Page 13 of The Rising Wave

Then she was crouched at his feet, sawing at the rope around his ankles.

He stumbled up when they went slack, putting a hand on Ava's shoulder for balance.

“How badly did they hurt you?” She was looking up at him from the ground, face tipped up as she spoke, and he saw the calm, the competence in her expression.

This was a formidable person he was dealing with.

“Ribs and face,” he said, giving her the respect he would to his seconds in the army he'd created. The truth just was. It was how you used the information that counted.

“They didn't take off your bandages?” Her gaze was on the strips she had tied around him yesterday. “Check how you were healing?”

He shook his head. “Why would they?”

She shrugged as she stood, pocketing the knife and then gathering up the bucket and mop. The rag on her head had slipped a little and her golden brown hair stuck out, hair he'd been fascinated by since he'd met her—the soft look of it, the short spikes, had mesmerised him.

If her guards had cut it to humiliate her, they had failed. She looked as beautiful and fey as a Grimwalter could. The short hair only offset her sharp chin and her big brown eyes.

She held the bucket and mop like armor, and leaned against the door to listen.

There was no one coming.

She glanced at him, and he nodded before they both stepped out.

Ava turned and locked the door.

He approved. It was better to leave it as it had been. It would confuse whoever came for him next. Make them wonder if someone else in authority had taken him.

Before they could choose a direction, the sound of laughter drifted down from the stairwell.

They both froze, pivoted, and looked down the gloomy passage that ran past the question room into darkness.

“What's down that way?” Luc whispered.

“I don't know. I've never been here before.”

The laughter became louder, and Luc could hear Juni's voice. They were looking forward to whatever they had planned for him.

“They're here for me.”

She gave a snort. “Really?”

Despite the situation, he grinned at her, then started moving into the gloom to find a hiding place.

He noticed the deep recess in the wall straight away.

“In here.”

She hesitated, then moved, and he crowded her into the space, so they were both pressed up against the cold stone wall.

They were only just in time.

He heard the jangle of keys and then the scrape of a key in the lock and the slam of the door against the wall.

“Shit.” Luc didn't recognize the voice that swore so meaningfully. “How do we explain that?”

“Relax. Maybe Garmand took him up to the general.” That was Juni.

“What do you mean? Why would he send us down here to interrogate the prisoner if he'd already taken him somewhere else?”

---