She looked around the area, her expression curious. If there’s any time to blow a secret, this is it.
He nodded, turned to face the others and ordered, “Come in close.”
The troops drew near, keeping their attention on his face.
He told them, “I have only one objective. I’m not going to let them take Evenfall. If I have to napalm the inside of those walls, I’m going to do it. That means we need to split into two groups. One will be with me. We’ll be on the offensive. Another group needs to focus on evacuating noncombatants.”
Melly said, “I’ll lead that team. I’ll take ten of my people to work on the evacuation.” Her gaze told him she wasn’t happy about the two of them splitting up, but she accepted the need for it.
His attention shifted to Shane. He said telepathically to the other man, As soon as Melly’s presence becomes known, she could become a target again. Justine kidnapped her for a reason.
The Light Fae captain replied, The Queen’s orders are that I’m to do anything Melly says, except leave her side. Today my goal in life is to make sure that the Light Fae heir remains safe.
Relief lifted a weight off his shoulders. He told the other man, That’s more than acceptable to me.
Aloud, he said to the group, “This tunnel leads to my suite. The passage is narrow, so my team will go first. Once we get inside, we’re not going to wait, so the strongest fighters in the second team need to follow directly afterward.”
The last person he looked at was Xavier, who told him, “Tess and I will come to the suite. Even if the cables were cut, the internal network might be operational. If it is, we’ll be able to assess where the fighting is and communicate with people in the IT area.” His mouth tightened. “If that’s acceptable to you.”
He considered the younger Vampyre with a narrowed gaze. Xavier was pushing right up to the edge of Julian’s orders, but the reality was, not only would the suite be heavily protected, it shouldn’t become the focus of any of the fighting. And Xavier and Tess could potentially do a lot of good from that position.
He said, “Excellent.”
Turning to the broken, rocky rise, he located the door hidden deep underneath years of moss and ferns, and heaved it open.
Then, despite the fact they had forty witnesses, he stepped to Melly and pulled her close for a hard, deep kiss.
Honey, I’m going to war, he said in her head. So put out, will you?
She burst out laughing against his mouth. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him back with all the passion and enthusiasm he could have hoped for, and much more than he had expected in front of their audience.
After spending so many years in the army, he had no shame.
What he had forgotten was, after her years of acting in front of cameras, she had no shame either.
Melly hadn’t realized how hard it would be for her to step into the tunnels.
After all, this wasn’t the same place where Justine had committed her atrocities. Melly was no longer imprisoned. There were no ferals, no piles of corpses, no would-be rapists. A team of experienced, deadly soldiers surrounded her and Julian, and everybody carried a flashlight, so the tunnel would be well lit for yards around.
None of those details made any difference. As soon as it was her turn to step below, the walls closed in on her, and she nearly hyperventilated.
Julian had already gone ahead. Shane gripped her elbow, his gaze concerned. “Are you all right?”
I’m dealing with a touch of PTSD, she told him telepathically, unwilling to admit it out loud in front of so many witnesses. The tunnels where Justine held us… Shane, it was bad. After this, I don’t know if I’ll be able to tolerate even living in a house that has a basement.
His face tightened in sympathy. Whispering something under his breath, a golden, calming energy spread out from his hand and enveloped her. While doing nothing to affect her reflexes or judgment, the spell loosened the tight band around her chest.
Does that help? he asked.
Giving him a grateful look, she nodded.
Others were waiting for her to go underground so they could follow behind. She plunged in, with Shane at her heels.
The tunnel was very long, perhaps as much as a quarter of a mile. It dipped down then gradually angled up again, until it came to rough steps hewn in stone.
They climbed for a long time. She imagined the staircase cutting up through the hill on which Evenfall sprawled. It would need to ascend past the lower levels in the castle to reach Julian’s suite.
The trek seemed to take forever when suddenly she arrived. Stepping out of the narrow staircase, she looked around.