Page 103 of Kept to Kill
‘Did you attack Maeve?’ Quin thundered.
‘She— she was betraying the Brothers! I saw her writing a missive to the Great Library. She gloated to me that you had given her the power of the Commander and that she would use it how she saw fit. She received monies from the king for information on Brothers’ movements, on the inner workings of the camp. I sought to save us all!’
‘You fucking liar,’ Quin spat.
‘I speak the truth,’ Morden insisted. ‘Thewoman—’
‘—is not your concern,’ Quin said.
A soldier in gray entered the tent and put a bag on Quin’s desk. ‘This was found hidden under his tent. It’s full of gold, Commander.’
‘Aye,’ Quin said, ‘payments for Dark Brothers’ secrets. Did you attack Maeve because she found you out? You might as well tell the truth. You’ll die either way.’
Two of Maeve’s unit came into the tent. ‘Maeve is awake,’ Callan said. ‘You can guess her story. We’ve come for him as is our right.’
Quin waved a hand. ‘He’s yours. Get what you can out of him. I want to know who he’s been spilling secrets to and exactly who he’s told what. Do what you like with him after you get what I need.’
‘No!’ he squealed. ‘I’ll not die for what I did to that bitch. She deserved it!’ He began to struggle in Callan’s grip. ‘If you give me to them, I’ll tell them nothing! But let me live, let me go, and I’ll give you everything you want to know.’
Quin’s lip curled up into a sneer. ‘Get him out of my sight.’
‘No! No!’ The man was dragged away, his screams growing dim as he was taken.
‘What will they do to him?’ Lily asked.
‘You don’t want to know,’ Quin said solemnly, staring at the closed tent flaps.
Later that day, Lily lay on the great bed that now stood in the tent. Where Quin had procured it from, she didn’t know, but it was large enough for at least three of them to share comfortably.
Though she thought that Quin was being presumptuous in assuming that she would stay, she had decided that she would. She just hadn’t told them yet. She grinned. Perhaps she didn’t need to.
Mal and Bastian both moved their belongings in with Quin’s; he’d ordered his men to make his tent larger to accommodate them all. It now boasted a second small room for sleeping that had been added in record time by soldiers, who looked at her curiously but didn’t speak to her.
She frowned as she watched Quin working at the desk. He was worried about what was happening in the north, with the wards and portals. They all were, but she couldn’t help but think, after what Bastian had told her about the Mount, about that goddess disappearing, that there was something more happening that they didn’t understand.
Quin had decided that the Army would become the sentinels of the realms that they had always been before when they were needed. Perhaps that was all they could do, fight the encroaching darkness as best they could from their tiny corner of the many realms that existed.
She could also help in some way, she thought with a smile, quietly disrobing before wandering through the tent to where Quin sat, deep in thought. She knew that Mal and Bastian were watching her from the table where they were sharing a meal, so she took her time, letting them see her.
Quin didn’t look up from what he was doing until she sat in front of him, plonking her bare arse on the desk. He took her in, leaning back.
‘I have work to do,’ he murmured, though his gaze began to heat.
‘It’ll still be there tomorrow,’ she said, taking hold of his tunic and drawing him closer, playing the practiced courtesan even as she tried to control her quickening breaths.
‘Will you?’
She looked into his eyes. This was the first time he’d asked her directly if she was going to stay with them. She glanced at the others, finding them silent and waiting with bated breath for the answer she would give Quin.
She turned back to him and put her hands on either side of his face. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I want to stay here with you and Bastian and Mal. I want to fight this darkness with you. I want to make sure it doesn’t consume you. You’re my unit. I’ll be your Fourth.’
Her lips descended on his and it took him a moment to respond. When he did, however, it was with a growl of contentment and he grabbed her, squeezing her to him as he lifted her up, wrapping her legs around him. He carried her to the great bed and put her down, making her watch as he took off his belt and pulled it taut, mimicking what he’d done in the forest.
She tensed uncertainly. ‘You’re not going to …’
‘Punish you for making me wait for your answer?’ he growled. Then he grinned, throwing the belt to the ground as the others came to stand next to him, looking down at her on the bed, their gazes roving over her, their eyes promising dark pleasures that made her shudder in anticipation.
‘Perhaps we will a little, but I think you’ll enjoy it.’
