Heaviness upon her body.
Tender lips grazing her own.
Warm breath against her cheek.
A whispered voice. “What in the bloody depths of the seas are you doing here, Aerity Lochson?” Close, but so far. “Have you any idea how it broke me, the way you looked at me tonight?” In a more urgent whisper, “Wake up, Aer. It’s time to wake up.” It was a strange sort of dream. It made her long for something lost.
Like wading upward, slowly, from deep and afar, Aerity felt her senses opening with drowsy awareness. She tried to remember the dream, but it was miles away now. She forced her heavy eyes open to see a dark figure looming above her. In fact, the dark figure was lying on her body with a hand over her mouth, covering her, holding her down with a strange, dominating gentleness. Aerity suddenly lit into full awareness and she struggled, trying to roll or fight, but his body overpowered her, holding both her wrists with one hand and muffling her voice with the other.
“Sh . . .” he whispered. “It’s me, Aer.”
A large, dark splotch came at her from the side and there was a sudden loud snuzzling of air at her ear that made her squirm. Then a lick directly inside her ear.
“Get out of here, you mad little fiend,” the familiar voice said, gently pushing the creature away and looking down at her.
Her eyes adjusted and she stilled. His hair hung loose between them, tickling her cheeks. His pupils were wide and dark. This was unmistakably her Paxton. And then she tensed.
Her Paxton . . . who had tortured Harrison.
Slowly, when he must have assumed she was going to behave, he released her hands and mouth. Aerity swung and smacked the side of his head. He hissed and grabbed his ear.
All her earlier betrayal and hurt surfaced with a vengeance and she railed on him with all her might. When he tried to grasp her hands she cried, “Traitor! Get your hands off me!” Feet, hands, knees, and elbows. She made her way out from under him and sat up, still swinging as he attempted to restrain her.
The tiny monster made a gurgling growling sound and pounced onto her lap, pawing at their flailing arms and scratching her skin. It was attacking! Paxton pitched it off with a single swipe, then grasped Aerity’s wrists and pushed her down with the weight of his body, looming over her again. They were both panting.
“Be. Quiet.” His voice was low but stern. “We have less than three hours until dawn, but it’s imperative that you’re quiet.”
“What has happened to you?” Aerity whispered harshly.
“I didn’t hurt Harrison,” Paxton said. There was hurt in his voice. “He was faking the pain, and then I put him to sleep, just as I did to you.”
It took several long moments for Aerity to process this information—for all the pieces of painful emotions to backpedal and right themselves, still somewhat askew. It was too much.
“You’re playing both sides?” Aerity asked.
“I’m gaining information for Lochlanach.” He moved off her and they both sat up. Paxton bent his knees and rested his arms on them, but he seemed tense. The creature walked around him, sniffing him, then came to Aerity and did the same. She shrank away.
“It’s one of her creations, isn’t it?”
“Aye. Just a babe. She wants to kill it for not being fierce enough.”
Every ounce of her fear for the creature was wiped away with those words. It was just a baby. She hesitantly held out her hand and it came forward. It sniffed her, then licked her palm. When it lifted its paw to playfully swat, she yanked her hand back. Those claws were no joking matter. After pawing at her a bit more, the creature abruptly seemed to tire, and it curled up beside them.
Aerity’s fascination turned from the creature to Paxton. Their legs were touching where they sat. She looked up at him, and he peered down at her. He was really here. She couldn’t believe she’d ever doubted him. He laid his hand gently over the top of hers and Aerity felt her entire body warm and soften to his touch.
They moved at the same time, his hand going to her hair as her palm cupped his face. He grabbed her wrist with his other hand. His face was inches from hers but filled with tension.
“We need to get you and Harrison out of here, right now.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“I have to stay.” His voice was firm.
“Why?” Panic rose. “Do you stay for her?”
He tilted his head at her. “Do you think the worst of me, Aerity? You believed I was one of them. I saw it in your eyes.”
Her heart ached and her eyes burned. “Not until I thought you were hurting Harrison. You can’t be mad at me for that—you were both damned convincing!”
