It had passed, she suddenly realized. Perhaps killing him wasn’t the answer . . .
The rage rushed back in on a black roar. Not because Alexander had rejected her; she had forgotten that long ago, had fallen passionately in love with another man. For an eon, Alexander had been nothing but a sweet memory of her youth, one that caused her amused fondness. She’d been a pup in awe of a beautiful Ancient.
No, her rage came from the idea that Alexander, this silver-winged Sleeper of the prophecy, would one day seek to destroy her. No one had that right. And they weren’t equals. No one was her equal. She was Zhou Lijuan and she would rule the world before this Cascade was done.
Throwing back her head, she laughed for the first time since Raphael had hurt her.
37
Naasir sensed two more booby traps over the next three hours. Andromeda caught another one, warned by a change in the air currents that he’d dismissed as natural. It turned out it was an ancient trick Andromeda had read of in a book.
“You should read more,” she teased when he grumbled about missing the trap.
“You can read to me. I like listening to stories.”
“I will.”
Even in the darkness, he saw the sadness in her expression, knew she was once again hiding something from him. Frustrated he couldn’t confront her about it right then, he leaned in and nipped her ear again.
She jumped, then pushed his chest. “Stop it.” A scowl. “We’ll discuss your biting habit later.”
“The same time we discuss your habit of keeping secrets,” he said and saw her face fall. “Tunnels are starting to go steadily downhill.”
“If we run into a wing brother, don’t kill or injure.” Andromeda’s voice was urgent. “If Alexander is watching on some level, that will immediately turn him against us.”
Naasir scowled. “I’d planned to knock them out.”
“We could tie them up and gag them. There’s a T-shirt in the pack we can tear into strips.”
Naasir wasn’t convinced such measures would be effective against men and women as highly trained as the wing brothers, but knew she was right about not angering Alexander. Even gagging and tying up the sentinels could be read as an attack, but they had to take that risk.
He turned sideways, so the pack faced her. “Give me the T-shirt.”
When she put it into his hand, he used his claws to silently tear it into strips that she stuffed in an easily reachable pocket of the pack, working by touch.
He wanted to kiss her again. He hated being down here and he could see in the dark. It had to be a hundred times worse for her, but she kept going. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
Hands linked, they carried on. There were more traps, including one that he had to spring in order for them to pass. A hundred crossbow bolts embedded into the opposite wall with deadly force a heartbeat after he triggered the mechanism and spun out of the way. Only after they were all expended did Naasir crawl underneath, making a worried Andromeda wait on the other side and pushing the pack ahead of him in case there were pressure switches embedded in the tunnel floor.
They took a short break afterward, drinking water from the bottle in the pack and eating more of the dried food. Thankfully, they’d stored food in both packs.
“No more jerky,” Andromeda muttered, giving that to him. “I’m eating the nuts and fruits.”
He decided that was okay, since she’d had jerky while they were above. Eating the leathery meat gave him no pleasure but it was fuel and it would keep him going without blood for a while.
Washing it down with water, he rose and tugged up his mate. “It won’t be far now.”
“I’m okay. Excited.” A smile that lit up the darkest shadows. “We might be about to wake an Ancient. Right now, I don’t even care that he might wake angry.”
Nuzzling at her, he grinned. “Wild and fearless and a little bad. Perfect.”
Eyes sparkling in the darkness, she bit down on her full lower lip as if stifling a laugh.
He wanted to growl.
Vows of celibacy should be outlawed as far as he was concerned. However, since Andromeda had taken one, he’d honor it because her honor was important and he wouldn’t steal it from her. He would, however, happily end that vow by finding that stupid red book. “Let’s finish this.” So he could go hunt the Grimoire.
They continued to walk side by side until he scented a living being aside from him and Andromeda and the occasional large insect. He hadn’t mentioned the latter to his mate—she was tough but he’d seen full-grown warriors, male and female, shudder at the thought of insects. He’d test Andromeda’s tolerance later, when they weren’t trapped underground and she couldn’t see.
Releasing her hand, he touched her face to reassure her, then put the pack on the ground and moved forward on his own. The wing brother was standing at the entrance to a small cave, his eyes constantly scanning the tunnel and his crossbow held at the ready. No green youth this one.
By the time Naasir returned to Andromeda, her breathing was choppier than it had been, but she’d stayed in position. Hugging her, he cupped her nape and spoke directly into her ear. “There are two. One inside the cave, one at the entrance. I can take down the one outside relatively silently. You gag him and tie him up.”
She nodded.
“If the one inside hears, I’ll have to knock the first one unconscious and hope Alexander understands—our only advantage is surprise.”
Andromeda touched her hand to his jaw, ran her fingers up to his eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “They can see in the dark. Night vision goggles.” He rubbed his face against the side of hers. “We’ll steal you a pair. They’ll get rescued soon enough.”
She patted his chest in thanks and they separated to head toward the wing brothers after Andromeda pulled out some of the torn pieces of cloth.
It wasn’t until after Naasir left her that Andromeda realized she wouldn’t know if he’d taken down the wing brother and where, not without Naasir alerting her. And since the wing brothers were wearing night vision lenses, if she moved from this spot, she might give Naasir away. But she didn’t want him alone out there.
Biting her lip, she focused and realized there was the barest touch of light coming from somewhere. Not enough to really allow her to see, but that might change if she got a little closer. About to slide out her sword and creep forward, she felt something hit her lightly on the chest. She missed catching it but when she went to her knees and felt around on the sandy floor, her fingers slid over the distinct smooth curves of goggles.
Wasting no time, she put them on. The world around her was suddenly tinged an unearthly green, but she could see clearly.
Naasir had hauled his captive around and somehow managed to keep the wing brother contained and silent while he threw the goggles to her. Closing the distance to them on silent feet, she helped gag and bind the wing brother, the muscular man’s eyes furious with anger.
Task complete, Naasir jumped up onto the ceiling with such ease that she almost gasped. Winking at her, he went inside the cave. Creeping closer on foot, she watched as he dropped soundlessly from the ceiling and took down the wing brother, one hand over the other man’s mouth and a clawed hand around his throat as he used his body weight to pin the armed male to the earth.
Darting in, Andromeda tied and gagged the wing brother. Afterward, she whispered, “I’m sorry,” in his ear.
“Andi.”
Getting up at that low call, she crossed the cave to join Naasir at the mouth of what appeared to be a downward sloping tunnel. When she pushed up her goggles for an instant, it was clear to her that this was the source of the faint ambient light—it seemed to be coming from the rough stone of the walls itself.
Goggles back down, she released a shaky breath. “Yes, this must be it.”