Page 51 of Taloned Heart

He saw the worry on her face. And it made his heart twist because he’d been there before. He knew exactly what it was like to have someone he loved in danger and not to know if they were going to come out of it alive. But he also knew that rash decisions wouldn’t help.

Beauty was too young to understand. Zephyr would last a few more days. They wouldn’t break him because they needed him alive. He’d be well enough when they did get to him.

“Lore has spoken with him,” he said. “He knows we are coming for him, and I know Zephyr well enough as well. He won’t give up now that we’re so close to him. He’ll hold out as long as he has to.”

Tears thickened Beauty’s voice and danced like diamonds in her eyes. “That doesn’t mean he should have to wait any longer, Abraxas.”

Silence stretched between them. Abraxas saw the shadows shift behind Beauty’s shoulder, and he suddenly sensed her. Lore had heard them talking, although he didn’t know how long or how much she’d heard.

A blush burned on his cheeks and he was ashamed to feel it. He had nothing to hide from the love of his life. He had no reason to fear what Lore would say. After all, he’d been defending her. And yet, he still felt like a kid who had been caught trying to steal from his parents.

Lore stepped into the room and he saw her face before she cleared it of emotion. The heartbreak. The anguish in knowing that her dearest friend didn’t trust her. She had to have known this was coming, though. She had to know that Beauty would be angry to find out that they both had been lying to her.

Still, it hurt. And he was certain that it would be a wound Lore carried with her for a long time.

“So,” Lore said as she stepped fully into the light of the room. “You think we’ve been doing nothing, is that it?”

All the blood drained out of Beauty’s face. For all her bravado in front of Abraxas, she didn’t actually want to yell at Lore. Abraxas had only a few moments to be relieved about that before it stuck in his gut that Beauty feared what Lore would do now.

He supposed they all had a reason to be. None of them knew the extent of Lore’s power, but they had seen what she could do with just a flick of her wrist. Changing people’s appearances. Giving light to a dark room. And the way she carried herself now? Beauty was right. Lore was different, with a confidence that she’d never had before.

Now, she looked at the world through a lens of certainty that none of them could ever hold a candle to. She knew she couldn’t die unless she wanted to and that... well. That was terrifying.

Clearing his throat, Abraxas moved between the two women. “I’m sure that’s not what Beauty meant.”

“That’s exactly what she meant,” Lore said, her voice pitched low and calm. “She thinks I’m wasting time here because I either am too afraid to save Zephyr, or I think Margaret is right in what she’s doing. Is that it?”

“It would be easier to keep Zephyr at your side if he was already tired.” Beauty tried to remain proud and strong, but her void warbled at the end. “Wouldn’t it? I don’t know what your end plan is, Lore. None of us do. For all that Abraxas said I should have been more truthful with you two. That goes both ways. You should tell me what your plan is as well.”

He glanced over at Lore to see what she was feeling. He had no intent on agreeing with either woman, because they were both right. Neither of them had been truthful, and that was a good way to end in all of them dying.

But he also would not go against what Lore wanted. Not because he was a puppet, as Beauty had so cruelly suggested, but because he believed in her. Lore knew how she wanted this kingdom to grow and change, and he believed it was the right direction. Not because he was blinded with love or because he was only crafted to follow his mate. But because he knew what was in her heart, and he knew how much she wanted this kingdom to flourish.

Lore nodded. “Yes, I should have told you the plan. If I had one. But I will stand by not telling you about Zephyr. You would have disappeared in the middle of the night. I would have had to save you, and then none of us would have gotten Zephyr out. Margaret will move him the moment she realizes we’re coming for him. If she hasn’t already.”

“If she’s moved him, it’s because you waited too long.” Beauty jabbed her finger in the air at Lore. “You. You waited and we’ve been standing here arguing when we could be saving him. We’ve been stuck underground for days now, giving Margaret all the time in the world to move him and to hide him again in a place we cannot find him.”

Lore tilted her head to the side and for a second, she didn’t look human or elf or anything else. She looked like an ancient being who had seen far too much. “We gave Margaret nothing. She likely already got wind that we were here, and that we were in Tenebrous. She’s smart. She’ll piece together that we wanted to get you and so she will send someone to investigate that. We are here because we’re giving her time to check in on Zephyr, to build more guards around that area, just in case. We’re lulling her into a sense of security. I want her to think we do not know where he is.”

Even Abraxas almost said, “oohh” because he hadn’t realized what they were doing either.

Of course that’s why they were lingering. Lore wanted to go into hiding, so Margaret did not know where to search for them.

Damn it, that was a fantastic plan. Why hadn’t he thought of that? It was so simple and yet exactly what all of them needed.

Beauty let out a huff of breath and rolled her eyes. “Why not just tell us that? And what’s next?”

“Because I’ve been busy. The dwarves would not let us stay unless I put on a show for them. Algor is a good king, despite all of his odd tendencies. He knows that as long as we are here, I am beholden to him. The armor. The gifts. They did not give any of that for free. I have to indulge him and his people while we are safely inside their walls.”

Lore tossed her hands up into the air and stalked past them. That confidence leaked a bit out of her, shoulders curving in as she made her way to the beds in the back where most of their things were.

“Now what are you doing?” he asked, amused, as she took a seat on top of the bed and crossed her legs.

Lore gave him a look, one that he knew very well by now, and said, “I’m going on a walk.”

Ah. So she was going to scope out the situation. “So soon?”

“Like Beauty said, we’ve made him wait long enough.”

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