Page 140 of The Eyes of Tamburah
“Yes and I figured out a way for us to leave the city without any problems.”
“Do tell.”
She disentangled from the robe, stood up, and handed the garment to him. “This should cover you. And I’ll bet that no one in his or her right mind would challenge a big brute of a deacon as he escorts his prisoner to the surface.”
“Big brute?” He stood and put the robe on, settling it on his shoulders. It reached just past his knees.
“I call it like I see it.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet, sunbeam.” He stalked toward her, backing her up until she was pressed against the wall. Rendor leaned in. “But I guarantee the word big wouldn’t do it justice.”
Heat spread across her face at the insinuation.
He chuckled, a deep masculine sound. “You’re blushing.”
She punched him in the stomach. It was like striking a marble statue. He laughed again, but moved away so she could don her sun cloak. Once they were ready, Rendor’s humor fled when he had to tie her hands behind her back to match their cover.
“I made it loose enough so you can free yourself if we run into trouble,” Rendor said and squeezed her uninjured shoulder.
“Don’t worry, this’ll work.”
And it did. Everyone cleared a wide path around the oversized deacon and his prisoner as they climbed. When they reached level three, Shyla stopped and gazed down a dimly lit tunnel. A dull ache pulsed in her chest.
“Ambush?” Rendor asked.
“No.” Her room wasn’t far. No doubt it was still a mess, but…it represented the life that she’d dreamed of when she lived in the monastery. A life she could no longer have.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just…my room is nearby.”
“Do you need something?”
Did she? It held nothing of value. It was just a room. But it washers. She sighed. “No. Let’s go.”
No one questioned them and soon they reached the surface. The sun hovered around angle one-fifty. She’d slept an alarmingly long time, no wonder Rendor fell asleep.
At least they had plenty of time to reach the monastery before darkness. The monks on duty alerted the rest of her team and, when they entered the receiving room, most of them were assembled. Relieved, happy faces greeted them followed by a barrage of questions.
“Why did you order us to leave?” Ximen demanded, clearly upset. “I thought you were right behind us.”
“You needed to get Jayden out of there,” she said.
“But you’re too important to lose, Shyla.” His tone softened. “You can’t risk yourself like that anymore.”
“Especially since our magic didn’t work on the Blessed Bitch,” Gurice said.
That reminded her. She pulled the platinum torque from her pack. It was about two centimeters thick at the base and slimmed down to a half a centimeter where it hooked around the neck. She handed it to Ximen. “I think this might be the reason.”
He inspected it with growing alarm. “Where did you get this?”
“From around the neck of an Arch Deacon.”
“Son of a sand demon! These are ours. They were created to protect us from The Eyes, but they were lost—or so we thought—thousands of sun jumps ago. We searched for circuits.” A pause. “They must have been stolen.”
“It appears so. Unless the Heliacal Priestess found a way to make them.”
“No. This is almost pure platinum. It’s a rare metal and very expensive.”
