“You are too soft.” Martone sneered at him before turning to his partner. “We are getting nowhere with these prisoners and I grow bored.”
Oh no.“Watch out,” Aerity breathed, though to whom, she could not say.
Martone shoved Paxton aside and grabbed Aerity’s throat with his meaty hand, lifting her to her feet and then off the floor. Spots swam in her vision.
“Tell us what you know, girl!” His voice was monstrous.
She grabbed his wrists with her bound hands to hold herself up, kicking her feet. Her throat and jaw pulsated with pain. Oh, seas, she couldn’t breathe!
“She can’t tell us a damned thing if you’ve got her by the throat!” Paxton shouted. “Put her down!”
Aerity wanted to tell Paxton that Martone couldn’tunderstand him. She vaguely heard shouts. From the corner of her eye she saw a blur of fur come across the room. The tiny beast? She was pitched slightly to the side as Martone kicked the thing and it soared into the wall with a yelp. Then she felt herself losing consciousness—loud voices and stomping seemed so far away, then quiet and blackness as she was dropped to the ground. The last thing she felt was a firm hand on her cheek, and then nothingness.
Chapter
18
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. Infact, 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’sme, 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 andpounced 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.”