“Tell me why you’re here,” he said softly.
How could he even ask? In a gentle but confident voice, she told him. “For you, of course.”
There was a pause in which neither moved. And then Paxton’s hand tightened in her hair, the other sliding down to her waist, and he pulled her to him until their mouths met in a sweetness of yearning. Her arms circled his neck, holding him tight. Oh, how she’d craved this from him. She came up on her knees before him, needing to be closer. Their mouths moved together as if they could make up for every moment they’d spent apart.
Paxton pulled Aerity down to his lap, eliciting a moan from her, and that was when they heard the clearing of a throat against the wall. Their lips went still.
“Before you get too carried away, we should probably hear Paxton’s plan of escape,” Harrison said.
Aerity practically leaped from Paxton’s lap. “How long have you been awake?” she sputtered.
“Long enough to cry happy tears for the both of you,” Harrison teased. Embarrassment swept over her as Harrison chuckled. “We came all this way. I wasn’t about to ruin the moment too soon.” He got to his feet and so did Paxton. The two of them met with a clasp of hands and a hard pat to the shoulders.
Paxton moved to the window and looked out. He whispered, “I’ve got your horses ready below this window. We’ll have to shred these old beds and perhaps some of your clothing to make a rope.”
“Can’t we take the stairs?” Aerity asked.
“Nay. One of the Kalorian tents is near the front doors, and there is always someone on watch in the lower levels with the creatures. Right now it happens to be me, and I can’t raise any suspicions against myself. Chun added a sleeping herb to the evening tea, so hopefully the camp is sleeping soundly. Let’s get going.”
He took out his knife and set to slicing pieces of the bedcovers, while Harrison pulled off his tunic. Aerity pulled straw out of the beds to give Paxton better access to the fabric. As they finished cutting strips, Aerity began knotting them together with shaking hands. She prayed to the seas that this would work. They were quite high up, and though she wasn’t afraid, if these rags gave out, they could face broken bones, being knocked out upon impact, or even death.
She gave each knot an extra hard tug.
“That’s it,” Paxton said. “And by the way”—he looked back and forth between them—“Rozaria’s plan was for Chun and his brother to kill the two of you in the morning to prove their loyalty to the cause. So Chun, his wife and daughter, his brother and his two nephews, will all be riding with you. They’re waiting below.”
Aerity’s eyes bulged, and she rushed to the window. Sure enough, five horses were hidden in the nearby trees with people atop. She had to squint in the dark to see them—a young girl was riding with a woman, but the rest were males.
“If you believe they can be trusted,” Harrison said, “that is good enough for me.”
“Thank you.” Paxton sounded relieved. “It was Chun’s idea. When I came to him after leaving you tonight and told him Rozaria’s plan, he confided in me. Said he wanted to make it look like he’d helped you escape.”
“Do our companions know who I am?” Aerity asked.
“Nay. The fewer who know, the better.” Paxton quietly wrenched the old window open. Aerity’s nerves were on edge, waiting for any noise that might ruin their chance of escape. She went to the ledge and slowly let the rope down. It was hard to see, but she was certain it didn’t reach the ground.
“Curses,” she whispered. “It’s too short.”
Paxton moved past her and leaned out, then pulled back in. “You’ll have about a seven-foot drop. I think you’re both graceful enough to make it.”
Oh seas, oh seas, oh seas . . .
“You go first, Harrison,” Aerity told him. She wanted another moment with Paxton. But Harrison shook his head.
“You’re more important, Aer. If I break the rope, you’ll be stuck. You go.”
She wanted to argue, but the two of them were likely to haul her out the window if she tried. So she reached up to give Harrison a quick hug and then moved over to Paxton for a longer one. As they held each other, sudden sadness invaded, cold and disappointing.
“I had so much I wanted to say,” she whispered. Her face was buried in his hot neck and soft hair.
“Me too,” he whispered back.
“Please come with us,” she begged, not willing to let go. Paxton held her harder.
“I want to so badly you can’t imagine. But this is where I will do the greatest good.”
