Darkness hung like a thick blanket over the world. I stretched out my arms and rolled my shoulders in an effort to ease some of the stiffness in my body after the hours of hiding in a copse of trees. It did very little to actually relieve it so I let my arms drop and glanced towards the front door instead.
We had moved away from the back of the house and instead settled in a vantage point where we could see the people walking in and out. Dinner should have passed by now. However, our target still hadn’t made an appearance.
A huff of amusement came from Callan’s chest.
He was sitting a couple of strides to my right, leaning back against the tree trunk next to mine, and there was a smirk playing over his lips.
“What’s so funny?” I snapped.
I was exhausted, my muscles were stiff and aching, and with the storm hanging over us, the weather was colder than I would have liked, which meant that I was in no mood for Callan’s bullshit.
His dark brown eyes seemed to gleam even in the dark as he turned his head to meet my gaze. “I was just thinking about what you looked like when you were climbing into the window back there.”
“What of it?”
“You looked like a stranded seal.”
Incredulity shot through me and I drew back a little as I blinked at him. “What did you just say?”
“That you looked like a stranded seal. A pretty cute seal, I’ve gotta admit. But still a seal. Wiggling over that windowsill while flapping your hands.”
A surprised laugh bubbled in my throat. I smothered it and instead glared at him. “Well, I don’t usually need to sneak in through people’s windows. I stride right in through their front door. It’s all about making an entrance, darling.”
“Oh you made an entrance, alright.”
Another bout of amusement threatened to wash over me, so I touched my palms together instead and called up my poison magic. “I would consider my next words very carefully, if I were you.”
He pressed his palms together too, and a force blade materialized in his right hand. “Or what?”
“Or I will make you grovel for my forgiveness in about twenty seconds or so.”
“Oh, do try it, sweetheart. Just sitting here is getting so boring.”
I did have a move that could probably make him grovel. It was the one I was planning to use on Lance as well in order to bend him to my will. However, the problem was that I hadn’t fully mastered that move yet.
“You know, I—”
The heavens opened.
Heavy rain washed over the landscape as the oncoming storm at last broke. Drawing my knees up to my chest, I let my magic die out and instead wrapped my arms around my legs. I was pressing myself as close to the tree trunk as I could, but the rain was hard enough to make it through the flimsy foliage and hit me anyway.
The temperature seemed to drop several degrees in only a minute. Strong winds whirled through the grove, making the branches above us rattle in alarm.
“Fuck,” I muttered as rain continued beating against my body.
“It could’ve been worse,” Callan said.
Anger crackled through me as I snapped my gaze towards him, ready to bite his head off for his annoying expression of misplaced positivity. But as I took in the sight of him, the words died on my tongue.
Callan had summoned a small force wall above his head. Rain hit it from above, and water ran off the sides of it, but Callan remained dry where he sat underneath it.
“I could share it with you,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
A smirk curled his lips as he held my gaze. “If you ask nicely.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not what I’m looking for at the moment. Right now, I just want to hear you say please.”
For a moment, I considered poisoning him to death. But in the end, I just turned my head back before resting my forehead on top of my knees. Heavy rain continued pelting me.
By all hell, I hated that damn force mage with every fiber of my being. Before this mission was over, I was going to double-cross him. And I couldn’t wait to see the look on his stupid face when I did.
A shiver racked my body as another strong wind tore through the trees. My already soaked clothes suddenly felt like they had been dipped in ice water. I drew my knees harder against my chest.
The rain stopped abruptly.
I lifted my head and squinted out at the darkened grasslands, but the rain was still pouring down out there. Glancing up, I found a force wall above my head. Surprise shot through me. Callan had extended it to cover me too.
“I thought you wanted me to say please,” I remarked.
“Yeah, well, regrettably I still need you alive for this mission. If you die of pneumonia, getting Henry back is gonna be a pain in the ass.”
“Sam can cure pneumonia.”
For a second, something that looked a lot like alarm flickered across his features. Then it disappeared and he raised his eyebrows in challenge instead. “I could always pull the force wall back, if you want?”
While I was far too proud to beg the bastard for help, I did appreciate having his magic there to block out the rain, so I just replied, “No.”
“Thought so.”
We sat there in silence for a while. Lightning lit up the darkened heavens and thunder rolled over the grasslands. Callan had to re-summon his force wall several times, but it still kept most of the rain away from us. However, my clothes were already soaked through and the winds that continued whirling between the trees chilled my body to the bones.
I glared at the mansion in the distance. Warm light shone from inside the windows, and no rain or wind made it in to pester its occupants. We just needed confirmation that our plan had worked, then we could leave. Hell, I really hoped that the cooks had picked the dark red fruit we had put in there. It would at least be a small consolation after we’d had to experience it ourselves last night and then sit out here in the storm now.
“Get over here,” Callan suddenly ordered.
Tearing my gaze from the cozy light in the windows, I shifted my attention back to him. “What?”
“You’re cold.”
“No.”
