“He sounds like a good guy.”
“RJ is the best. I love him. I already miss him. He’s probably worried—I mean, I doubt if anyone’s told him where I am.”
I shook my head. “I’m… sorry.”
“Ah, well, it’s just the roll of the dice, isn’t it? Maybe the Coalition scoops you up, or it doesn’t.”
“It shouldn’t be that way.”
“Shouldn’t, but the world sucks. We’d best get used to that, at least. The sooner the better.”
I took a breath and let my head fall against the bed. Alexa’s story had left me feeling unsettled, to say the least. I realized, then, this had been the longest conversation I’d had since the last time I was in a room with the Horseman, and I’d had it with someone I’d wanted to kill as soon as I saw her.
I didn’t know what to make of this strange mage lying in the bunk beneath me. My time with Odessa had made me close myself off to other people, the only exception to that rule being Azlu. The little spiderling had my attention whenever she wanted it. The only problem was, she was never around—she was always getting herself thrown in the hole because she liked it there.
I still didn’t trust Alexa enough to be as comfortable around her as I was around Azlu. I didn’t think that would ever come. But it felt good to talk to someone like me. A fighter. A survivor. Someone who stuck up for themselves and held onto hope that the future could work out a little better.
The cell door buzzer sounded, making me shoot upright. When the door opened, Sanchez was waiting there. “Let’s go, Six,” she said.
“Go?” I asked, “Go where?”
“That little fight in the canteen caught the Horseman’s attention. He wants to see you.”
“The… Horseman?”
“Don’t make me say it twice. Now, let’s go.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Being marched to his office felt like the first time all over again. I was quiet, my heart was pounding, and my palms were getting a little sweaty. I had no idea what to expect, no idea what I was really heading into. For all I knew, this was going to be another trick, and I was going to find the Warden on the other side of the door.
The jingling of Sanchez’ keyring was all but driving me insane by the time we reached the door to the Horseman’s office, or quarters, or fortress—whatever he called it. She didn’t have to knock, or radio in. The door simply opened, just a little, and I heard his voice spill out from behind it.
“Send her in,” he said.
His voice.
It was strong, dark, and a little hoarse, although it had a softness to it that I couldn’t quite describe. It was as if a person could get a sense of his entire personality just from the way he spoke, from t he way his words flowed past his lips. I hadn’t heard him speak in so long, it almost froze me to the spot.
Sanchez finally nudged me with her elbow. “Best not keep him waiting,” she said.
I looked at her as if she’d broken me out of a trance. “Oh, yeah… right.” With a shallow breath held in my lungs, I walked toward the door to the Horseman’s room, stared at it, and then pushed it open the rest of the way.
Sanchez turned around and left me alone at the mouth of the lion’s den. It was dark inside his quarters, and I thought I could smell blood in the air.
Lightly.
Faintly.
But it was there.
The Horseman stood with his back to me. He was hunched over his desk, his shoulders arched, his hands planted on the mahogany. The dark of the room didn’t bother me, and I saw him as clearly as if it were day. Once I’d stepped fully into his room, he made a slight gesture with one of his hands and the door shut behind me.
“You wanted to see me?” I asked.
The Horseman turned his head to the side, pulled away from the desk, and advanced toward me. His eyes gleamed even in the dark, his long hair and shoulders swayed as he walked, and both of his hands were balled into fists. I thought he was about to attack me, so I backed up a step, my body tightening.
But he didn’t attack.
He plunged one of his hands into my hair, wrapped the other lightly around my jaw, and tipped my face up. Then his lips found mine, his breath warm and sweet against my own. My heart skipped, soared, danced inside of my chest. When his lips parted and his tongue came searching for mine, I surrendered to him, slightly opening my mouth and engaging in the kiss.
I was lost in the moment, tangled up in my mess of feelings for him, entwined in his woodland scent, which more and more smelled sharply of blood. But I caught myself, and when I did, I pulled away from him and slapped him across the cheek.
The Horseman turned his head slightly to the side, his fingers rising to the side of his face. “Why did you do that?” he asked, in a low voice.
“I haven’t seen you in a fucking week,” I said, “And this is how you decide to greet me? Where do you get off doing that?”
“I thought I had made my motive clear.”
“Clear? This only messes…” I took a deep breath and bit my tongue, holding back the words I was about to let loose. He couldn’t know I had any kind of feelings for him, even badly tangled ones. I didn’t trust him or anyone else around me, and that was exactly the kind of thing that my enemies would love to use against me.
“I’m not going to apologize,” he said. “I wanted to taste your lips.”
“You could’ve asked.”
“Where is the spontaneity in that?”
“Trust me, in this place, the last thing I need is more spontaneity. But I don’t suppose you’d be able to relate to that, considering you have your own ivory tower to sit in most of the time.”
“Perhaps not.” He straightened himself out again and stared at me. I’d forgotten how big he was, how broad his shoulders were, how powerful his muscles were. The man was a tank. A T-Rex made entirely of titanium was the way Calder had described him.
Calder, shit.
“Don’t just look at me like that,” I said.
He cocked an eyebrow. “How should I look at you?” His voice lowered a little more, as did his eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was giving me bedroom eyes, as if he was already undressing me. I supposed I couldn’t exactly blame him. The last time we’d seen each other, I’d been in this room.
Well, I’d been in the adjoining bathroom.
In his tub.
Naked.
There had been a little flirting, a little suggestion that he should perhaps join me, but he’d had to go off and do something else, so we’d both missed out that night. And that was it. Suddenly, the Horseman was out of reach, and I became nobody. Just another inmate at the prison.
“Where have you been all week?” I asked, “I haven’t heard a word from you since the last time I was here.”
“It’s complicated.”
“And where is my case worker?”
“Case worker?” the Horseman frowned.
“Calder Graves. I had been working with him to recover my memories, but last week he was taken off my case. The Warden said—”
“—you spoke to the Warden?”
“I… I didn’t want to speak to him. It was an ambush. He told me I wouldn’t be having any more sessions with Calder, and… I don’t know. I felt like something had maybe happened to him.”