My Darkest Shadow

Chapter 14

We stared at each other for a moment, one of us armed and the other unarmed and defenseless. Fire crackled. Breaths came fast. All other noise was absent as I waited, terrified of what he could do. At last, the object in his right hand clanked onto the floor.

"Harper?" he rasped and took one step forward. "Caraleena Harper." The words were tired and doubtful.

I nodded, eager to confirm that I wasn't a threat. I swallowed to steady my voice. "It's... we're safe."

Words were swirling in my head. But I couldn't force them out of my throat so I only nodded again. Seeing him awake felt surreal. I'd wanted it to happen, but now that he was standing in front of me, looking at me and speaking, I felt more vulnerable than when I'd been in this place virtually alone.

Kael took another step toward me. Instinctively I shrunk back, a mistake I recognized immediately. Too late, Kael froze in the middle of the room. His right eye was wide, even opening his left a little.

"You're not... because I'm still..." Kael's voice faded. He placed two fingers at the bridge of his nose and backed up, muttering something.

"You aren't hallucinating," I guessed and regained my ground. My fingers found and twisted a lock of my hair over my shoulder. "Remember last night we came here?" Kael looked at me and stopped mumbling. There were questions in his eyes, but when he said nothing, I thought he believed me. I pressed on with, "We left Madeline's and then Ava's because we had to. Remember?"

"We?"

I frowned. Yes we. Why is he acting like he can't remember? "Ava brought me to England when you disappeared. I was the only one your men would know and trust."

Even though he turned away, I heard his expletive as he sunk against the wall by the fireplace and slid to the ground.

Reaching for the mantle, I passed him my water bottle. He took it, but instead of drinking nodded toward the spot on the floor beside him. Still unsure, I took a seat cross legged a few feet across from him.

Kael finally took a sip and winced when it went down. The dryness of his throat would be unbearable after nearly two days of dehydration. I watched him in silence, hoping he'd continue to drink but he leaned back and fixed that open eye on me. Inside I squirmed, but outside I kept a firm hold on my fears. If he tried anything I had to be ready. I'd lose a fight, but I'd try.

"You shouldn't be here," Kael said, his voice still hoarse.

He was right, and deep down I knew it. Perhaps that explained my defensiveness. "I couldn't just leave you to die could I? There wasn't anyone else, and if it would have been anyone else, maybe I could have just let it go, but it wasn't, it was you, so I..." Stop rambling.

I glanced at the weapon he'd dropped earlier. It was closer to me than him but it didn't matter. What had he planned to do with that thing anyway? Hard wood floors hurt my hip bones when I shifted, uneasy.

Kael took another painful sip and I waited, every muscle in my body tense. When he set the bottle down he rasped. "I told Ava, extraction in 45 minutes. She took..." he let the sentence hang, looking to me for the answer.

Surprised, I blinked at him. "Three months," I supplied. This new revelation helped me forget I was afraid of him. "You mean this was some kind of mission sanctioned by Ava? Why would she leave you in there? And then come all the way to America after all that time. What were you supposed to be doing? Getting Madeline?" I stopped for a breath.

"Intel," Kael said simply.

This was no time for brevity, but I appreciated a character trait that I recognized. I pressed. "What intel?"