The guard would have killed him. There’d been no doubt of that in her mind. The way he’d looked at Robin when she’d accidentally said his name. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. But it was long enough for her to stumble and trip into him.
A man who’d killed just moments ago with ruthless efficiency didn’t turn around and berate or cuss her out for being stupid, instead he gripped her by the shoulder gently, almost tenderly.
“Pet?” The way he said it, with the worried inflection in his voice, she knew that Robin would never hurt her.
He’d done what he’d done to protect, not just himself, but her as well. This wasn’t Earth. There was a Wild West mentality to law out here, kill or be killed.
Hadn’t she done the same to Josiah?
“You killed him,” she mumbled, knowing they didn’t have the time to dawdle, but needing to get it out all the same. “You could have wished—”
His thumb traced the line of her neck. They were still wearing their masks, and she wished for a second that they didn’t need the anonymity of them, that she could see him fully without it.
“No. I couldn’t.”
She nodded. “Crispin?”
He was silent for a heartbeat before he said, “No. Not Crispin.”
Then there were no more words, and this time when his fingers slipped through hers, she squeezed his back.
He’d killed to protect them, and God help her, but she was pretty sure that if she’d been in his shoes, she would have done the same. And as much as she wanted to dwell on it, she knew she couldn’t.
It was over. And now they had to save themselves.
It felt like hours that they ran through the maze of tunnels, before they finally managed to escape out into the safety of the courtyard that led directly to the woods behind.
Robin had kept his head on a swivel after that one incident with the guard, and maybe it was his special sight, but they’d not encountered anyone else after that.
It also helped that there’d been such a mass exodus that everything had been thrown into utter anarchy. Apart from that one incident, they’d gotten out of there unnoticed.
Her fingers were still tightly locked through his. And now that their lives were no longer quite so at risk she was able to think about the one thing she’d been wanting to think about for a while now. Nixie couldn’t stop the smile from stretching across her face.
That kiss.
If she were a betting woman, she’d say there was more to that thing than a simple diversionary tactic. There had to be. That kiss. Holy crap batman, that kiss had sucked out her soul.
But then the little demons of doubt started popping up in her head. Maybe he’d only kissed her to prevent her from being a sycophantic Stepford wife. But his touch had been domineering, almost branding. His kiss possessive.
Or was it?
She tripped over a tree root, nearly falling flat on her face. Only Robin’s hold on her kept her upright.
Heart pumping a mile a minute in her chest, she paused, gasping for breath and leaned against the trunk.
“We need to put as much distance between us and this place, Nix,” Robin whispered, shoving his mask off completely and chucking it violently into the woods.
They’d been running for about fifteen minutes now. It wasn’t that Nix was out of shape, although she hadn’t exactly been running marathons out here in Kingdom, but her mind was in disarray.
“Are you okay now?” he asked and it was the tenderness in his voice that made her brave enough to nod.
“Yes, I think I’m good now.”
“And what I had to do back there?” he said it slowly. “Are you okay with that? You do know I would never—”
She placed a finger upon his lips. “It’s over. I’m over it. I know why you did it, and,” she shrugged, “I’m okay with it. Maybe that’s wrong of me, but I think I’ve lived in Kingdom too long now for to bother me the way it once would have.”
He inhaled deeply. “Good.” He frowned, glancing over his shoulder. “But I fear we’re not alone in these woods. If you’d like, I would order you into your lamp, but—”
“Don’t do that, I don’t like being in there.” She gulped down two more deep breaths, shoved a sweaty strand of hair out of her eyes, and nodded. “I’m good. I’m fine now.”
His thumb stroked the hollow of her throat. “I know you have questions, and this time I’ll answer them all. Only let us get to safety first. Aye?”
Stomach curling with desire and so much damn heat she thought she might combust, she gave him a quick, but silent, nod.
They ran off again and his grip on her hand never relaxed. Robin was right; the woods were alive with the sounds of others. Maybe those running away, maybe even knights, she didn’t know.
All she cared about was getting somewhere that she could ask her questions. They kept running for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only an hour later.
Both of them dripped with sweat by the time he finally stopped.