Page 18 of Beguiled
Once again she examined me, her keen eyes seeming to see deep inside to my soul. Finally, she shook her head and reached for the ladder. “I am sorry, Mikkel. But I cannot stand by and watch you die when it is within my power to save you.”
“I didn’t ask for you to save me.”
“You will thank me later.”
I sat forward, needing to go to her and somehow talk reason into her. “I can fend for myself.”
“And that is what you have done this past week?”
“Yes, I have been biding my time.”
“And now you have run out.”
I glanced toward the opening above and then lowered my voice. “Help me escape.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Next time you come down, bring a pin or knife or something sharp we can use to pick our locks. Then you can distract the guard above while we sneak away.”
“You wish for me to betray my friends?”
“Are we not friends now too?”
She hesitated, her eyes turning a murky green. “This past week you befriended me so you could use me to aid in your escape?”
Perhaps I’d started with ulterior motives, but I’d genuinely grown to like her. “I hoped you might be willing to aid me, but our interactions became more than that.”
“More?” Her voice rose a notch. “How grand of you.”
The conversation was rapidly deteriorating. I needed to redeem myself. But how? “You cannot deny you befriended me this week so you could discover the reason for my presence on the island.” As soon as the words were out, I saw them as the excuse they were. But it was too late to retract them.
“Yes, you are correct. I came down here tonight intending to find a way to get information from you.”
“Then you told me who you were with the hope I would do the same?”
She lifted her shoulders and tilted up her chin.
A knot tightened in my gut. She didn’t have to say anything more for me to know the truth. She’d been using me all week. And though I had no reason to be upset at her, since I was likewise guilty, the revelation stung nevertheless.
“Now I suppose you will run to Irontooth with everything you’ve learned about me.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my tone.
She grasped a rung on the ladder. “At least in doing so, I shall save your life.”
“And ingratiate yourself to your leader.”
Without another glance my way, she began climbing up.
With each step she took, I saw my chances of succeeding at the Testing slipping away. I needed to call after her, beg her to come back, apologize profusely, and attempt to speak with her more calmly.
Vilmar would have known just what to say to talk his way out of the predicament. And charming Kresten wouldn’t have gotten himself cornered to begin with. But I could only watch Pearl ascend, frustration swirling inside and making me mute.
She was as much to blame for what had happened as I was, wasn’t she? She’d curled up next to me like a kitten and coaxed me until I’d said everything she wanted to hear.
I wouldn’t apologize. Not when she’d so blatantly beguiled me into revealing more than I should have.
As she disappeared and the hatch slammed shut, Gregor released another sigh. “That went well, Your Highness.”
“Yes, very.”
