Page 84 of Of Stars and Lightning
“At least it’s an excuse to leave the castle.” The voice was as close as Sol was to Cas. She shut her eyes.
“Everything’s been so annoying since that bitch got here,” the other voice replied. Stone groaned as Cas closed his open hands into fists. “Hopefully the Vows get rid of her. Or the Jinn—that might be more fun.”
The two kingsmen laughed, their status given away by their crimson uniform and cloaks. They strode past without a glance in their direction, continuing to the lightless path. Clenching her jaw, she studied their silhouettes as they lit the torches on that side as well.
A soft groan from Cas broke the budding desire to march to the men and scare them senseless. She glanced at him, then down at his chest—where the shard of glass was digging into his shirt.
Sol released it.
It landed on the ground noiselessly, muted by Cas’s skilled shift of his boot to ease its landing.
Her palm burned where the glass had nicked, but her focus was on the steady stain of blood pooling into the fabric of his tunic.
She pressed her palm against him in a panic, the one that bore Lora’s blood bond and was clean of her own.
They remained like that for what seemed like long, swollen minutes, the sounds of their hushed breathing the only thing around as the kingsmen’s vulgar complaints faded into the depths of Rimemere.
As soon as Cas leaned back, Sol pushed him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Did you leave the entrance open?” He motioned to their left where she had so bravely marched down from only to be almost caught by kingsmen.
Sol braced her hands on her hips. “Well, I didn’t know there was a way to close the wall behind me.”
Cas dug through a small leather satchel secured to his waist. “The fact you went into it at all is foolish—though somehow not surprising.” He extended a hand to her. “Come here.”
“I will not.”
He met her gaze, silver eyes flaring as he stepped forward instead.
Defeated with only the cave wall behind her, she didn't evade him. Although it wasn’t a conscious reaction, Sol knew she was still upset about the dinner. She could tell by the heat that rose to her face when he reached for her hand, and she refused the touch. She could tell he knew it, too, by the way he glanced away and sighed through pursed lips.
He held a piece of cloth between them. “Here, then.”
She eyed it, shaking her head. “You use it. I stabbed you.”
He chuckled lightly. “Take it, Princess.”
Sol sighed. She wasn’t used to feeling betrayed, at least not until recently. It wasn’t something she wanted to get used to, either. “I’ll bandage my hand in the Villa.” Without a glance his way, she braced herself for the dark way back to the nook where she came from.
“Oh, I closed it,” he said. “It doesn’t open from this side.”
Any sentimental emotion she had felt a mere second ago fizzled into irritation. “You what?”
Cas shrugged as if he hadn’t a care in the world, nor the creeping panic that speared through her at being locked underground. “If anyone else would’ve caught you on this little quest, they would have reported you.” He dabbed at his chest wound with a frown.
“Impressive ingenuity.”
“So, now what?” She looked down the length of the tunnel. “We are stuck here?”
“No, the tunnels have multiple ways out.” He smirked her way and pointed to where the kingsmen had emerged, away from where they had gone in. “We just have to avoid the kingsmen.”
CAS’S WAYOFgetting back was by engulfing them in Shadows as they walked. To Sol’s annoyance, it meant being very close to him as they scouted for another exit. He’d given her several options: be carried, carry him, or for him to walk directly behind her, pressed together and she’d have to lead the way. She might be prideful at times, but she was no fool—Sol chose to be carried.
But not like she had been in Yavenharrow when they first met. Instead, she clung to his back, legs wrapped over his waist and arms, hugging him tight enough to make him uncomfortable. Each time he tripped over a stray rock, Sol squeezed them tighter.
“You know, if you make me pass out, you’ll have to find your way out alone,” he muttered, rolling his neck and pressing his hands into her thighs where he held her.
In response, she squeezed his waist. “Tragic.”
