Chapter 30

Just as not alltriumphs are earned, not all defeats are deserved. In the face of either, we must endure.

~ Ranger Sergeant Myorkdar the Grim

The guards led Kaylina and Vlerion down numerous levels of wide stairs and ramps that wound deep into the cliff under the castle to a cave that appeared half natural and half hollowed out by tools. The guards walked about, lighting lanterns dangling from rusty hooks embedded in the stone walls. Along one side of the cave, stalagmites rose around a pool with stalactites hanging above it.

Kaylina thought of the fur shark. No rivers flowed into or out of this pool, so she hoped that meant nothing lived in the dark waters.

Alcoves had been carved into the cave wall opposite the pool. Cells. Iron bars with gates secured the fronts.

At the beginning of the row of cells rested a desk and chair in front of a nook filled with tools. Or were those torture implements? Kaylina didn’t peer too closely into that nook, instead noticing a small bookcase that held a number of tomes. Reading material for the guards who were stuck on the subterranean duty? Or maybe prisoners were allowed a way to pass the time.

The lead guard grabbed keys from the desk drawer and unlocked a cell. None of the others were occupied.

“At least I get a private room.” Kaylina tried to smile for Vlerion, who hadn’t stopped looking concerned.

“Search her before putting her in.” One of the guards pointed to a bulge in Kaylina’s dress pocket—her sling.

“I’ll search her,” one man volunteered, leering at her chest.

“I will search her,” Vlerion said. It was almost a growl.

“My lord,” the lead guard said. “We have to—”

“I will search her,” Vlerion repeated, his voice quiet and dangerous as he held the guard’s gaze. “You may watch, though I assure you that rangers are capable of this task.”

The guard sighed. “Yes, my lord.”

Vlerion also sighed as he faced Kaylina, putting his back to the guards so they could have a semblance of a private moment.

“My instincts told me something like this might happen,” he said softly as he withdrew her weapons from her pockets. “I apologize for bringing you here. It crossed my mind to help you and your brother to the harbor and onto a ship.”

“I can’t leave,” she said, though the words sounded asinine as they came out. Her life was in the balance. If she had an opportunity to escape, she would be a fool not to take it.

But she would rather clear her name and stay. To go home would be to admit defeat. Besides, that wasn’t even an option now, not if the queen believed Kaylina had tried to poison her. A warrant would be put out for her arrest, and she would be hunted if she stayed in the kingdom. Further, her family might be exiled. That would be even worse than Kaylina’s death, at least in her eyes. If she had come here to prove herself only to destroy the livelihoods of every person related to her…

The thought brought tears to her eyes. Not wanting Vlerion to worry, she blinked them away.

But he was standing close enough to see everything, even in the dim lantern light. After setting her knife, sling, and pouch of lead rounds on the desk, he lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed away a single tear that had slipped from her eye.

“I’ll find the messenger,” Vlerion said. “If I can’t, I’ll drug and question every server and dish boy at that woman’s inn. Someone helped her with this. I’ll find out the truth and clear your name.”

“Thank you,” Kaylina whispered, closing her eyes and leaning into his touch. “I don’t know why you’re going out of your way to help me, but I… thank you.” It occurred to her that if she died, he wouldn’t have to worry about a commoner knowing his secret, a commoner who, as far as he and the rangers knew, might be tempted to join forces with the Virts.

She didn’t think he believed she would do that, but… he could make sure. Instead, he was helping her.

The guard cleared his throat. “Proper search procedure checks more than pockets, my lord. And I don’t believe the books mention cheeks.”

“Criminals sometimes stash items under their tongues to assist in thwarting locks,” Vlerion said.

“Then you can stick your hand in her mouth to check.”

“That’s not what he wants to stick in her mouth,” the guard who’d leered—he was still leering—said.

“Be professional, Toks,” the leader said. “Or I won’t stop him if he clobbers you.”

“Would you stop a ranger anyway?” one of the others asked.

“From clobbering Toks? No.”

