Page 50 of Shadows of Winter

“The curse has struck those who’ve worked for the rangers or proven themselves allies,” he admitted.

“I thought so. And you keep showing up at the castle, so if it’s smart, or if the curse is smart, it might decide we’re on the same side.”

“Are we?” His brows rose.

“Thanks to your boss making sure we can’t go home, and bribing us with furniture and mead-making supplies, my brother and I don’t have any choice but to be.”

Not unless she ran away and joined the rebels. That didn’t sound appealing though. Why couldn’t these people have a nice negotiating session and make peace?

“Perhaps you should stay at the Headwaters Inn.”

“Our money is for launching our business, not vacationing at competing inns. Perhaps you shouldn’t come by to visit.”

“I wouldn’t have to come visit if you hadn’t lured my mount to your door with your honey.” Though Vlerion hadn’t raised his voice, his body tensed, and irritation sparked in his eyes. Irritation and something more. That dangerous glint she’d caught a couple of times.

“I didn’t lure him,” Kaylina couldn’t keep from saying, though her instincts warned her to shut up and let him have the last word. Somehow, she’d touched on a tender spot. Maybe someone had suborned his taybarri before. But she didn’t want him to believe she’d tried to do that. Forcing calm onto her face and into her voice, she added, “He came of his own accord. Probably because he has good taste.” Unwisely and impulsively, she added, “And your protein pellets look like pulverized dung.”

His jaw tightened. Though he didn’t move, he radiated coiled tension that made her wish she’d listened when he told her to leave. What was she arguing for? Beyond having some understandable curiosity about those books, she didn’t want to stay in the catacombs.

Several long seconds passed with Vlerion as motionless as one of those statues, except that he was making a faint noise. Was that… humming? A tune?

She stared at him, but he’d closed his eyes. Finally, he stepped back and exhaled a long slow breath.

He opened his eyes and started to say something, but his head whipped around. He peered down the tunnel in the direction they’d come and raised his sword arm.

“What—” Kaylina started to whisper, but he stepped forward, wrapped an arm around her waist and hefted her from her feet.

She barely kept from gasping in surprise and only because she heard what he must have heard. Footsteps. Running footsteps heading their way.

13

What happens in the dark… is difficult to discern.

~ Sandsteader Proverb

Pressed against Vlerion’s body, with her feet dangling in the air, Kaylina wanted to protest his manhandling, but the footsteps grew louder.

“Zerek?” the running man called.

Sword out, Vlerion had started to thrust Kaylina into the alcove with the statue, as though he would leave her and spring out to attack the man, but hearing the voice seemed to change his mind. With his arm wrapped around her waist, he stepped into the alcove with her. He paused only to lean out and toss his torch down the tunnel and into the pool. It hit the water and went out. He lowered Kaylina so he could snuff her lantern, then stepped as far back into the alcove as possible, pulling her with him.

She found herself in the dark, wedged between the horned Kar’ruk statue and Vlerion, with the sarcophagus close enough to use as an arm rest. What a cozy spot.

His body was almost as hard as the stone statue, and she would have shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position, but the footsteps were coming closer. The speaker slowed from a run. Had he sensed them?

Vlerion leaned his head close, his lips brushing Kaylina’s ear. The intimate touch startled her, especially given their current situation. Her body responded in a most inappropriate way, with a tingle of warmth that shot to her core.

“I know the name he spoke,” Vlerion breathed softly in her ear. Sharing information, not nuzzling her. He drew back once the words were out.

She didn’t say anything back, not wanting to give away their hiding spot.

“Zerek?” came another call, closer this time. “Are you still in here?”

“Back here, Legdar,” another man called from a distance. His voice came from the far end of the grotto or maybe the walkway along the river.

“I think those kids from the castle know about the catacombs,” the first speaker—Legdar—said. A big man carrying an axe, he walked past the alcove without glancing in. “I heard the boy calling for his sister from the root cellar.”

The realization that these people not only knew about Kaylina and her brother but had been watching them closely enough to know their relationship chilled her.

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