The Unexpected Bonding Vow - Michelle Howard Page 0,9
strained her ears for any sounds. Silence. Licking her lips and swallowing through the growing lump in her throat, she crept forward.
From where she stood, there was a long row of cells on each side of a hall that stretched before her. They all had bars on the front and were walled on the sides to prevent the occupants from seeing anyone coming or going. No lights shone from within any of them. Darkness hindered her visibility as she eased deeper into the dungeon.
Empty. Empty. Empty.
Her heart kicked up a notch as she passed the fourth empty cell and stopped. Where was he? He had to be here. The guards spoke of the prisoner often and this was the only place her father would have considered safe enough to contain someone as dangerous as belonging to the Guild.
Saedra crept further along, down the length of the hall. Just when she’d convinced herself she was wrong and that he wasn’t here, she saw the prisoner. Sitting in the corner of the last cell with one leg stretched out and one leg bent at the knee was the man her father had imprisoned through sheer luck and a bit of betrayal.
The dark shadows hid his face, but the guards talked. She knew exactly who this was. His reputation proceeded him and she trembled at what she was about to do. The risk was great but what was her other choice? Death? Marriage to a cruel man who would surely kill her with no fear of retribution?
No, Saedra wasn’t a quitter, she was a fighter. Every credit she managed to stash, every night she went hungry was finally paying off. This wasn’t reckless on her part.
Her gaze never strayed from the lone occupant in the cell. A killer. An assassin. Head tipped back against the wall and eyes closed, he didn’t glance up when she pulled out the keys she’d stolen. Her fingers held tight to the square chips to keep the metal from clinking together. If she did this, if she opened the door and followed through on this, there would be no turning back.
Be sure, Saedra, she almost heard her mother’s voice caution her. She’d planned this moment every step of the way and would succeed, damn it.
One after the other, Saedra inserted each key chip into the slot, her heart racing against the clock in her head. She kept glancing behind her as fear dictated speed. What if she’d stolen the wrong keys?
On the very last one, fingers trembling, she shoved the square key into the lock and bit her lip to hold in a cry of relief when the mechanism clicked and the latch opened.
“Hello?” she whispered as she hovered at the door of the tiny dank space.
No answer. No movement.
Skin drawn painfully tight, Saedra eased inside and closed the bar-covered door behind her. It wouldn’t do if her father’s men discovered her here. None of them respected Saedra and she wasn’t sure her father would bother keeping them in line anymore.
“Don’t let him be dead,” she found herself pleading in a whisper.
When she drew abreast of the slumped figure, her breath stalled. This close, his smell slammed into her—unwashed, sweat and festering wounds somewhere.
“Blessed gods above.” Saedra dropped to her knees beside his still figure, skirts pooling about her legs. She reached out to his face and pressed her fingers below his nostrils. The puffs of air reassured that he hadn’t died. Yet.
Her gaze drifted over his form. His condition was indeed precarious. The all black outfit he wore was torn and stained. The odor emanating from his body also attested to the lack of bathing during his captivity. How long he’d been in here, she wasn’t sure. A week, maybe two. At least that’s when she’d discovered one of the most skilled members of the Assassin Guild was an unwilling guest of her father.
“Sir? Sir?!” Saedra reached up to tap his jaw and he caught her wrist in a brutal grip. She gasped at suddenness of the action.
Blazing eyes as gray as molten steel met hers. Despite his apparent beaten state he wasn’t completely done. Thank the gods. There was still fight in him. A core of strength he would need if they were to get out of here together. But first, she needed confirmation he was who she sought.
“Garik? Are you Garik?” she questioned urgently.
He didn’t release her wrist when she tugged. For a brief minute, she considered the wisdom of her decision. Members of the