02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn (15 page)

Chapter Sixteen

L
eila stood abruptly from the sofa as she heard the scrape of the key in the door. She turned to face it, her back to the dead fire, her hands tense by her sides.

She hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t for him to be alone, or enter with a mug of hot coffee and something to eat.

‘Here,’ he said, chucking her an apple, Leila surprising herself that she caught it. ‘I wasn’t sure what you’d like but you need to eat something. I’ll get you some proper food later.’

Joining her at the sofa, Caleb placed the coffee on the floor beside her before turning his attention to the fire. Within moments the flames were flickering again, adding much-needed warmth. He sat back in the fireside chair, one leg outstretched casually as he cut sections off his own apple with a knife, taking each slice directly off the blade.

Leila clenched the apple in her hand, her heart pounding uncomfortably as the seconds grated past.

‘Well?’ she asked.

‘Jake’s fine.’ He met her gaze. ‘But you already know that.’

Her relief was fleeting until it was overshadowed by the reality of knowing he no longer needed her as anything but a pawn in whatever game he was playing with Feinith. ‘Not that it makes a difference now, right?’

He took another slice of apple, but didn’t say anything. She tried not to look at the knife he turned slowly and deftly between his fingers, the metal intermittently catching a glint of firelight.

‘Where’s Feinith?’

‘She’s gone for now.’

‘For now?’

‘She’s coming back later.’

She didn’t need to phrase it as a question. ‘For me.’

Cutting off another slice of apple, Caleb met her gaze. ‘Why does she want you, Leila?’

‘As if you don’t know.’

‘I mean why does she want you alive?’

‘I didn’t realise she did. Is that what you’ve been discussing all this time? What did you negotiate for? What are you hoping to get out of this?’

He glanced at her before turning his attention back to his apple. ‘You have a very low opinion of me.’

‘And so unfounded, right?’

He cut off another chunk. ‘We were banned from killing you but they never told us why. New orders were introduced that any serryn found alive was to be taken directly to the Higher Order. So I’ll ask you again: Why?’

She looked down at her apple to break from the intensity of his gaze. Lifting the fruit to her lips, the first bite was surprisingly comforting, the sharpness refreshing to her dry mouth. She chewed the small piece slowly, the swallow uncomfortable. If it was a trap, she wasn’t going to play ball. ‘They’re your Higher Order. You worked for them.’ She met his gaze in the boldest move she could muster. ‘You tell
me
.’

He assessed her gaze in the silence. A second longer she was sure she would break, but he averted his gaze back to his apple. ‘If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you.’

She exhaled curtly. ‘Help me? The only way you can help me is by getting Alisha out of here and away from all this.’

‘No can do, fledgling. You heard Feinith. They’ll be watching the place. She leaves here and she’s going nowhere but straight into their hands.’

‘Otherwise you’d let me go?’ Despite him not answering, she had to cling on to the prospect that it was what he meant. ‘There’s got to be a way out of this place that they don’t know about. Alisha certainly doesn’t need to be here.’

He looked up at her, her heart skipping a beat in a way she wished it wouldn’t as his green eyes rested on hers. ‘Yes, she does.’

Frustration simmering, she frowned. ‘Why? To make sure I do as I’m told still?’

‘Ironic as it might seem, the safest place for you both is here with me. And as I’m the one who summoned you here, that makes you my responsibility.’

‘I’m no one’s responsibility, least of all yours. Use me as some convenient bargaining toy in your power games with your superiors if you have to, but don’t drag my family into it too.’

‘A bargaining toy? Is that what you think you are?’

‘Me and Alisha are alive for a reason and it’s obvious what it is.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘Don’t play games with me, Caleb. I saw enough. And from the way Feinith pushed you around, I think it’s obvious she knows exactly what buttons to press.’ She regretted it as soon as she said it – part in desperation, part in anger but mainly, and more alarmingly, in jealousy.

‘And I’m the only thing between you and her, so watch your tone.’

Leila braced herself as his intense glare held hers. ‘I’m the only thing between you and
her
, you mean. Clearly this is a private arrangement or the rest of the Higher Order would already be here.’