Aerity looked up at him. She knew she had no right to cling to this man. She was soon to be married to another. Paxton’s business was not hers. But part of her would always think of him as her own and wish for his well-being. The thought of Rozaria with her claws in him made her want to rage.
“Do you share a tent with her?” she asked.
His eyebrows pulled together. “Nay.”
Aerity exhaled raggedly. “Be careful, Pax. She wants you, and she’s not one to handle losing very well.”
“Noted.” He kissed her lips one last time, then led her to the window. “Don’t worry about me, Aer.”
Aerity climbed deftly to the edge, her legs dangling over. She turned back to look at Paxton one last time.
“I will always worry about you. All my days.”
His eyes softened with gratitude and something even deeper. “When it is safe, I will find a way to send news. Just know for now that Prince Vito is not to be trusted. I’m not certain of their plan, but when I find out I will alert Lochlanach straightaway.” Aerity nodded. That would have to be good enough.
The sleepy cub creature shuffled over and came up on its hind legs, its front paws on the window, watching Aerity. In the moonlight she could see its adorable face, in complete contrast to the oversized fangs protruding from its mouth. She remembered what Paxton said about Rozaria wanting to destroy it.
“Can I take him?”
Paxton rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Harrison, who shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know about that, Aer.”
But the idea was in her mind now. She couldn’t let Rozaria kill him.
“He appears part bear,” she said. “Put him on my back and see if he holds on.” Again the men shared a look, as if it weren’t a good idea. “Just do it. Please.”
Paxton sighed and hoisted the creature to her back. It must have sensed the height because right away its arms went around her neck and its legs hitched under her arms, clinging tightly. A sort of nurturing pride filled Aerity and she gave Pax one last smile. He shook his head, but managed a tight smile in return.
She wound the fabric of the improvised rope around her feet and grabbed hold tightly with her hands, then lowered herself down, shifting her foothold as she went. It wasn’t nearly as stable as the silks she was accustomed to climbing, but it would do.
She moved cautiously but swiftly downward until she heard a stretching sound in the fabric and she stilled. When she didn’t hear it again, she moved down more slowly. At the bottom she released the rope with her feet and used her upper body strength to climb down to the last knot. She eyed the dark ground but saw nothing in her way, so she dropped. Aerity landed on her toes, then heels, and bent her knees. Her palms hit the ground and she breathed a sigh of relief.
The cub clung so tightly that she had to pry him from her back and move him to her chest. She ran to Jude and pulled up onto his back one-handed, then watched the window where Harrison sat on the edge. C’mon, Harrison . . .
His descent was much less graceful. He didn’t know how to use his feet as effectively as Aerity, so he was putting the heels of his feet together, sliding them down to the next knot, and then the next. Aerity glanced up at the window. Paxton’s hands grasped the edge as he stared at her. She raised her hand in a weak good-bye. He nodded and turned, then was gone.
Harrison was three quarters of the way down—so close—when a ripping sound wrenched the air. It was the same spot where she had heard the fabric stretch. Harrison moved faster, and the fabric broke. He tried to land gracefully on his feet as she had, but his ankle seemed to give away and he toppled to the side. To his credit, he made not one sound. She was about to dismount, when Chun and his brother dismounted and ran out from the woods. The two of them got to Harrison and helped him to his feet.
“I have problems with this cursed ankle,” he muttered.
“Let’s get him on the horse,” Chun said. “I can heal him when we are safely away.”
Harrison used his arms and good leg, along with their help, to get on his horse. Aerity peered around at the darkness, eager to be gone from there. They made their way slowly into the woods so as not to make a ruckus. Then as soon as they were out of sight from the camp, the seven horses blazed forward, the beast cub curled in her lap.
Aerity should have felt the rush of freedom in escaping her captors, but what she felt was just the opposite. A confining sense of loss all over again. Her love was now a captive of Rozaria, feigning his loyalty and interest in her. She couldn’t imagine a worse situation. Aerity vowed to send help to him as soon as she could. She only hoped it wouldn’t be too late.