Part 37 (1/2)

”Where?” asked the man behind her. He was close. Too close.

Jackie refused to look at him. ”I don't know. I've seen them pa.s.s, though.”

”Which way?”

”Back the way we came.”

The man behind her said, ”Nicholas, keep moving. I'll catch up.”

A sudden spike of fear for him shot through Jackie and she turned to tell him not to go. There were too many monsters. But by the time she'd glanced over her shoulder, the dark-eyed man was gone.

”He's going to get himself killed,” she told the man in front.

He shook his head, and she caught a glimpse of the side of his face. A network of scars marred his skin, pulling tight as his jaw moved. ”He can't leave those kids behind. Iain can handle it. Someone's got to go.”

For some reason, Jackie didn't want it to be Iain.

Canaranth slipped away from combat once he saw Zillah port away with Tori. Their numbers were far superior to the Sentinels', so he didn't think he'd be missed in the midst of so much chaos.

He hurried through the corridors, avoiding the groups of reinforcements coming to aid in the fight.

With a key he kept hidden inside his clothing, he unlocked the door to the chamber. Ella stood there, a chair gripped in her hands, ready to bash him over the head with it.

”It's me,” he told her as he slipped inside and shut the door behind him. ”I've got to get you out of here.”

”What's happening?” she asked. Her skin had paled over the past few months, making the freckles sprinkled across her nose stand out.

When she'd first come here, her skin had had a healthy glow about it. Now it was a sickly white. Her hair had dulled, as had her eyes.

She needed the sun on her face; she couldn't live in the darkness the way he had to. Neither could the child she was carrying. His child.

He'd done as he'd been ordered. He'd taken Ella as he had other women, seducing her until she submitted. It had always been a carefully calculated plan on his part. He couldn't stomach rape, and yet if these women didn't conceive, Zillah would have fed them to his troops. Seduction seemed the only course of action.

Canaranth hadn't planned on falling in love with her. He hadn't imagined he would care so much for their child that he would risk his life to free them.

But he did. Ella held his heart, such as it was, and he knew that if he didn't let her go, the rest of her life would be spent in torment, watching Zillah twist their child into a weapon.

”There's not much time,” he told her. ”We have to hurry.”

Ella dropped the chair and went into his arms without hesitation. ”Where are we going?”

He took her hand and led her through a series of tunnels that were rarely used. Only a few even knew they existed. ”There's an exit not far from here.”

They reached the crevice that hid a narrow entrance to a tunnel leading almost straight up. Canaranth took her face in his hands, memorizing it. He was going to miss hera”more than he'd ever imagined.

”Go through here. Follow it to the surface. You'll have to push through some brush. It's thick, but you can make it through. From there, you need to head toward the sunset. That's where the Sentinels would have come in.”

”What about you?”

”I can't go.”

”I can't leave you behind.”

”You must. Our child can't be born into Zillah's hands.”

Ella swallowed and her dark brown eyes welled with tears. ”I don't want to go without you.”

Canaranth had never really thought he had a heart until now. He could feel it breaking, tearing apart with the knowledge that he'd never see her again. ”It's the only way. You have to do this. Please.”

”Where will I go? What will I do?”

”Go to the Sentinels. They'll be nearby. They'll take you in and care for you.”

”And the baby?” she asked. He'd told her stories about them and she knew they were sworn to kill his kind.

”Lie. Tell them you were already pregnant by a human man when we took you.”

”Will you come for me?” she asked.

”Yes,” he lied, just to ensure her compliance. ”Stay with them so I'll know where to find you.”

Ella pulled him down and kissed him. The taste of her was so pure and light, he felt like he was flying whenever she touched him.

He had no idea how he was going to go on without her, but he had to find a way. As long as he was Zillah's second-in-command, he could control their armies and ensure her safety and that of his child.

”Go,” he said against her mouth. The urge to tell her he loved her burned inside him, but he couldn't do that to her. When he failed to come, she'd think he was dead or he had betrayed her. Eventually, she'd find another man who would love her the way he dida”one who would help her raise their child to be better than the creature who had fathered him.

Before he could say the words that would spoil her chances for any semblance of a normal future, he pushed her away, cracked one of the small chemical glow lights he'd brought for her, and helped her step through the narrow opening.

She moved down the tunnel. Canaranth watched until the pale green light disappeared, feeling like his heart had just been ripped from his body.

Chapter 24.

Torr was sweating by the time he made it to the suite. The door was open and he could hear a low, frantic voice coming from inside.

Torr leaned on his sword, hobbling across the living room toward the bedrooms. One of the Gerai came out, nearly running into him. He was a human who had grown up here, and now his aged face was white with panic.

He saw Torr and said, ”Stay with her while I get help. Tynan is gone, so I'm going to go find one of the Sanguinar.”

Sanguinar? Grace must need healing, which made Torr's chest squeeze tight in fear. ”What happened? Is she hurt?”

”I . . . I don't know.” And then he was gone.

Torr was shaking so badly he could barely stand, but he forced himself to cross the distance and go into the room the human had just left.

Grace was there, lying on a mattress on the floor. She was unmoving. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.