Page 60 of Lawless
Hades whined near our feet and Reaper moved to sit next to him, pulling me down with him. Our bodies never lost contact, not even when he extended one hand to pet his dog. He even seemed to hold me tighter with the other.
I sat between his legs, my knees curled up to my chest. At some point both of Reaper's hands returned to me, moving in gentle exploration up and down my back, running through my hair.
Neither of us spoke for the longest time as the cave grew darker and colder, except to murmur some words of comfort to Hades.
Eventually, I couldn't keep it in anymore.
"I'm sorry."
Reaper's chin grazed across the top of my head. "You're sorry for what?"
"For thinking the worst of you with no proof." My lips skimmed across his chest as I spoke. "For assuming you did those things to Gretchen based on...the life you lead."
He didn't answer and his hands stopped moving. I was afraid to look up, and hardly dared to breathe. Did I say something to piss him off again?
"You made the assumption most people would have," he said softly. "But now I'm sure you know things aren't always what they seem from an outside view."
"Yes," I agreed, tentatively resting a hand on his bicep. "And I know you're not most people."
Twenty-One
SHADOW
My brothers were in trouble.
And my president captured, or worse, dead.
But before I could find out for sure, I had to hack my way through these guardsmen tearing through every room in the outpost.
I stayed back in my room while everyone else went to the pool. Sitting out in bright sun and removing my clothing were not among my favorite things to do. Reaper had confided his unease about the deal to me last night, so I told him I'd do what I did best.
Be forgotten. Blend into the shadows. Watch and wait.
When I felt the rumble of the explosion on the other side of the building, I readied myself.
Fischlin’s men were loud, their footsteps amateurish as they stormed the hallways. I squeezed the handle of my dagger in annoyance. Archers were supposed to be quiet.
"Find the woman! I want every inch of this place searched until she's found!" bellowed their leader just on the other side of the wall.
Another thing I didn't understand. Why other men were so obsessed with women. Yes, they were nice to look at and fucking them felt good, but I would be just as content to never see another one again.
My bedroom door burst open, concealing where I stood directly behind it. A man with a bow and quiver of arrows on his back began rummaging through my things, pulling back my sheets and kicking my saddlebags. He paused and looked inside my bags with interest at the clinking of my glass liquor bottles.
Oblivious to the movement behind him, he pulled one bottle out to examine. His next breath was a gurgled choke on his blood as I slit his throat.
I wiped my knife on my cut, sheathed it, took his quiver and bow for myself, then left the room as silently as a cat.
The hallway was clear both ways, so I headed toward the direction of the explosion. A cracked open door up ahead prompted me to nock an arrow. Another guardsman was tearing that room apart, by the sound of it. I pulled back on the bowstring and loosed the arrow through the crack.
A satisfied grunt escaped me when I went to check and retrieve my arrow. I got him right in the throat. Bows weren't my favorite weapons by far, but I was decent with them. Gunner and I had a successful bowhunting trip a few years ago where he taught me how to hone in my aim. I had been so resistant to trusting him, but Jandro practically forced me to go. And I was glad I did.
Running footfalls on the tiled hallway pulled me out of nostalgia and had me spinning back to the door.
"What the aughh—“
He caught my knife with his throat as my weapon sailed the short distance between us. He fell to his knees and died before he realized what had happened, let alone remembered to alert anyone else.
I continued moving silently through the hallway, picking off any guardsmen who stood in my way. The few who saw me before they died registered me with shock and surprise in their eyes. Of course, they had forgotten all about me.
