Page 11 of Hopeless Kingdom
“Poison darts were the last thing I remember. We woke up in the tower you found us in.”
“What did she want?”
His gaze fills with sadness when he finally looks up at me. A line creases his handsome face. In the quietest of voices, he says something that makes my heart skip a beat. It fills my veins with a fear unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.
“You.”
Chapter Four
The Traveler
Confusion and fear swirl through me like violent winds. My lips part to ask him the millions of questions circling my head just as door swings open.
Darrio stands, filling the frame entirely. The silver of his gaze drags from me, sitting leisurely on my bed to his brother who, of course, is still relaxing nearly naked in the bathtub.
The two share a strange look between themselves, a silent communication that I’m not included in.
“King Tristan wants your presence now.” Darrio’s attention falls hard on me, but there’s no judgement in his gaze. It doesn’t stop my arms from folding across my chest to keep them steady. Not a single question about the odd scene before him is asked.
He’s a man of few words and fewer cares, I suppose.
Will Darrio really just lead me to his king as if I mean nothing to him?
“Come, Kara.”
Come for me, Kara.
I push the rasping dirty echo of Daxdyn’s voice away with a shiver shaking my shoulders.
A squeaking sound accompanies my steps and I realize Daxdyn and I might have lost some water during playtime.
“I’ll see you soon, Kara,” Daxdyn says in a light tone. He makes it sound like everything will be okay. His voice almost makes me believe that.
I turn the hall with Darrio. Before we leave, he twists a golden key into the lock and locks his brother within my rooms. My brows raise but I don’t question it.
Hell, at least I’ll have someone who I almost trust waiting for me when I return.
IfI return.
He leads the way in silence and when we begin a new route through the dark halls of the castle, I make sure to trail a line with my index finger down the corridor.
Three leads to my cell.
Two leads to the dining hall.
And one … one line leads to what I’m anticipating to be a very violent show.
“Stop marking your spot. I already told you, we won’t be here long,” Darrio says in a hushed voice. His steps are pure confidence; a swagger that says ‘people don’t fuck with me’.
He’s enormous and has absolutely nothing to fear.
While I’m all of five foot five with the muscle tone of a small, but very aggressive bunny.
My jaw clenches shut and, before I can think better of it, I push him. To my surprise, he stumbles under my small touch. Adrenaline rips through me and I shove him again until he’s against the wall.
A nagging voice in my mind says he lets me, but I ignore the little voice of reason.
On my tippy toes, I lean into him until I’m right in his face. The dark, trimmed strands of his beard glisten under the dim lighting and the shine of his depthless eyes holds a look of concern masked with boredom.
