Page 36 of High Stakes

Chapter Fifteen

I secured my stakes and pulled a sage green dress over my head. It was so much softer than the dress I’d stolen. The accompanying rust-colored shawl wasn’t stiff or scratchy, either, and the fabric of both smelled amazing... like lavender. My skin flushed as I remembered the way Enoch studied my tech suit, and subsequently, me.

I peeked outside the door to find an enormous staircase. I jogged down the steps and, true to his word, Enoch waited at the bottom for me. I walked past him and reached for the door handle, but he sped ahead and opened it for me. I refused to thank him and ignored his grin.

“Your boots look lovely,” he observed. “As does the rest of you.”

Ignoring the heat flooding my cheeks, I stepped outside.

The warm evening sun spilled onto the steps as we descended. I wished he were like the monsters he created, unable to walk in sunlight and burned to a crisp if they tried. “You’ll let me see my friend when we’re finished walking, right?” I challenged.

“I am a man of my word, Eve. I’d also like to point out that I was right. You do know him.”

I rolled my eyes. So he was observant and was right about me knowing Titus. What did he want? A cookie?

As we walked along the winding, muddy path to the gate in silence, I took the opportunity to casually observe Enoch in his element. He wore tattered leather boots that rose to his knees, which would seem ridiculous on anyone else, but at least they covered most of his outrageously tight pants. His tunic, held together by a worn leather belt, covered the important parts. He didn’t wear a single dagger or sword. Not that he needed them.

I finally broke the silence. “I thought the day I arrived was the last day you were letting people inside.”

He pinched his lips together. “It was, but after you came and then the young man appeared at the gate the following day, I assumed there might be others still in need of shelter. I wanted to wait and see if anyone else would make their way here.”

Before encountering Titus, part of me was afraid he and Abram had been sent to a different time. Now that I’d seen Titus, I knew Abram was here as well, though I wasn’t sure where. He could already be in the vicinity, or maybe Asa had his own castle and Abram was making his way to it. “No one else has come?” I asked conversationally, looking out through the portcullis squares and feigning interest at the countryside.

“Are you expecting someone?” he queried teasingly.

“Whom would I be expecting?” Deflecting, I answered his question with another question. Abram was out there somewhere. Was it wrong that I hoped he was covered in black boils and rotting beside a road, being chewed on by rodents? “What I meant was, what if someone else shows up? What if someone is out there making their way here, right now, only to find the gates closed?”

“I’ve combed the countryside and found nothing but you and death,” he responded sullenly. “No one else is coming, and I’m sealing the gates to keep those who are well from leaving too soon. If they go back home, they’ll die. You’ve seen what’s left of Edenshire.”

I had seen Edenshire, and it was one of the most disturbing things I’d ever observed. On the broadcasts back in my time, there were reports of senseless death and drained bodies. But hearing a report of something was different than experiencing it firsthand. It was different to watch from a distance as atrocities were committed, rather than to be within arms’ reach. To smell it. To hear the sound of animals tearing into flesh.

A shiver crawled up my spine as I remembered what lay outside the castle. He was being nice now, but what if it was an act, nothing more than an attempt to garner information from me?

He called up to his soldiers on the wall above. “The gate is to remain closed until I give word otherwise. No one comes in, and no one leaves.”

“Yes, Milord,” the three guards answered in unison. Then the captain spoke up. “We will make sure the entire guard knows it.”

“Thank you,” he replied with a courteous nod, turning to me. “Do you wish to see your friend now?”

“Yes,” I answered shortly. Terah was with him. Idly, I wondered if he’d attempted to stake her yet…

“How do you know the young man?” he asked suddenly.

I didn’t plan on answering that question, and I certainly wasn’t telling him anything important. If I knew anything about Enoch, it was that he used everything to his advantage, especially knowledge.

“We grew up in the same area,” I vaguely answered.

We walked the perimeter of the wall in silence until we came to a secluded spot. There were no guards patrolling the ramparts above, and no one milling about in the yard. “How old are you?” he inquired. “Where are your parents?”

“I am not a child,” I snapped.

His eyes dilated, focusing intently on my face, sensing my reactions. “I can clearly see that, but that was not my question.”

I glared at him. “My mother is dead, I never knew my father, and I have no siblings. Does that answer your question?”

“The young man is not your brother, then?”

“No.”

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