Page 72 of When Storms Awaken

“Do you trust him?” Tess asked me as she spooned more of the muddy grey stew into her mouth.

“Not a chance in hell,” I replied around a mouthful.

“You always did know how to hold a grudge,” Tess laughed.

“There’s a difference between holding a grudge and having your trust broken. Nik and Puck have broken my trust, and it will take a hell of a lot more than pretty lies and stale bread to change that.”

“I’m with you on that,” Tess agreed. “Where did you leave the grimoire?”

I shook my head. “I can’t tell you. I trust you with my life, but this will be easier if only one of us knows its location. It’s safer this way,” I told her. It wasn’t hidden too well, and the thought of Donika rifling through my underwear drawer brought a small laugh bubbling to my lips.

“You’re probably right.” She nodded. “I know that whatever is in that grimoire that Donika wants, we need to make damn sure she doesn’t get it. If she’s this deep into dark magic, it can’t be anything good.”

“We are in agreement on that.” I placed the finished stew bowl on the ground next to me and rest my head against the wall. “But the grimoire is spelled to begin with. Tyr was only able to open it because he’s…family. I’m not sure Donika could open it, even with the spell. Unless she’s planning on using Tyr to open it.”

“Probably,” Tess replied, “appears he’s her little lapdog.”

I rest my head against her shoulder, and with a sigh she rested her head back against mine.

“Puck was right about one thing, we need to get some rest if we have any chance of getting out of here. If I have the opportunity, unshackled, outside of this cell, I am going to call on my magic like never before and get us the hell out of here.”

“I wish I could help,” Tess replied.

“You can,” I told her. “Any way you can distract the guards…do it. I only need a second before they restrain me with the shackles. Just one second to pull on my magic and surrender to it.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she assured me. I wasn’t sure they would be letting us out of this cell unchained any time soon, but we had to be prepared for if they did. If Puck was able to get us out, we had to take that chance. Even if I planned to ditch him at the first reasonable opportunity that presented itself. Tess and I drifted off quietly, hand in hand, leaning against each other for support. Just as we always had.

Iwokewithastart as I heard the iron door slam shut at the end of the corridor. Tess and I were tangled together on the packed dirt floor, and she lifted her head and peeled her eyes open as footsteps sounded against the stone.

I pushed my back against the wall, as far from the iron door as I could get. The tray and dishes had been removed at some point while we had slept, I wondered if Puck had snuck back in to retrieve them. How long had we been asleep? There was a chill deep in my bones from sleeping on the packed earth without anything but Tess to keep warm with.

The dark silhouette approached, a lantern swinging in his grip, his golden hair illuminated by the flickering flame. Nik appeared different from the last time I had seen him. His hair was swept back as if he had been pushing it out of his face over and over again. His eyes were ringed with dark circles, his mouth set in a thin line before the glow of the lantern. His hood was pushed back away from his face. A black face covering hung loosely at his neck. He wore a black tunic with a leather strappy breastplate, a broadsword nestled between his shoulder blades. He looked every part the shadow witch, down to his laced knee-high boots and his chilling stare.

“What do you want?” I called before he had the chance to say anything.

“I have to explain, and I have to make it quick. Donika doesn’t know I’m down here. If she caught me…” He trailed off, glancing towards the heavy iron door at the end of the corridor. As if he expected her to appear there at any moment. It was the only way in or out of the Stormvault.

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say.” I raised my chin and met his stare with a cold, defiant, one of my own.

“I am trying tohelpyou.” He ground his teeth together.

“We don’t need help from you,” I shot back. His eyes were dark and despite myself my eyes drifted down to his mouth. Just last night those wicked lips had kissed me, tasted me. A flash of heat ran over me as I remember the feel of his body against mine, his knee between my thighs. I shook my head trying to shake loose that traitorous thought. My mind was saying one thing, my body another.

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t,” he hissed through the iron bars.

“The devil…how fitting,” I seethed back.

“Can you stop being so stubborn forone secondand listen to me?” he breathed, pressing up against the iron bars. I couldn’t imagine how we looked, curled in the back of this dank cell, dirt in our hair and under our fingernails. I had quite literally been dragged through the mud and tossed around like a rag doll for the past day, both emotionally and physically. The sting of his betrayal was so fresh it was hard to even look at him. Had he told Donika what had happened between us last night? It felt as if so much time had already passed since then.

My eyes drifted down as I swallowed the hot feeling of shame. How had I let him touch me? How had I let him in? How had I not seen the truth? Nik took my silence as an answer, and he knelt on one knee before the iron bars bringing himself down to eye level.

“Everything is not as it seems. I did not want to hurt you. This was the very last thing I wanted…” he pleaded, his eyes on mine. Tess sat at my side silently, her freezing glare searing into him. “I know Puck came to see you.”

I nodded in response, and he continued.

“What he said was the truth…I lied about the Stormshades. They never exploited their power over the other witches. They never abused their power. That was the Nightshade army. That was Donika.”

“Your lover?” I asked with a raised brow.

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