Gideon


    Gideon dreamed of a princess with golden hair, long tresses cascading around him. And then he awoke from the gentlest slumber of his life…to torture. Or rather Keeley, punching him in the arm. “Gideon, wake up! The sedative is wearing off!”


    A loud, almost screaming roar came from the cage, and Keeley was already working at the lock. The brownish gray color of the female was brighter than it had been when they first arrived. Her serpentine head and eyes dipped to peer at the two of them.


    Gideon saw the danger in the look much toote. “Keeley, back up—”


    The cage door mmed open, and Keeley went flying into the far wall. The force knocked the helmet from her head, and her blond braid spilled down her back. The guvre’s mist shot for them, but Gideon was ready this time, lifting Keeley underneath her arms and dragging her away before the breath could melt the skin from their bones.


    Another screeching roar echoed down the corridor, and with that, their time to do this undetected had run out.


    “We have to make her chase us!” Gideon yelled. “Are you fast enough?”


    Keeley sneered at him, bringing her fingers to her lips, whistling as loudly as possible. The guvre homed in on them, and Keeley’s sneer turned to a smirk. “Are you?”


    And then she ran.


    They both did, sprinting down the corridors of the hidden tunnels, discarding heavy armor as they went, no longer needing the pretense or the extra weight holding them back. The screeching sounds of the guvre grew louder as she gained on them, right behind them, the mist catching the back of Gideon’s boot, eating right through the leather and burning his skin. He bit back a yell of pain as they neared the exit, as they neared freedom, but before they could make it to the light, to the end of their journey, they were stopped.


    By a wall of Valiant Guards positioned perfectly to stop them. But this shouldn’t be. The guard shift change wouldn’t have happened for another hour. The only exnation was…a setup. But there wasn’t time to contemte as Keeley barreled into the wall of men, sword swinging, slicing through necks and arms, taking a hit and giving it back harder. Ten of them versus two.


    But as Gideon entered the fray, it urred to him that Keeley was worth hundreds. Gideon sliced through a man, following behind the captain. He was fighting without holds to cut through men he once served beside, and he did it without hesitation.


    And without stopping, until the final guard ran for Gideon, de raised, face bloodied as the knight let out a battle cry. The helmeted knight stopped short when a sword went clean through his neck, his head nging to the ground as the body dropped beside him.


    Before they could im their victory, another gust of mist came at them, followed by another screech as the guvre’srge body crashed through the tunnels, gaining on them. “Let’s go, Captain!” Gideon grabbed Keeley’s arm and thrust her in front of him until they were out into the drizzling rain, stumbling to the side of the tunnel entrance as the female guvre escaped, taking to the skies.


    “No, she’s getting away!” Keeley yelled, running after where the creature disappeared above the clouds.


    “Let her go, Captain. We did what you were ordered to do. She’s free. We have bigger problems afoot. The Valiant Guards knew we wereing,” Gideon guessed, out of breath, lungs burning. “It was a trap.” With hopeless frustration, he kicked the dirt.


    Keeley pulled a bright ruby from her pocket. “I must inform the boss that the female escaped. He won’t be happy knowing his n went awry.”


    “I was under the impression that this was your idea.” Gideon searched the sky, hoping to see a pregnant brown creature above them. It was too much to ask for, really.


    Keeley paused over the ruby. “Why would you think that?”


    “The Viin told you no rigorous activity for at least a week. You hardly waited three days before jumping into this. I thought you had gone rogue.”


    Keeley frowned, her hand and the ruby dropping against her thigh. “No. I would never do something this crucial without explicit orders from the boss.”


    “So, he ordered you to do this? Directly?” Gideon stepped closer.


    Keeley stepped back. Rain was soaking through her leather armor, making it cling to her skin, the curves of her breasts, the dip in her hips. “N-No,” she stuttered, staring right into the heat of Gideon’s gaze. “He’d already departed when we received the order. The Viin sent his orders by raven to the most trustworthy second-inmand. The only person in the office we are meant to take orders from if the boss isn’t around to give them himself.”


    Keeley took the note from her pocket and handed it to Gideon. The words were slightly blurred from the rain, but the handwriting, even with the smudges, was clear enough.


    Gideon walked her in reverse until her back hit a tree. There was still plenty of room for her to move, for her to dart away from him if she chose. But she didn’t—she stayed. “Who wrote this?” he asked.


    Keeley’s fingertips covered her mouth, her eyes frantic as realization washed over her with the raindrops. “Why do you…” Keeley looked down again, furrowing her brow.


    Gideon grabbed her shoulders, shaking her urgently. “Who!”


    Keeley paled. “The first line of defense into the manor. The person who always warns us before things go horribly wrong. His name is signed on the back.”


    Gideon knew without looking. “The person who causes everything to go wrong yet warns you first, so you’d never suspect him.”


    Keeley gasped. And Gideon kissed her.


    She did not resist, didn’t push him away, just melted into him, and it felt so keenly right that they were doing this. Water clinging to their skin, drops falling, his damp hair gripped in her fists as she grabbed at him, pulling him tighter against her. She spun him and mmed his back against the bark, and he didn’t care about it digging into his skin, didn’t care about anything, just her. Only her.


    Gideon reached for her, but she stepped back, staring at him like he’d lost his mind. “Why would you do that? What about that moment said, ‘let’s kiss,’ you loon!”


    “You kissed me back,” he pointed out, ducking when she threw a stick at his head. “Sorry! I just thought things were getting so serious and you needed something to calm you.”


    Keeley wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “You did not calm me. You repulsed me.”


    “Is that why I have w marks on the back of my neck?”


    Gideon may have had a death wish, but only a small one.


    Keeley looked ripe for killing him but folded over instead, clutching at her knees. “Gods, I’m going to be sick.”


    “Hey.” Gideon softened, pushing a fallen strand of gold back behind her ear. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it.”


    Keeley looked up at him, heartbreak so clear in the way her solid exterior was cracking before him, revealing hurt, revealing pain.


    It wrenched something deep inside him free, killing the sardonic humor andying him raw before her. Her pain—it made Gideon want to break something.


    For it was clear now that the traitor, the one who had sent the office into upheaval, who’d tricked and imprisoned his youngest sister, who’d shown a sinister amount of cruelty without ever revealing their face…


    Was the first person to greet each of them every day at Massacre Manor.


    Marv.