Vlerion might have ended the search with Kaylina’s pockets if not for the guards watching, but he probably didn’t want to do anything—or fail to do anything—that would prompt them to do a second search after he left. He knelt, squeezed her slippers to look for who knew what lumps might be hidden in them, then brushed his hands up her legs as he checked the inside of the dress for secret pockets. He’d given it to her, so he had to know there weren’t any, but the guards didn’t.

Kaylina closed her eyes, trying to ignore them watching, and trying not to be turned on by Vlerion’s touch. He kept the search professional, his hands never straying beyond what the duty required, but every bump and brush ignited fire in her nerves.

This was Vlerion, not some guard she’d never met, and she’d found his touch arousing from the beginning. Whether she’d admitted it or not, she’d longed to have his hands run over her body, whispering over her bare skin, stroking her hip, trailing along her side, touching… whatever he wished. Never had such simple brushes raised gooseflesh while stoking heat that made her body tighten with painful longing.

If he died—or she was killed—she would be disappointed that they hadn’t ever kissed.

“She has no weapons or anything that would be useful in breaking out,” Vlerion declared.

“Put her in then.”

On impulse, Kaylina wrapped her arms around Vlerion and hugged him. He returned the embrace without hesitation, pulling her close, molding her against his body. Only then did she realize he’d also been aroused by his professional pat-down.

That urge to kiss him returned, especially if it might be the only chance they got, but she sublimated it and rose on her tiptoes so she could bury her face in the side of his neck. Her lips brushed his warm skin, and she breathed in his masculine scent.

“I keep meaning to drive you off, for your own safety,” Vlerion murmured, his lips brushing the top of her ear, making pleasure streak through her. “I keep failing.”

Kaylina hugged him tighter, kissing his neck and wanting… what they couldn’t have.

“I’m not great at self-preservation,” she admitted, half-forgetting that the guards were there watching. She wanted to show Vlerion that she appreciated him, that it meant a lot to her to have him stand up for her. To want to protect her.

He exhaled slowly, almost a growl, and it reminded her of the danger. Of the beast.

His hand slid down her back, pressing her tight against him. Would his desire make him forget the threat of what he could become?

If she roused the beast, he might kill all the guards, but that wouldn’t be a victory. For punishment, he would be killed himself, just as his brother had been. And once he changed, he might not recognize her as a friend. He might kill her too.

Maybe that crossed his mind, because he unhooked her arms and stepped back.

“The cell,” he said, a rasp to his voice.

That glint of savagery she’d seen before in his eyes was there, more than a glint, and she realized how close he’d come to being overtaken by his emotions. A trickle of fear joined her other anxieties, and she nodded and hurried into the cell.

He shut the gate firmly. To protect her from the guards? Or from himself?

Before letting go of the bars, Vlerion closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and hummed a stanza of his song.

“What is that noise?” one of the guards whispered.

When Vlerion opened his eyes and stepped back, he’d reaffixed his mask. He nodded at Kaylina, as if to say he was under control.

“I’ll be back for you,” he said quietly.

“I know.” She might not know whyhe cared, other than his admission that he’d liked her bravery, but she trusted that he did. “Any chance I can have a book and a lantern? Assuming you don’t think I can use the pages as instruments to effect my escape.”

Vlerion walked toward the case, plucking a lantern from one of the wall hooks on the way.

“She doesn’t need a book,” the lead guard said with exasperation.

Vlerion looked coolly at him, and the man lifted his hands.

Surprisingly, Vlerion considered the titles on the spines instead of grabbing one at random. He withdrew a thick tome and gave it and the lantern to Kaylina.

“The Ranger’s Guide to Honor, Duty, and Tenets?” she read off the spine. “Seriously?”

“You might as well educate yourself while you wait.”

“I was hoping for a romantic adventure.”

“Dungeon reading material is limited.”

“No kidding.”

After giving her a nod—and a glance at her lips that promised he would rather leave her with a kiss—Vlerion walked away with the impatient guards.

Fortunately, they all departed. As unpleasant as her new circumstances were, they could get worse if the leering guard was left with her. She doubted the queen had cared enough to stipulate that her new prisoner not be harassed. Jana, Kaylina was certain, hoped she never walked out of the dungeon.

She rested her forehead against the cool bars, trying to figure out how she could avoid that fate.