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Being on her as the last thing Shay wanted Not with her lips tingling froainst his chest

Thankfully, she wasn’t entirely lost to reason and when Viper rose to his feet and held out his hand, she readily allowed hiht

"Yow" She sucked in a sharp breath as her entire body clenched in protest at the sudden motion "I must have been more tired than I realized"

Concern touched his expression "You eakened and in sore need of rest How do you feel?"

She rubbed her aching neck "Like I’ve been sleeping on a bunch of rocks"

He slipped a finger beneath her chin "Besides that?"

"I’m fine"

"You’re certain?"

She kneas still worried about the amount of blood he had taken froers

"Yes, I’et out of here"

She allowed hi carried into the narrow cave A testament to hoeak she had actually been

They ht the vampires would be out of their coffins and swiftly in search of theircaptive No matter how vast the cataco to track the to race of Viper that she nearly ht the scent of hu on his hand she forced hioes too close to the occupied caves"

"That’s where I shtened He wanted to haul her from the caves He wanted to hide her in soet their hands on her She could read it in every stiff line of his body

Thankfully, he ise enough to realize they could no longer sily demanded

She sucked in a deep breath "It’s faint, but yes, it’s there"

"I can detect nothing"

Sensing his s frustration Shay moved down the tunnel The scent of troll was definitely stronger She wasn’t i his presence"

Viper followed close on her heels "Styx would never alloitches in these caves They would be a danger to the Anasso"

"There are deh," he conceded, although she could still feel the tension that hue body "But ould they be in these caves and ould they hide the scent of the troll?"

They were questions Shay had no answer for so she siy until they rounded a corner and there was nothing ahead but rocks

"Not that I doubt your tracking skills, pet, but this looks very much like a dead end," he mur the path with a frown "A troll has coo"

"Styx did use trolls to lure us from the protection of the Phoenix It doesn’t necessarily mean that Evor is here"

"No, but we have to check" She battled back a sudden flare of fear The tunnel was cra darkness that threatened to hold her for an eternity Instinctively, she reached back to grasp Viper’s hand The moment she touched his cool flesh the flutters of panic vanished She couldn’t waver Not now "We can’t leave hiave her fingers a tight, near painful squeeze before accepting the inevitable "Can you find a way through?"

"I can try" Moving forward she smoothed her hands over the rock It took only a few passes to at last discover the tingling sensation that warned of a spell Pressing her hand forward it appeared to sink through the stone wall "Here A glamour It’s very faint and not very well done"

Viper reat distrust of ic

"But effective," he ainst vaic"

"The question remains who and why"

"There’s only one way to find out"

His eyes briefly closed as he gave a shake of his head "I don’t like this"

"Neither do I, but to be honest I hope Evor is down there I want this to be over with" She reached out to lightly touch his arers hisscared, Viper I’htly wrapped in Viper’s arms, her head pressed to his chest as he touched his lips to her forehead

"I know, pet Just pro in his arms Shay stiffened at his words

"If you say not to do anything stupid, I really will stake you"

He heaved a resigned sigh "Wouldn’t drealare "Men"

Styx had just risen when the knock echoed through his narrow, barren roonore the va on the other side of the door He was troubled Troubled deep in his heart and no a his sense of restless anger