God of Monsters (Juniper Unraveling #4) - Keri Lake Page 0,47

it.

Without bothering to call for Tom, I return the cup to the bucket and shuffle out of his cell, closing the door behind me.

As I wait for the guard to acknowledge me, I mindlessly rub the spot where he touched me, and frown at my body’s strange reaction to it. I’ve certainly come to know fear in the last couple of weeks, and that wasn’t what I felt just now. That was something else entirely.

Stupid.

An adrenaline rush, is all. The body does strange things when threatened.

Only, he didn’t really threaten me.

I mentally brush it off and peer into Will’s room, feeling a twinge of guilt when his eyes light up at the sight of me. It’s when he finally reaches the small window, and can take in the whole of me, that those eyes dart to the bruise on my jaw.

The ache has dulled enough that I don’t notice it much myself, though.

“Did Remus do that? Did he touch you? What did he do, Thalia?” A hard thunk against the door sounds off his anger and stirs the Rager at the end of the hall, with its growls and clicking of teeth.

“It was my fault. I provoked. It doesn’t hurt.”

“Did. He. Touch you?” It’s not as if Will could do anything about it, and not as if I’d tell him, hurt him that way, if Remus had raped me.

“No. They’re disturbing for sure, but he didn’t touch me that way.”

Gaze slicing to the right and back, he frowns. “Why do you keep going to his cell?”

For a moment, I wonder if he can feel the tremble still pulsing beneath my skin, can see the flush of my cheeks when he asks about him, but I shake my head. “He’s wounded. I’m just looking after his stitches.”

“I have to get you out of here.” Voice lowered to a whisper, he rests his forehead against the hole and sticks his fingers through, which I thread into mine.

For some inexplicable reason, I glance to Titus’s cell and back.

“I have to find a way for the two of us.”

“Shhh. Don’t talk about that right now.” I squeeze his fingers, urgent for him to clip his tongue, or the guard will hear. “Tell me about Grant. How was he, after my trial?”

“He’s Grant. He keeps to himself. Though …”

“What?”

Brows tight, he looks away, seeming to gather his thoughts. “He’s been spending quite some time with Jack.”

“And? Jack has been like a father to us. I’m grateful he’s given Grant his time.”

“You know I never cared for him much.”

I do know that. The feeling was mutual, too, as Jack often liked to poke fun at Will’s lack of interest in Legion. Every young boy dreamed of becoming a Legion soldier someday, and the fact that Will didn’t made him an outcast.

“I promise you’ll see Grant again. With every fiber of my being, I will get you out of here and back home to your family.”

I appreciate his conviction, but his words are futile. “Even if I wanted to, even if I could escape this place, Szolen will never let me back in.”

“Not you, maybe. But me. I could get you inside.”

“How?”

“Telling them I retrieved you from marauders. They’d arrange another transport to the convent, but in the meantime, you’d be confined to your home.”

A very slight possibility, all dependent on whether, or not, I can spring him from this cell. “I’ll work on it. I promise you. I’ll try to find a way out. Here, I brought you something.” I slip the ash bread through the small window, and my heart aches on seeing him scarf the small scrap of food as if he hasn’t eaten in days. Eyes focused on the slow-healing knot at his eye, I huff. “Are you feeling--”

“Ma’am. I think it’s time you better go.” At the sound of Tom’s voice, I turn to find him stood with his arms crossed at the entrance, and give a nod.

When I pass him, a hand clutches my shoulder, and the guard stares down at me, eyes brimming with a warning. “Spend too much time down here, and folks will start to get curious. Nosy.”

It’s a friendly warning, confirmed when he gives a tight-lipped nod, and releases me.

“I’ll be careful. Thank you.”

As I head back toward my cell, the sounds of shouts and laughter draw my attention to the guards out in the yard. Curious, I tiptoe toward the ruckus, stepping just outside the front entrance, and find them scrambling for something on the ground.