Page 70 of Entangled

Anger hooks into my guilt.

She shouldn’t look like this. I was meant to protect her.

I have to protect her. It’s all that matters.

Eden takes a breath, then looks up at me, searching my face. “You promised that I would be included in things. That you wouldn’t keep secrets. Did you mean that?”

At the river. That damn river, with her between us, soaked in the blood of a man who tried to kill me. Where I washed her clean and tasted her mouth.

Where she broke our deal and forged a new one as she snuggled, naked, in my arms.

Right then, I would have promised her anything she asked.

I stare at her. “I meant it.”

I remember her lips on mine after she brought me a duffle bag full of death... and corpses she left littering the forest with poisoned soup. Time and again, she’s proved herself. Not in the hot, violent way Heather does.

Eden works quietly, steady as the gentle river we bathed in. It’s different.

It’s restful.

“I promised, and I meant it,” I repeat in a low voice the others won’t hear, and her brow furrows. “But only if you want to. You just need to?—”

“Speak up,” she murmurs. “Yes. I’ll remember that. I would like to come.”

A small, tired smile brushes her lips. They’re chapped and dehydrated, and the lower one has a cut through it. But her shoulders loosen.

Heather starts talking again as we walk—slowly for her injured ankle. I ignore her, watching Eden out of the corner of my eye.

We arrive in a dark cave, and it takes a moment before one of the women lights up a dozen lanterns.

“Oh, those are nice.” Bentley examines one. “You know, if the candles are too much hard work, I can show you how to make a real nice torch out of?—”

“No thanks,” Heather says, not looking at him.

Jayk shoves the two Sinners until they fall to their knees, and I move up to stand beside Heather. She’s staring at them like her eyes could draw blood.

“Where to start?” Heather muses, walking toward them.

The bandaged man watches her with cool interest—the other man with resentful distrust.

“Perhaps with some introductions?” Jasper suggests silkily. “Who are these men, exactly?”

“Dead man one and dead man two,” Heather responds, crouching in front of them. “Dom, give me your knife.”

“No. Who are they, Heather?” I demand.

I need to know exactly how much use they’re going to be to me. I need to know exactly what they did. As that thought hits, I check on Eden, who is watching them with a grave expression.

I need to know exactly who they did itto.

I shift, suddenly uncomfortable.

Heather huffs. “Dom, just give me?—”

“The one who almost shot me is Mateo,” Eden breaks in. “And the one with the burns is Alastair.”

“Did they touch you?” Jayk says suddenly, and I realize he’s still standing right behind them, his hand on his knife.

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