Page 74 of Broken Fate
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Are you sure about this?”
Shrugging the hood of my cloak up into place, I fixed Andi with a stare from under the heavy cloth. “This is partially your plan. Aren’t I supposed to be asking youthat question?”
“It was also part Kiel’s idea,” she deflected, pointing at him, assigning blame.
“Trust me, I know,” I told her, patting her shoulder before cinching tight the strap around my shoulders that would hold the cloak in place.
“That sounds ominous,” Kiel muttered from where he leaned against the stone wall of the safe house.
“As it should,” I told him sternly, flashing Andi a wink.
We both smiled, but hers never quite reached her eyes. She mirrored how I felt. Jokes and lightheartedness aside, my insides were tying themselves into never-ending knots. It had been hours since I’d eaten, not wanting to risk it coming right back up.
“Stick to the plan,” Kiel said into the silence that followed. “And it’ll work out.”
“It’s not me that you have to worry about going off-script. It’s the others.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, the fingers of my right hand tensing.
“You can do this,” he rumbled, pushing off the wall with his elbow and coming to stand in front of me.
“I know,” I said quietly, looking away.
Kiel glanced over his shoulder, jerking his head at Andi. His shoulders filled my view, but her feet echoed across the wood floor and into the room beyond. The others had already set off to get in position.
Leaving just Kiel and me.
Curled fingers slid up my neck and under my chin, putting pressure on it until my head tilted back. Kiel stared into my face under the cloak, the corners of his eyes tight.
“I’ll be okay,” I told him, trying to assuage the concern I saw parked there.
“I know,” he said, but the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed gave his true emotions away.
“I have to do this. There are only two days left until the first deadline. I’m not waiting any longer.”
“I know,” he repeated. “Doesn’t mean I like it.”
“What would you prefer we do, wrap me in a cocoon and stuff me in some cave somewhere, so I never even so much as nick myself again?”
Kiel’s face brightened.
“No,” I said, shaking my head, shoulders bouncing a little. “Not happening.”
“Yeah,” he said, shoulders rising and falling with a heavy breath. “I know. Besides, I’m nowhere near brave enough to try keeping you locked away. I don’t like losing fights.”
“I knew you had it in you to come to that realization,” I said, sticking out my tongue.
“Doesn’t mean I’d prefer younothave to put yourself into situations like this.” His eyes were cloudy. Not misty, but troubled. Kiel wasn’t one for tears.
“I’m not a big fan of it either.”
“Good. Then come back to me,” he growled, grabbing my face and pulling himself to me.
Lifting up into him, I basked in the warmth of his kiss, the tender but firm grasp of his hands on me. That was how he showed his emotions. Kiel was a man of action before words.
“Don’t do anything stupid out there, okay?” he said as we broke apart.
“Not something you have to worry about,” I said, patting his chest, my fingers lingering, spreading wide as his heartbeat pulsed slowly under the tips.
