secret, I couldn't afford to let this go unchecked. Unchallenged.

We worked in silence, the weight of the tension pressing down on me with every swing of the pick. As Talia bent to add a particularly large Crysthron cluster to her bucket, her breath huffed out in small, pained sighs. Despite the growing strength in her limbs, exhaustion was creeping up on her. The ominous laughter and whispers of the lizards must grate on her nerves like shards of jagged glass.

After the crystals in our fourth buckets had been sucked away, the guards barked out that we could break for lunch.

They took us to the same small, shadowy cavern where we settled to eat. The meager meal the guards threw our way was as tasteless as the days prior. They handed me our portion, and I wasted no time shoving hers toward her as soon as the guards' backs were turned. She looked at the food but didn't take a bite. Her eyes kept drifting to the trio of lizards who still watched her .

“You need to eat,” I said as calmly as I could, though my insides stormed.

“I know, but...”

Footsteps scraped over the rough stone floor, and one of the whispering lizards slouched toward us in a way that set my teeth on edge. He stood in front of us, his scaled lips peeling back in a mocking grin. The other two lingered behind him, their expressions oozing with that same malicious glint.

I snarled and leaped to my feet with the feral need to protect her overwhelming me. My hand slipped to the blade I carried everywhere. I'd gut the first who attempted to touch her.

The lead one leaned forward, his voice oily enough to turn my stomach. “We know she’s female, Zuldruxian. That soft skin, that tiny frame.” His eyes slid over Talia, taking her in with a hunger that made my blood boil. “Time to share.”

Through narrowed eyes, I let out a low, menacing growl. “She’s mine. If you or your friends so much as breathe in her direction, I’ll gut you.”

The lizard sneered. “Let's let the guards decide.” Pivoting, he sauntered back to where he'd been sitting, the other two following. They whispered together but before they could approach the solitary guard, he slipped from the cave, though I could hear him speaking in the hall outside the cave. With shared grunts, the three dropped to the floor and ate quickly, the lead lizard's gaze flicking to the entrance.

I was moments away from pulling my blade and swiping it across his neck. The only reason I didn't act was my driving need to protect Talia. If I killed him now, they’d haul me away. The other two would tell the guards about her identity. The guards wouldn't give her to the two males, but they'd have no problem taking her for themselves. Even if they weren't interested in her that way, they'd steal her from me. Rescuing her and escaping would be an even greater challenge.

I moved closer to her, wishing I could hide her from prying eyes. Her body shook, and she stared down at her lunch as though it had turned to ash. She didn't understand their words, but their gazes and sneers told her what was happening.

“One way or the other, we're leaving as soon as possible,” I whispered.

Her wide eyes met mine, and she jerked out a nod.

Brax rose and came over to sit beside me, and his glare made the other three finally look away. Maybe they weren't as eager to challenge a hardened warrior of their own kind.

“The guard is distracted,” he hissed around a bite of his meal. “We don’t have much time.” His reptilian eyes darted between Talia and me, assessing the tension in the air. “Is the youngling female?”

“My mate,” I said. “I will not allow anyone to touch her.”

“I had a mate once. They killed her and took me, and now I’m here. But maybe not for long. There’s a dignitary arriving soon, someone of high enough rank that they’ll pull all available guards for the emissary’s grand tour of the mines.”

A spark ignited in my chest. “This is it.” The chance we were waiting for.

He flashed me a gruesome smile. “We’ll need to move fast.”

The guard slipped back into the cave and leaned against the wall, studying his claws.

“The faster the better.” I brushed Talia's hand lying by her side, offering her the only comfort I could. “When?” I asked him, keeping my voice low, though the guard didn't seem to be looking in our direction.

“Tonight.”

“How?”

The guard signaled that it was time for us to return to work.

“Watch and be ready.” Brax stood, his gaze sweeping through the cavern.

As we returned to the cave and started filling our next buckets, a fierce determination surged through me. We were going to escape tonight. I'd do whatever it took to get Talia out of this place, even if it meant tearing apart every Veerenad inside this cursed mine.