Hunted

9: Passages

He was still sitting there when Myka pushed aside a hidden door beside the hearth and stepped into the room.

"Surprise!" He smiled when Gabriel stared at him. "There is no room I cannot enter in this place. I've lived here far too long."

"You spared me a flogging today."

"Nonsense. Thomas' deceit would have been discovered. Most of the Fathers are true to their vows and work very hard to be fair. Is it too much too soon?"

"Far too much. Why so much space? I don't need it."

Myka sat in the chair facing him with a smile. Gabriel noticed the man never wore the robes the other Fathers wore. He wore black leather knee boots, dark trousers, and a blouse instead. His waist was cinched with a black sash and his dark hair hung in an intricate braid down to his waist.

Tonight, he looked young. No older, in fact, than himself. His dark eyes danced with something akin to mischief.

"You have something in mind for my first night here?"

Myka laughed quietly. "A little something, yes. Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Gabriel was not surprised to find he trusted Myka without reservation.

"Come then. Let me show you what I do with my time."

Gabriel followed him to the hidden door. Myka lit a small candle when they stepped within and held it out to him. When he took it, the other man moved away into the darkness of the passage.

"Careful," Gabriel warned, catching up to him.

"Oh, I don't need it. Soon, neither will you."

Gabriel watched him move with total confidence through the gloom. Soon they came to a fork in the tunnel and Myka turned right. A short way down, he stopped and pressed an ear to the wall. After a moment, he gestured to Gabriel to do the same.

When he did, he suffered a shock. He could hear voices as clearly as if he stood in the room on the other side of the wall.

"...let them do this to me?"

"You are a fool, that's how. How could you attack Gabriel? He could have killed you!"

"He hasn't the stomach to kill."

"He's Delivered more than his share of Darklings. Do not ever again act so thoughtlessly. I cannot speak for you when there's nothing to recommend you."

He heard rustling then, and realized it was bedcovers. His eyes widened.

Yes...they are lovers...

Myka's voice in his mind made him drop the candle. He left it, listening as the voices started again.

"Have you given any thought on what to do with the heretic?"

"I cannot move against Myka. He has the regard of the others; you saw that. If anything unexpected happened to him, I would be the first they looked to. Believe nothing would please me more than to see him dead."

Gabriel's eyes grew rounder in the darkness.

"It can be done, you know. Just a bit of something extra in his food, or drink."

"Be still, damn you! I've told you before, it would not harm him. Myka never eats or drinks anything he hasn't made for himself, anyway."

"You give the mad fool more credit than he deserves."

"And you do not give him enough. Do you not believe I would have done with him long ago if I could? There is no safe way to kill him. Not now, at any rate."