“I’m fine,” I said. Even if there had been a brief moment where I wondered if we’d find a way out of our predicament, they hadn’t successfully hurt me.
The thought of them hurting Caelum was almost laughable.
“Good,” he said, bending down to pick up the blanket that had been left on the floor when they’d pulled him away from me in our sleep. He shoved it into our pack, forcing the rest of his belongings into it and slinging it across his back. “Let’s go.”
He made his way toward the entrance to the cave, going in the opposite direction of Melian and the others. “Wait, what?” I asked, hurrying after him and grabbing his hand. “You said you were hoping they would find us. If they can give us a safe place, we have to take it.”
“That was before they put a sword to your heart, Estrella. We can’t trust them.” He sighed, glancing back toward the rebels. I knew without a doubt he was curious about them.
It seemed unfathomable to consider that they’d existed before the Veil had shattered, but there hadn’t been time to organize anything in the days since.
“You can’t blame them for being cautious. If they weren’t, they’d probably be dead by now. They didn’t hurt us,” I said, tugging him back toward where they’d headed. He nodded, but his expression remained guarded and torn. As if he couldn’t come up with a genuine excuse why we should keep our distance, he looked back in their direction.
“If they give me a bad feeling, we leave. No questions; you do what you’re told, Little One,” he said, earning a glare from me.
“I’ve had enough of men telling me what to do. I thought you were better than that,” I said, tugging on my hand to try to get him to release it. If he thought I’d go back to being nothing more than a plaything and the property of a man, I’d leave and take my chances without him.
Freedom was more important than love, even if my heart did stall with the realization that I suspected love was exactly what I felt for Caelum.
“When I tell you to do something, it is because I want to keep you safe. Not because I want to tell you what to do. There’s a difference, Estrella. You can be whoever you want to be, as long as you are safe when you do it,” he said, the timbre of his voice dropping low enough that I knew he meant it.
“I suppose being at your side is a requirement too?” I asked, glaring at him as he took my hand in his and adjusted his grip.
“Not a requirement so much as very strongly encouraged,” he said, guiding me toward where the Resistance had disappeared. They waited around the corner as Melian had said they would, lifting torches off the ground and lighting them with the flint they pulled from their pockets.
Rumbling came up from the depths of the tunnels as Melian turned and led the way with one of the men on either side of her. At the insistence of the remaining three men, Caelum and I followed after her with the others taking up the rear. Caelum’s discomfort was palpable, hanging between us as he squeezed my hand tighter in his.
“What’s that noise?” I asked, turning to face him as the rumble seemed to grow louder with every moment that passed.
“Cave beasts,” Melian said from the front. She held a sword clutched in her hand, the others armed as well. Caelum’s had never left his hand, and I felt strangely naked without one of my own. I pulled the dagger free from Caelum’s sheathe strapped to his thigh, holding it tightly in my grasp.
“What happens if they find us?” I asked, glancing back to the men behind me.
Jensen met my gaze, a sly smile transforming his face. “We fight. You aren’t scared, are you, pretty? I’m happy to protect you, but you should know there are much scarier things in the woods now with the Veil down. Cave beasts are the least of your concerns.” His hand came down on my shoulder, making me glance down at the intrusion in disdain.
“If you value that hand, you will remove it immediately,” Caelum growled, his voice echoing through the narrow tunnel as Melian stopped in her tracks and stared back at the altercation behind her.
“Or what, pretty boy?” Jensen asked, raising an eyebrow at Caelum in challenge.
“Or I will sever it from your wrist and give it to her as a token of my affection,” Caelum responded, his lips peeling back from his teeth ever so slightly even as the tunnel seemed to cool with the rising tension between the two men.
“That’s enough, Jensen,” Melian said. “You know the rules. You can only touch her if she gives you permission.” She resumed her trek down the tunnel that narrowed as we continued forward, so we could only walk two by two. The reason for the torches quickly became obvious as the tunnel grew darker, until all traces of natural light disappeared and only the light of the fire enabled us to see at all.
Melian stopped suddenly, the man next to her dropping to his knees at her feet and lifting a slab of rock away from the ground. He shoved it to the side, revealing a hole carved into the ground beneath it. A manmade tunnel ran perpendicular to the natural cave tunnel, disappearing into the darkness below as the first of the men jumped down.
“Tunnels?” Caelum asked, turning his attention to Melian. “How could you have had time to do all of this?”
“My ancestors were the first members of the Resistance. They were the Fae Marked saved by the Veil all those centuries ago. They knew it was only a matter of time before the Fae returned to this land and came for them again in their future lives, or in their children’s lives. We’ve been here since the Veil was erected hundreds of years ago, preparing for the day that those chosen by the Fae would need a safe place to land,” she explained, watching as another of her men dropped into the tunnel below.
“I thought the Fae could track their Marked somehow. Was that not true?” I asked as she stepped toward the hole as if to jump in.
“They can,” she agreed. “Which is why it is even more important to have a safe haven that has been warded by a witch. So long as we keep our safe havens a secret, no one ever needs to find us.” A small smile graced her face as she plunged into the darkness, calling up for me to follow next.
“Go,” Caelum ordered, glancing sideways at Jensen and the other men who remained on the top level. He clearly trusted Melian with my safety more than them. I nodded, shoving my dagger into his sheathe once again, not trusting my coordination enough not to stab myself with it.
I jumped into the hole, falling through air for only a moment before I landed and bent my knees to absorb the shock. My ankle gave a little twinge on impact, but it was nothing compared to the pain of the day before and almost forgotten by the time I straightened. The tunnels were carved into the rock of the mountain itself, making for a much harder landing than it might have been.