‘Careful,’ he said. ‘That sounded like jealousy.’

‘Far from it. But I can read between the lines. I saw the way she was with you. I saw the way you looked at her.’

‘The way I looked at her?’

Anger wrenched her gut at the glimmer of amusement in his eyes, at the slight upward curve on those enticing lips.

‘Was it painful, fledgling, watching her with me?’ he asked, the coax clear in his tone.

‘Jake was right, wasn’t he? That was why you slept with me. You knew she’d come here.’

‘I had sex with you because I wanted to.’

‘To entrap me. But I’m not going to be a pawn in your twisted games anymore, Caleb. I should have been long gone. None of this should be happening. This is all your fault.’

‘What do you want me to say?’

‘I want you to admit you were wrong to keep me here.’

‘We all act on what information we have at the time.’

‘That’s not good enough.’

‘Not good enough?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’

‘I’m the woman whose life you’re on the verge of ruining because I came here to do the right thing by
your
family.’

‘We all have choices. You chose to put your sister above everything you’ve been taught. No decent serryn would do that. That’s why the guidelines are in place. You fucked up just as much as I did.’

She felt something inside her snap. ‘How can you say that?’

‘We both went against our better judgement to save those we care about, despite the fact we knew it was wrong and we knew of the potential fallout. You had a choice, Leila. A choice to come here. A choice whether to reach your full potential. Take some responsibility.’ He leaned forward and threw his apple core into the fire.

She should have bit her tongue but she couldn’t. ‘Don’t you dare lecture me.’

‘I’ll admit you’ve proved me wrong. What you did for Jake, I never thought possible. But that doesn’t change the situation now. Looks like we both ended up deeper than we intended.’

‘Well, thanks for that,’ she said tersely. ‘I appreciate it. Even if it is several hours too late.’

‘That’s not an apology, Leila. You can’t blame me for not trusting you.’

‘No, I don’t. Especially now I know what happened to Seth, which, believe it or not, I’m really sorry to hear. Just as I know Feinith’s backed you into a corner. But whether you intended that to happen or not, and I don’t know what I believe as far as that goes, but Alisha and I are both still stuck in the middle. And that’s down to you. You have to get us out of here.’

‘And what then, Leila? You’re really going to walk away from all this and never come back? Never report it? Even if that’s the truth, now that Feinith knows you exist, do you think she won’t hunt you down? You might think you’re safe in Summerton, but it’s not inaccessible, no matter what your politicians tell you to justify charging you your extortionate rates. It certainly isn’t as impenetrable as they like you to think. The Higher Order, and those with connections to them, has ways and means. They know who to pay off. She’ll find you. Only I won’t be around to help you.’

‘I told you – I don’t need your help. I just need you to get me out of here and I’ll sort the rest.’

‘I don’t know if your naivety is endearing or irritating. She may come across cool, but she was simmering when she saw the way I protected you. This has become personal.’

‘Thanks to you.’

‘I think we’ve laboured that point enough.’

‘And I’ll keep labouring it. You’ve used me from the outset. If it’s not one thing it’s another. So please excuse me for feeling slightly aggrieved.’

He stood.

She tucked her hand under the sofa seat, her fingers extending to check the syringe was still there.

She wrapped her hand around the shaft, uncertain how quickly she’d be able to extract it. She knew she’d have to wait until he was closer, until he wouldn’t catch a glimpse in the corner of his eye. She had no doubt his reaction times were second to none and she knew she only had one shot at it.

But instead of approaching her, Caleb strolled past the sofa. Stepping amidst the mess his temper had left behind, he lifted the first bookcase off the floor and pushed it back against the wall, all the muscles in his back and arms tensing. He did the same to the one next to it before returning the books back to their rightful place a few at a time.

She needed him close. She needed him as close as she could get him.

She tucked the syringe behind her back as she stood and turned to face him. ‘So what now? I’m to remain a prisoner here until you finally hand me over, is that it?’

‘Unless I can find a way through this.’

