She said, “Julian, I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t feel too sorry for me. When Carling’s attendant Rhoswen came to me with stories of how dangerous she had become, I didn’t question her very closely. Instead I went to the Elder tribunal, even though I knew they would probably issue a kill order. I was right, and they did.”
Her hand tightened on his as she worked to absorb that. “Wait a minute. The tribunal doesn’t issue kill orders for no reason.”
“No, they don’t,” he said. “There was ample reason. There was also more going on underneath the surface. Long story short, Carling’s attendant was acting out of spite and ended up getting herself killed, while Carling managed to convince the tribunal to put her in quarantine instead of enacting the kill order. Apparently she found some way to stabilize her condition. I don’t know for certain. She and I don’t talk. I don’t dare risk it.”
“Good gods,” she whispered.
“Enough about that.” His hard mouth twisted. “We’re getting close to your cavern. Can you smell it?”
She could.
Before, when she had been exploring without any idea of what lay ahead, she had thought the stink might have come from a sewer line.
Now she had a different idea of what caused it, and her stomach rebelled. She had to breathe through her mouth to get past a wave of nausea.
“It’s not my cavern,” she said tightly. “And yeah, I can smell it. I would appreciate it if we could get through the next bit as fast as we can.”
He gave her a sharp look. “Of course.”
They finally came to the archway she remembered so well. This time there weren’t any lit torches in the wall sconces, nor was there any other kind of illumination. The cavern looked black as a pit.
As she braced herself, Julian directed the beam from his flashlight into the open space.
There were corpses everywhere. In grim silence, Julian sent the light over the massive open space. Skeletal remains had been pushed to the edges of the cavern, against the walls, while fresher bodies littered the open expanse of the rocky floor.
She had never seen anything like it. Not in person, not right in front of her. For a brief, stricken moment, her gaze strained to find the body of a woman in a black pencil skirt, who was missing a shoe.
Then a low, shaking moan broke out of her. Pulling her hand from Julian’s grasp, she let the things she had been carrying slide to the floor, and bent at the waist and wrapped her arms around her middle.
Julian’s broad hand came to rest on her back. He didn’t try to say anything or attempt to make things better, and she was glad for that. Sometimes things couldn’t be made better.
Instead, he gave her what she needed, which was time. Rubbing her back, he waited until she was finally able to straighten up again. With the back of one hand she wiped at her wet eyes.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
She would not let the gentleness in his voice break her down again. Gritting her teeth, she nodded. Her voice was hoarse as she said, “I’m fine.”
“I count four other tunnel entrances that open into the cavern,” he said. “And we know one thing for sure — the way out isn’t going to be back the way we came.”
She glanced at him. The slanted beam from the flashlight distorted how everything looked, including his face. The crags and the hollows of his face were accentuated, and he looked tired and angry.
He met her gaze. “We have to go through. We can’t go around.”
“I know.” Bending, she snatched up the grocery bag, and when she straightened again, she stiffened her back. “Let’s go.”
He hesitated long enough that it brought her attention back to him. “What?”
With a quick shake of his head, he said, “Never mind, it will wait.”
But he had caught her attention now, and she cocked her head. “You can’t bring something up only to drop it again like that. Tell me quickly, and if we have to, we can discuss it in more depth later. What is it?”
At that, he shook his head and gave her a small not-quite smile. He told her, “No big discussion necessary. I just realized, there isn’t anybody else I would have wanted at my back down here, aside from you.”
Rough and outspoken as he was, his quiet statement hit her all the harder because of it. Despite the silent horror of what waited for them in the cavern, she felt her spirits lift, not a lot, but just enough.
She said softly, “I feel the same way. Julian, thank you so much for coming to get me. I’ll be grateful to you for the rest of my life. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Inclining his head, he strode forward. She followed as close as she could on his heels without actually treading on him.