Callan forced out a controlled breath and then shot a pointed look at my mouth. “Your teeth are chattering.”
I drew my hand over my jaw. My teeth were chattering, but I wasn’t going to let him order me around like that. And I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I could indeed use some of his body heat right now.
“So?” I sniped back.
“It’s fucking annoying to listen to. So get over here.”
“I don’t think so,” I scoffed.
Before he could reply, I tilted my head back down and rested my forehead against my knees again. It was partly to end the conversation, but mostly because it was easier that way to hide how cold I was.
“For fuck’s sake, Audrey,” Callan grumbled.
Leather creaked right before something heavy dropped down right next to me. I was just about to lift my head again when two large hands gripped my hips. A yelp slipped my lips and shock pulsed through me as Callan lifted me off the ground, turned me around in the air, and then unceremoniously dumped me on his lap instead.
My knees rested on the grass on either side of him as I straddled his thighs. But before I could do anything to push myself off him, he drew his knees up slightly so that I sat firmly on his hips while he wrapped his arms around my back, caging me in. My arms were trapped between his chest and mine, but I still tried to shove myself backwards.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I growled at him while trying to lift my cheek off his chest. “I said I don’t need you.”
“Yeah, I heard you.”
“Then what—”
“Because I need your body heat. Alright?”
I stilled. Had he actually just admitted…? I shook my head. No. That was ridiculous. But I had to say, being pressed against his body like that did feel good. His steady warmth seeped into my body like sunlight and chased away the ice that had coated my bones. So instead of arguing, I blew out a long breath and rested my cheek against his chest again.
His arms tightened around me.
With my cheek against him like that, even through the layers of clothing, I swore I could hear his heart thump in his chest. He leaned forward slightly and rested his chin on top of my head.
“Well, this brings back memories,” Callan said. His warm breath played in my hair when he spoke. “Again.”
“Of a certain untimely murder in Eldar.”
“An entire day in a closet.”
“Yep. Eight hours of my life that I’ll never get back.”
His chest shook against my body as he laughed. “Only eight? Then that means you consider the hours it took to dig the grave afterwards well spent.”
“Yes. It was good practice for when the time comes for me to bury your body.”
Another rumble of amusement went through his chest. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, sweetheart.”
“You’re right. I would never go to the trouble of burying you. I’d just leave you in the middle of the road as a warning to everyone else not to cross me.”
“Yeah, ’cause that has worked out so well for you these past five years.”
Tilting my chin back, I glanced up at him. “Remind me, how many of your people have I already killed by now?”
A smirk decorated his lips as he met my gaze. “Remind me, in whose dungeon were you chained up just two days ago?”
“That’s not—”
“HARVEY GRANT!” a voice screamed into the dark evening. “You little piece of shit!”
“Boss, please,” another voice called. “Wait!”
Callan took his arms from my back. I scrambled off his lap and pushed to my feet while turning around to face the mansion.
Rain still poured from the stormy heavens, but the person staggering out the front door didn’t even appear to feel it. I let a villainous smile spread across my lips while Callan rose to his feet next to me as well.
Sienna Hall stumbled towards her stables while a host of her guards hurried after her.
“I am going to kill him!” she screamed. “Drugging me with his emotion-manipulating fruit? That bastard won’t know what’s coming.”
“Please, boss,” one of her guards yelled over the sound of booming thunder. “At least wait for it to fully leave your system before you attack.”
Fire roared to life. Between the gray sheets of rain that filled the air, Sienna looked like a blazing torch as she staggered across the grass while flames flared all around her.
“I am perfectly capable of taking out that little weasel in any state,” she snapped back. “Now, get my horse ready.”
From our vantage point in the copse of trees, Callan and I slowly turned and exchanged a satisfied grin. That had gone perfectly.
“Alright, that takes care of our Sienna problem,” Callan said.
I nodded. “And our Grant problem.”
“Yeah, she’s not just mad. She’s actually going to attack tonight.” He drew a hand along his jaw. “Which gives us an unexpected opportunity.”
For a moment, I just frowned at him in confusion. Then understanding hit. “To break Henry out right now.”
“Yes. We know that Sienna and Grant will be battling it out tonight, which means that neither of them will be able to interfere at Malcolm’s mansion.” His gaze searched my face. “You up for it?”
This wasn’t exactly part of my own revenge plan, so it would make it harder for me to double-cross Callan. However, I still hadn’t gotten my secret move to work properly, and we were running out of time. If we couldn’t use Lance against Malcolm, this might be our only chance to save Henry. And I found myself wanting to get him out. I wasn’t sure why. He had been nothing but disrespectful to me since the day we met, but there was something about him… Or maybe something about his and Callan’s relationship. It reminded me of what I’d once had with Paige.
Breaking Henry out like this hadn’t been part of my plan, but I was nothing if not resourceful. I was sure I could find a way to betray this damn force mage tonight regardless, so I straightened my spine and gave him a nod.
“Let’s do it.”
