Page 86 of Heart of Iron
Whoever had her—and he was starting to get an idea of their identity—they were going to wish they’d never dared touch his woman.
***
They traveled along tunnels worn smooth from feet.
She saw none of it.
The men spoke and laughed amongst themselves, clapping Mendici on the back as though he were a hero.
She heard none of it.
She existed only in a world of dull color and muted sound, seeing Will tumble into the gloomy pit again and again.
He couldn’t survive that.Could he?The thought made her feel ill, a heavy weight sitting on her chest until she was afraid she couldn’t breathe.Oh God, what had she done?She’d blown that bloody whistle, afraid for her life, knowing that he would come for her and make everything safe for her again.But he hadn’t.He wasn’t invincible.No matter how quickly he could heal, how strong he was, he was only flesh and bone in the end, the same as she was.
I’ll always come for you.But this time she was on her own, for Will was…lost.She couldn’t think of the alternative or she’d break, becoming a blind, shivering thing, hovering in her own misery.She had to survive whatever was coming, had to find him, find out if…
She shook the thought away and looked up, trying to focus.Light bloomed ahead.A heavy iron door hung in the shadows, with a man guarding it.She glimpsed cold steel.His hand, a gauntlet of metal, with heavy, slatted plates to his elbow.
Mech work.
Cold etched its way down to her bones, but she felt strangely removed.To endure she’d wrapped away that part that was screaming in grief and forced her mind to work analytically.To examine, understand, find a weakness…
Mech.The word whispered in her head.A mech.Bound to the enclaves and forced to work out their contracts to pay for the technology that had given them life or limb.Less than human, the Echelon decreed.Kept out of sight and out of mind.
“Well met, brother,” the guard said, stepping forward and clasping Mendici’s arm.His curious gaze slid over her.“They’re inside.Waiting.You weren’t followed?”
“Wewere,” Mendici replied.“The Gatekeeper’s probably picking the remains of ’im out of ’is teeth.”
Another stab to the heart.Lena sucked in a sharp breath.She couldn’t go there, to that cold, empty place deep inside.Not yet.
The stranger nodded, running his gaze over the ragged group.“Get yourself something to warm your bellies.I’ll take her through.”
“I believe I’ll come,” Mendici announced, tucking his thumbs behind his belt.“I’m wonderin’ as to what this is all about.”
“Himself’s in a curious mood,” the stranger warned.
“I’ve as much a right to be there as ’im.I’ve as much a right as any free man.”
“You can explain that to him.Come.”The stranger gestured to her.
Shoving open the iron door revealed a room in the middle of all the tunnels.Crates were stacked floor to ceiling, and candlelight flickered, warming the shadows.Its glow stretched only so far, though.She couldn’t see where the walls began.Only an endless maze of crates.
The murmur of voices drew them out of the darkness like a beacon.Mendici rapped at another door, his gaze dropping away.Not as confident as he appeared.
A slit in the door slid open and a single gray eye stared through.Then the slit slammed shut and the clicking of a lock sounded.
“You’re late.”
The voice was soft, melodic.A man used to the well-toned inflection of command.The door opened and light spilled through, blinding her for a moment.
“Had to take care of a little something,” Mendici replied, stepping through.
Lena glared at his back.His dismissive words hurt.Will was more than alittlesomething.Brave and strong and stubborn, he had more worth in his little finger than Mendici had in his entire body.
“This her?”
Lena felt the shove from behind as she stepped through the door.Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light.The room beyond held an enormous table ringed with twelve chairs and the remains of a meal.A pair of women looked up from the table, one sprawled with an arrogant grace in her chair and the other rifling through a sheaf of notes.Her hands were stained with ink, her eyes warm and dark with curiosity.She wore a pair of tight men’s trousers and a white shirt cinched against her lush curves with a gray tweed waistcoat.A pair of magnifying goggles were pushed back on her coppery hair and her right hand was a metal gauntlet, the fingers moving with a delicate grace Lena had rarely seen.A gold pocket watch drew the eye to her breast, but Lena was certain the effect was unconscious.