‘My hero,’ she said.

He glanced across at her as he slotted more books back into place.

Aggravating him was not going to help. She needed to get him to lower his guard.

She watched him as he slotted more books onto the shelves, as she struggled with something more placating to say.

‘Feinith shouldn’t have announced about your brother like that to Jake. It was cruel.’

Busy reinserting pages into a split book, he didn’t look at her. ‘That’s Feinith for you.’

‘And that’s quite a temper you’ve got,’ she said, the battle between her head and her heart rife as she watched him tend to each battered book in turn. ‘Remind me to stay on the right side of it.’

He glanced across at her again as he picked up another pile of books.

After a few more moments of hesitation, she stepped over to join him. She lowered to her haunches. The moment he turned his back on her, she slotted the syringe between the pages of one of the books. As he looked back across his shoulder at her, her heart pounded, but he merely stood and placed a few more books on the shelf.

She reached for more books and added them to the pile, looked up to see him glancing in her direction again. She carried them over to the bookcase next to his. She slotted them amidst some others, lying down the syringe-contained one within easy reaching distance so she could tuck her fingers between the pages. She leaned back against the bookcase to cover her tracks.

‘So was Jake right? Did what happened to Seth start it all? The hunting? Was she the first serryn you’d come across?’

He gathered up a few more books until enough time had lapsed for her to believe he wasn’t going to answer. ‘I came across my first thirty years before then, when I was seventeen.’

Clearly he’d been proficient, even at a young age. ‘Which you survived.’

‘Only because she decided against a quick death.’

‘What did you do? Escape?’

‘Seth and a few others found me. They’d been watching her and followed her back one night.’

‘Did Seth kill her?’

‘No. The others did.’

‘Why not him?’

‘He said once someone started, it was difficult to stop.’

‘Then he was killed by one?’

She let her gaze linger on him in the silence, the distant pensiveness in his eyes making him seem almost human. But he wasn’t human. And she had to remember that.

His silence said enough.

‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.’ Her fingers played over the loaded book at the small of her back, guilt tapping at her heart more than she felt at ease with. ‘What did she do to you?’

He glanced at her, raked her swiftly with his gaze. ‘You look exhausted. You should get some sleep.’

‘I have no intention of sleeping. Feinith got up here once; she could get back up here again.’

‘She won’t be back until dusk.’

‘What did you say to her?’

He placed the few books he had in his hands on the shelf beside her, bringing him dangerously close. ‘I told her I needed to think of something I wanted in return for you.’

‘So you admit you’re going to bargain?’

‘I never said that.’

‘At least have the courage to be honest with me, Caleb. Or are you scared of what I’m capable of if I believe I’m fighting for my life?’

He rested his arm on the shelf beside her shoulder, giving her his full attention. ‘You don’t believe that already?’

‘I think it’s obvious I do.’

His eyes sparkled in a way she found treacherously playful considering the circumstances. ‘So do I need to tie you up again? Limit the threat?’

She couldn’t let him toy with her. But she could play along now that she had his full attention, now that she had him that close. She took a steadying breath and hoped he hadn’t noticed. ‘Only if you feel you can’t handle me. Can you handle me, Caleb?’

‘Is that an open invitation?’

‘Taken from our last encounter, it doesn’t appear you deem invitations necessary.’

‘Need I remind you that you were more than willing?’

‘Are you saying it would have made a difference if I wasn’t?’

‘You have a lot to learn about me.’

‘In such little time. What a shame.’

His smile in response to her sarcasm was fleeting. ‘I
can
be nice, you know.’

Her heart pounded. Feinith’s descriptions of what he was capable of trickled through her mind again and left an unwelcome burn. ‘Like you were last time?’

‘You think I wasn’t?’

‘Compared with what I’ve now learned, I think I got off very lightly.’

‘You did.’

‘Because you couldn’t risk the potential coaxing of your mistress by damaging the goods, right? Let’s not make that out to be anything more than it was.’

‘None of this has anything to do with Feinith.’

‘And I’m supposed to believe that?’