“Did they die down there?” Rina asked.
“Perished or were punished,” Lancaster mused. “Doesn’t matter. That’s where they are now. We’re only wasting precious minutes, and the Engrossians will already be with Titus.”
Which meant Malakai and Mila would be attempting to breach the manor soon. Our time was now.
“At least Harlen was right,” I said, taking a step forward so my boots toed the edge of the descent. “There aren’t guards stationed here.”
Lancaster grunted, his many long knives glinting. “That implies that what’s inside is too ghastly for a patrol to be necessary.”
As if in response to his words, a chill wind whipped from below, wrapping the musty odor around us, but I clung to every bit of confidence it tried to drag from my body, warmed myself with the light of the Angels, and smirked over my shoulder at the fae. “Good thing we’re more deadly than what rests beneath.”
Without waiting for a reply, I stepped to the top of the stairs and descended into the catacombs.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Malakai
“I’msure it’s usually beautiful here,” Mila whispered as we crept around the back of Titus’s manor. “But tonight, this place is unsettling.”
“Maybe it’s the fact that we know he’s keeping our friend hostage inside,” I said dryly.
Mila shuddered, shuffling closer in the shadows of a crooked cypher tree leaning against the side of the manor. “Probably.”
“Mila,” I said, turning so I blocked her from the grounds beyond. “Are you sure you’re okay doing this?”
When Cypherion and Ophelia told me what role I’d be playing tonight, I didn’t even consider disagreeing. Also didn’t consider who I wanted to accompany me when they said it was best if I only took one person.
“Of course, I am,” Mila answered too quickly, blinking those crystal eyes up at me as she fidgeted with her wrist cuffs.
I nodded, taking a step closer. “What’s happening to Vale isn’t happening to you, Mila. We’re going to get her back, and neither of you are ever going to be imprisoned again.”
Mila sighed, dropping her hands. “I don’t want to go back there, but the thoughts keep pressing in.”
Grabbing her hand, I brushed my thumb across the top of her ivy-carved cuff. A weight seemed to rise off her with the gentle touch. “I made you a promise during the war that we were going to survive. Together.”
Her swallow was audible. “Being here is…hard.” A slight laugh. “Maybe that’s not the right word. I keep seeing flashes of my own imprisonment, but this is a very different type of cage.” Mila looked at the high walls of Titus’s manor. “No one deserves to live in a cage, regardless of the metal the bars are forged from.”
The light pouring from windows three stories up peeked between the cypher branches, highlighting the walls of her fortress, and solidifying as her gaze snapped back to mine. Not keeping me out. Never keeping me out anymore. But a barrier for the rest of the world.
“Even though I’m scared, I’ll do this.” A waver of uncertainty went through her words, though.
“When you were in that place, you said all you could do was look up, right? At the world waiting for you. And make yourself a promise that you’d get back there.” She nodded, and I jerked my chin to the wide sky sweeping over the sleeping jungle. “Then keep looking up, Mila, and remember the promises you made to yourself to live freely. Always remember to look up.”
“Look up,” she repeated. And the steel fire of her heart glinted in those words.
It was an inferno that ravaged my soul—one that Mila captured with her very being. Repeating that gentle drag of my thumb across her wrist cuff, I took in her expression. The way the moonlight sloped across her nose and rounded her jaw. The way it somehow both softened her features and highlighted the sharp points.
I made sure her eyes were clear, then I leaned forward, attention on her lips. She inhaled right as I met her and pressed against me, hands sliding up to lock around my neck.
For a moment, I let what we were about to do fade. Let the branches of the cypher trees mask us from the world, and I kissed the woman who consumed me.
I’d once kept so many words bottled up. I’d let all the things I wanted to say to the last woman I loved bury themselves in the depths of my shredded soul. Never again.
“You’re so strong, Mila,” I said as I pulled back, lifting her wrist. “Every damn day, it’s admirable.” I pressed one more kiss to the thin barrier of metal hiding her scars from the world.
“You can show me how much when we’re done here,” she said, assuming a low confidence that had my cock stirring. If she gave me the chance, I’d leave no doubt in her mind about how much I admired every inch of her.
“Motivation,” I said, casting a look over my shoulder. “I like it. For now, let’s get in and out of here unnoticed.”
