Page 24 of Freedom Mine
“Where’s what?” she said, twirling a lock of thick luscious hair in her delicate fingers.
She pushed something under her pillow while trying to draw his attention to her face. He wedged himself between her and the bed. Never mind that the walls were closing in and the ceiling would flatten any second, he wouldn’t let her take that bottle from him. He fished under the pillow and withdrew a sack. He recognized the pattern on the sack, yellow trim with the initials ML. Mac Lekanna. She’d turned an old sheet that had been up here into a travel bag.
“No!” she pleaded as he upended the bag onto the bed, spilling out the contents.
A loaf of bread, four pieces of fruit, hard cheese, dried surak. Nothing unusual there for a slave preparing to run.
The walls tightened. He swayed, and steadied himself on the edge of the bed. Blue, his brave little Blue, held a pig sticker of a knife pointed at him.
He clamped down on her wrist and squeezed so hard she yelped. He released her and the knife clanked against the floor. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but she’d pointed a knife at him. She was lucky he’d only squeezed her wrist.
The weapon, a simple folding knife with a three-inch, single-edged blade stared up at him from the floor. She hadn’t tried to retrieve it.
He scooped up the knife by the gray handle, testing the edge. He barely felt the blade slice through his palm, and he wasn’t drunk enough to blame it on the alcohol. It was an exceptionally sharp blade, a fine weapon. Why had he ever worried about her? She’d managed to squirrel away a very deadly weapon from somewhere.
“Please leave,” she asked, her lips tight.
For all her daring and courage, she was ill-equipped to survive out here, on this world. She needed someone to watch over her, even if it was Ranth and not him. But he wanted it to be him.
Just thinking of Ranth made him angry again. Ranth wasn’t here to protect her, was he? Anyone could walk into his house at any time and attack her.
Kayo pushed the blade back into the handle and tossed it onto the bed. “You think that little pig sticker would stop me if I wanted to have you under me? And what would you do if I were to take you to my bed instead of having you here? Or maybe up against a tree, or in a harkifa stall. You’ve already been there, haven’t you?”
She stared at him, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. Hells, he’d gone too far. The alcohol had let his mouth run on and on, and just when she had finally started to trust him. All he wanted was to protect her. No, that was a lie. He wanted more with her. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her, to trust him, to find him worthy of her.
The truth was he’d drag her down, as he was dragging down Jace and the eleven men across the yard. Kayo broke out into a sweat and felt as if he was going to pass out. He stumbled to the landing and paused outside her door where he could finally breathe again.
The knife had already disappeared from the bed, and her hands were behind her. Hells. She shouldn’t feel the need to carry a blade near him.
“I’ve fucked everything up around here, Blue. The mine’s dry as a desert, and I can’t pay my creditors. They’re going to start taking the men to pay my debts. I promised each and every one of them. I promised you.” He ran his hand over his face, but it did nothing except remind him of how low he’d sunk in his life.
“There are more knives in the kitchen. Take what you need. Ask someone to cut out your chip, then take the landglider.”
He leaned against the wall, his head bowed forward. “They can’t take you if they can’t find you.”
* * *
ALLI
Long after Kayo stumbled his way down the steps and out the front door, Alli stood in the attic, stunned by his behavior and his words. He was a broken man, more broken than some slaves she’d seen. But he was free. It made no sense. He had scared her by bursting in, but she’d never feared him. She had taken away his alcohol to hurt him, as it seemed to be the only thing he cared about, but she was wrong. He cared about this place, the people here.Her.
That alone stunned her. How could he care about her if he planned for her to service the men up at the mine? That he could give her to those men, to any man. . . That’s what an owner would do.
A bolt of lightning struck nearby, shaking the house. The storm was too violent, with a high number of lightning strikes along the fence line. The crystals powering the fence attracted lightning, making escape too risky right now. She’d have to delay her plans.
Do what it takes to survive, and then never look back. That was the rule she used the most, and she’d have to keep it in mind tomorrow, if she couldn’t escape before Kayo forced her to work in the shack.
