Willing Sacrifice
Page 60

But she’d remembered something.
He’d seen it in her eyes before she’d started asking questions. She’d looked at him with such warmth. He’d been sure that what he’d seen glowing in those dark eyes had been love.
Maybe he’d been wrong. Or maybe he’d been right and his silence had killed whatever feelings she’d had for him.
She was too angry and hurt to talk to him, and he was too much of a coward to ask. He was afraid he might not want to know the answer. So instead of dealing with his feelings, he shoved them down and forced himself to concentrate on the job at hand.
That was something he’d had a lot of practice doing.
He picked up his pace, putting himself in front, just in case the Warden had left behind any more nasty surprises. As the ground sloped up again, he slowed down so Grace wouldn’t have to struggle to keep up.
She hadn’t eaten today, which grated on his sense of duty. And she hadn’t slept nearly long enough, thanks to his need for more of her.
At least he hadn’t given in to the urge to take her this morning. It would have been so easy to cover her body with his own, part her thighs and slide inside her. She would have been soft and relaxed, right up to the point where he made her burn.
Even the thought was enough to make his cock twitch and swell.
He checked over his shoulder to see that she’d fallen too far behind. Exhaustion bowed her body, and her skin was pale except where the stain of exertion painted her cheeks.
He stopped to give her time to catch up.
“You don’t have to wait on me,” she said. “I know where I’m going.”
“I prefer to keep you close.”
“And I prefer to get this job done and get back to where I’m not trapped with you. Just go. I’ll be fine.”
Her desire to get rid of him stung, but he ignored it. She had a right to be angry with him. She had even more of a right to be angry with Brenya.
So did he.
Torr kept his distance, trying to respect her need for privacy as much as he could. Letting her out of his sight wasn’t an option—not with enemies so close by. At least he wasn’t breathing down her neck.
When at last they neared the top of the final hill that shielded the lake where Brenya had found her own portal stone, he waited for Grace to catch up.
“It’s just over this hill,” she said as she caught her breath.
“We’ll do it like before. Stay low and quiet. Only looking for now.”
Grace nodded and followed him the last few yards. He found a vantage point inside a thicket and crawled through it until his view was clear.
Below was a small lake, just as she’d said. The water was a murky black color. Leading from one edge was a deep furrow in the ground, as if something large and heavy had been dragged away. It was dry, telling him that the mark wasn’t fresh.
“They carried the stone off in the direction of the southern village,” said Grace. “Do you think that’s a coincidence?”
Not likely. “We don’t know anything for sure. We’ll have to follow the trail to find out.”
She started to stand.
Torr grabbed her arm and pulled her back down before she could break concealment. “Stay down. We’ve already run into one trap. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“You think there’s more?”
“I think that we’d be fools to assume this is going to be easy. Any creatures powerful enough to lift a heavy stone from the water and carve it into a portal would also be powerful enough to cover their tracks.”
“What if they didn’t go that way at all?” she asked.
“Anything is possible.”
“So what do we do?” asked Grace. Before he even had time to answer, she did. “Wait. I know.”
“You do? How?”
“That knowledge Brenya gave me? It’s telling me that we need to go for a swim.”
“How’s that going to help?”
“We need another one of those rocks. One small enough to carry so it can lead us where we need to go.”
“Okay, then. Stay here and be my lookout.”
Before she could argue, he slipped away and skirted the ridge so if anyone saw him come down the hill, they wouldn’t know where Grace was.
He stripped and dove into the lake. The water was murky and chilly against his heated skin. The pressure around him increased as he swam deeper. Only a faint glow from the twin suns made it all the way to the lake floor, but as he amplified his vision, he could tell the bottom was covered with rocks. All he needed to do was grab one.
The second his fingers closed around a small one, he felt the water shift violently around him. The pressure surged against his eardrums until he thought they’d burst. By the time he recovered from the sudden sense of vertigo, he realized he was pinned.
Touching the stone had triggered some kind of trap, and one of those monofilament nets had caged his body. He couldn’t even move enough to reach his sword.
He was stuck, and if he didn’t get free soon, he was going to drown down here and leave Grace to fend for herself against the Solarc’s minions.
•   •   •
Serving as lookout for Torr was one of the better tasks Grace had been given.
Even if she was hurt by him keeping secrets from her, she still had to admit he had a fabulous body.
He’d stripped naked, then added only his sword belt to his body before he dove into the lake. The water rippled slightly before smoothing out once again.
She held her breath until her lungs burned. He still hadn’t come up for air.
She took another deep breath and held it as long as she could. Still no Torr.
Anxiety crawled in her mind until she was queasy. She couldn’t lose him. He might have been lying to her, but he was a link to her past. She cared about him, perhaps even more than she was willing to admit.
Something wasn’t right. Sure, he was superhuman and all, but even he had to breathe, didn’t he?
She rushed down the slope, shedding the bags she carried as she went. She didn’t even slow down, just dove into the water where she thought Torr had entered.
The water was thick, but she saw a flash of something from the corner of her eye. Torr.
He was trapped in one of those nets the Warden had left behind. He was still alive, but each movement was weaker than the last.
Grace swam to him, covered his mouth with hers, and gave him her air. She tried to pull him free, but the net confining him had been partially pinned under a huge stone. No way was she moving that.