Page 8 of At the Mercy of Midnight
“Of course you do,” she said, straightening before him, “because I chose this path.”
Silas tutted. “You do know everything I say isn’t to start a fight?”
“Based on every conversation we’ve ever had, no, I can’t say I know anything of the sort.”
He glanced at her over his shoulder, an amused expression on his face. “You enjoy it, don’t you?”
Her steps faltered and a scowl narrowed her eyes. Silas caught the look and laughed quietly before turning away again. Amelia sighed through her nose with a twist of her lips.
Their rivalry had always been built on sharp words and sharper minds. It was a relentless game of one-upmanship that had once driven her to rewrite an entire thesis just to prove him wrong. He had been a part of her life for almost ten years, running in the same academic circles, presenting at all the same conferences. Even when they were both firmly working in their own cities, Silas managed to insert himself into the background of discussions. She had been unable to escape him.
She stared at the back of his blond head with frustration before following behind.
A rumble began, and they both paused, heads twisting to stare at each other as the low resonant sound seemed to come from everywhere. Silas looked contemplative with a hint ofunease as it continued. The dust shifted around them, falling in small rivulets from the ruins surrounding them.
After a minute, it subsided, and Amelia took in a deep breath.
“That’s not normal,” she said in a low voice.
Silas swallowed visibly before nodding his agreement. “No…it certainly isn’t.” He looked around them for a moment before he gestured for them to continue. “Let’s press on.”
The oppressive weight of the early afternoon sun had no mercy for them as they reached the outskirts of the temple. Amelia could feel the damp sweat around her collar and the middle of her back, her breaths unsteady, mouth dry.
She shifted the muscles in her back as it itched uncomfortably beneath her pack, trying to ignore the lick of pain that tingled up her spine. Silas caught the movement and raised a brow at her. He looked like he might comment, but didn’t, to which she was grateful. Amelia would be ashamed to convey any weakness in front of him.
They were forced to stop before a collapsed wall which blocked their path again. Amelia sighed deeply and took a seat to catch her breath and pull out her water.
Silas stood before the wall, hands on his hips and tilting his head to the side, huffing out a frustrated noise. He walked several paces away, scrutinising crevices as he went. He turned back to Amelia and pointed. “There’s a gap here. I think we could squeeze through.”
Amelia capped her water and shoved it away before standing. She strode over to the gap he had spoken of and peered in before wrinkling her nose. She turned back to him and gave him a once over. “I suppose you’re scrawny enough, but we won’t fit with our packs on.”
She fought back a smile at the affronted look on his face.
“Uh-huh,” was all he said before he pulled his backpack from his shoulders and started to shimmy his way into the small, tilted opening between walls, pushing his gear in front of him.
She swallowed uneasily as she watched him struggle to shuffle through the gap, grunting and using his hands to pull himself further in when needed. He shifted his head to glance back at her. “You coming, Winslow? Or are you going to leave the temple for me to discover?”
She pursed her lips.
The ass knew exactly how to bait her into coming after him.
Amelia took another deep breath before squeezing into the gap. It was tight in a way that took her breath away, and sent her limbs scrambling, trying to make it through as fast as she could. Too soon, she caught up to Silas, who was moving with greater care than she was, and she felt the panic rise in her chest.
She felt closed in. Controlled by her surroundings.
Trapped.
Her breathing turned shallow as she was forced to stop.
“Can you hurry it along,” Amelia said, feeling her heart throbbing in her throat as their arms brushed against each other.
She was not a stranger to bouts of panic, but it had never happened in front ofhim. And she would be damned sure it never would.
Breathe in.
Out.
If he would just movefaster.
