Page 25 of Great Falls Rogue
Grabbing onto a set of chains hanging from the ceiling, Tye pulls himself up, his body perfectly taut. “These aren’t bad,” he says, spreading out his arms until they are parallel to the ground, every muscle in his bare chest and stomach coiling impossibly. The cross-like position makes me want to rub my shoulders, but Tye holds it with ease. Catching my gaze, he grins and flips himself over, landing on the stone floor with a flourish.
I shake my head. “You are insane.”
“So I’ve been told.”
I try to smile, to show some gratitude for his effort, but I can’t unsee horrid stone walls surrounding us. Can’t forget River’s furious gray gaze as he stared down at me from his horse. As if…as if I betrayed him. Took advantage of the tentative trust we’ve built, forged in secret study and shared moments, and used it as permission to disregard his orders. The male plainly regretted letting me glimpse his true self, hidden behind the mask of a commander’s coldness. And now, now he was ensuring I regretted it too.
The worst part is that River is right. The Leralynn who stays meekly behind while Coal faces trouble, she never existed. Never would. The Leralynn I’d let River believe me to be is as imaginary as Lady of Osprey.
Of course River wants vengeance.
I glimpse the chains hanging from the ceiling again, so like those clanking in Coal’s nightmares, and swallow a lump. Coal. River locked him up too. Somewhere close by. The very last place Coal should ever be.
Pressing my back against the wall, I slide to the floor.
“You don’t want to do that,” Tye calls, sitting atop the table again. When I glance questioningly toward him, he jerks his chin at the stone beneath me. “Sit on damp stone. However long River decides to have us cool off here, it will be that much less pleasant in cold soggy clothes.” He pats a spot on the table beside him.
“You want me to sit on…there? Where they question people?”
“If it’s the sitting you object to, I can think of something more interesting,” Tye drawls before stretching like a cat, every hard square of his abdomen on magnificent display. “You know, most females would consider themselves fortunate to be locked up in a dark room with me and no other entertainment to be had.”
Heat floods my face. Having already risen before the bastard finished his sentence, I plot a course in the opposite direction from him, into the farthest, dankest corner of the cell, where the scent of mold is most cloying. The thoughts and sensations flooding my mind make actual thinking difficult, but I do anyway, taking stock of where I am—of how abruptly my mission has ground to a halt. Just this morning, I was plotting my next Night Guard reconnaissance outing with Arisha and Gavriel’s help and looking forward to another tutoring session in River’s heady presence. Now the latter is furious with me, Shade is prowling the woods, Coal is locked up with only his demons for company, and Tye… Tye is playing games.
Damn the male. He flirts on reflex, unable to help himself, but I know he has no plans to follow through. Even after a month of little contact, the intensity of our coupling in the bathhouse still turns my insides to molten heat each time I trespass on the memory. I was naive to think I could bed the male, enjoy the sheer physical pleasure of it, and walk away without scorching my soul. The connection is too strong, the wound too painful to keep ripping open. Not when I know that this Tye’s priorities lie solidly with his precious Prowess Trials, while mine are solidly elsewhere.
My hands curl into fists. It isn’t fair how easily a few words can undo a month of hard-won calluses. How the dungeon walls can leave Tye unscathed but insist on closing in around me.
“That wasn’t amusing, Tye.” I quicken my step as if there is anywhere to go, only to trip over a manacle. The metal ring clatters across the stone floor, the sound raking my nerves, sending echoes of pain and darkness reverberating through me. Making me flinch as if branded.
As if I’d heard it before. Been held captive before. Been questioned and punished and made to scream—I cut myself off with a jerk. Coal.Hehas been held before, not me. It ishisflash of memory that gripped me just now.Hisnightmares that will only get worse the longer River maroons him in the dungeons.
Yet, it’s Coal’s fear as much my own that’s stealing my breath just now. And yet, the knowledge doesn’t make the darkness any less crushing.
I don’t realize Tye is moving until he’s beside me, his strong arms pulling me from the corner I’ve somehow burrowed myself into. Before I can blink, I’m gathered against his warm, hard chest, wrapped in his citrusy scent. His warmth surrounds me, making my muscles relax on instinct.
“It was alittleamusing,” Tye says impertinently, even as he strokes my back and head like a kitten. The smooth touches along my hair fill me with safety. With a sense ofnowto stand against the phantom memories I shouldn’t have. Tye’s knuckles brush my cheek. “I know, I’m a horse’s arse.”
“Yes, you are,” I tell him.But stars, I want you anyway.
5
Tye
Tyewasa horse’s arse. And he well knew it.
Despite Lera being oblivious to it, any male with a cock would thank his lucky stars to be locked in with her, Tye being no exception. Her deep brown eyes confused the senses, her hair a fiery auburn silk that positively begged a man’s fingers to get tangled up in it. Worse still, he knew what it felt like to be buried deep inside all that lilac-scented warmth. A fact of which his lower body was painfully aware. But that was no excuse for even hinting at the many things he wished to do to the lass.
First, Lera had made her preference for Tye’s staying away quite clear. And second, she deserved better than him under any circumstances. Tiga’s death was proof enough of that. And yet being near Lera made Tye feel alive, like fog lifting from the world to reveal all the colors and smells.
He breathed out slowly, willing his body to settle despite Leralynn’s intoxicating lilac scent. Worse still, standing this close to her, he could smell the slight hint of the lass’s misguided arousal. That sweet musk alone had his cock pulsing hard enough to make the room spin.
Tye forced his hand away from Lera’s soft skin, bracing on the small of her back instead. Her amaranth dress, in tantalizing tatters from the fight, felt smooth and cool beneath Tye’s touch. The fabric fell perfectly over her curved hips and full breasts, though the bright cloth would look even better pooled on the floor, the lass’s creamy flesh bent over that wooden table, her legs… Tye shifted his weight, trying to evict his cock’s thoughts from his mind. “Go sit down, lass.”
Lera started forward obediently, her body tense. With her gaze free to wander the dungeon, the lass’s arousal waned, a shot of fear turning her scent. Her eyes had taken on that hunted look again, darting from wall to hanging chains to shelved whips as if something might be hiding there. As if the damn implements would leap from the holds and let themselves loose on her flesh.
Tye’s gaze narrowed, a strange twinge of worry growing in his chest. Lera’s fear seemed to go deeper than the large cell, beyond a cadet’s normal anxiety over being punished. And they were being punished—punished, not tortured.
Yes. Something was wrong. Walking into this cell had woken demons in Lera that were now clawing their way out.
