Page 148 of A Simple Truth

But I wasn’t. This was, in fact, Gideon.

It was him and he was here.

“How did you get here…How are youhere?” I asked, his presence making my legs buckle as I took a few steps back, sitting down in the lone chair. “You are here.”

“Of course, I’m fucking here,” he seethed, running his hand through his hair.

Whatever bravado I had managed to summon before, loudly crumbled down, as I stared at him, my eyes filling with tears, as relief flooded me.

“You’ve come for me…” I said, more to myself as the little streaks slid down my cheeks.

“Fuck, Finnleah, don’t cry, you’re okay. You are going to be okay…. But please don’t cry. I won’t let them hurt you.” He dropped to his knees by my chair. His face softened, as he wiped away my tears. I nodded, stifling the quiet sniffles. “But what were you thinking?Why?”he asked, as his calloused hand ran against mine. “Why are they all still alive and not incinerated into ashes? And why…” He held his breath before saying, “Why in the absolute hell were you going to prostitute yourself to a stranger just a minute ago?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, consoled by the touch of his warm hand against my cheek.

“We can’t burn them. Elves supply their food and have their wards everywhere. We use our magic, they all starve,” I explained, suddenly aware of the fact that he hadn’t used his fire either. “You haven’t burned them either…Why?” My eyes widened.

“That’s a fucking good question.” He stood up, adjusting his cloak. “I wanted to from the moment I walked into this hell hole. And believe me, during your little show…I almost incinerated half the damn mountain,” he replied as he looked around the room, assessing.

“But you didn’t…” I stated.

“No, I didn’t. Because you were here and they were all still alive, and I needed to ask you first before I turned them all to dust.” His words caught me off guard.

“You trusted me.”

“Believe me, I am starting to question that choice,” he mumbled with a touch of sarcasm.

“Wait, were you here for the dance?” I asked, still astonished.

“Oh, the dance, the bidding, the show. Fucking all of it,” he replied, running his hand over his face, as if that somehow would wipe away his frazzled look. And though I knew it was neither the time nor the place, I bit my lip and asked anyway.

“Did you like my performance?” I smiled at him as joy warmed my soul at his nearness.

He glared, shaking his pointer finger at me. “We are not going to talk about that right now.” His voice was uneven, and he took a step away from me. But my mouth stretched in a wide, satisfied smile, as my eyes lowered to below his waist, to the very prominent bulge, because the answer to my question was quite more obvious than his silent looks.

“Also, just so you know, we either need to kill them all or can’t touch them at all. They are rival tribes. If one is dead, then there is another war….” I brought him up to speed, as he stared at me still searching for the right words. “While we are at it, you should also know that there is a room upstairs with a large picture of Lady Dynaya and behind that, there is a safe, which will have a book, one that might contain spells for the magic used to create the stone. Theoretically, of course. At least, that’s what I saw in my visions. All this to say, we can’t leave without it.” I sheepishly smiled at him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, looking at anything but me.

“Please tell me you have some weapons.”

“I have two of these.” With that, I pulled the two tiny throwing knives out from underneath the thick bra strap.

“For gods’ sake…” he uttered. “That’s all? What were you thinking? What was your plan?!” he whispered angrily. I clenched my jaw; I didn’t need another reminder of my foolish choices.

“My plan was to charm them with my amazing dance moves…” I hissed back. “Do you think I don’t realize that I put myself in a difficult situation all by myself? Of course all my plans fucking changed once I knew all the important details!” I threw my hands up as my voice raised.

A loud knock startled us as the guard’s voice sounded from behind the door.

“If she is giving you trouble sir, we do offer chains or ropes.”

Gideon cleared his throat. “No chains or ropes necessary.”

We stayed quiet until the guard’s steps echoed further away.

“Well, the one dagger I had was taken by the doors too,” Gideon let out a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t planning to go on a murdering spree when I flew to see you today.”

“I could always go back and see if I can seduce someone of use with my amazing dance routine.” I theatrically shook my shoulders, letting my breasts bounce. “Seemed to work out great for me the first time around.” I winked at him, unable to hide my mischievous grin.

---