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He bared his teeth, his mouth quivering, his eyes narrow silver slits. He snarled down at her, and again, fear gripped her. Something told her to not look at him, to keep her hands off him, so she dared not touch him to move back, just kept her arms tightly at her sides. As if she were caught in the grip of a wild animal, she dared not move.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for...she wasn't sure what, but she knew something wasn't right. Something triggered him. Something, perhaps, of her doing, though she couldn't say what. All she could do was wait.

After several blessedly short moments of his ragged breathing, Ryziel finally let her go.

He didn't so much as look at her as he stepped away.

"Take the back, Xilya," he said in a dark voice. "Stay with her. I need to...go on ahead."

Without another word, he took up his bags (and Aly's) and continued on without them.

Aly stood there for a long moment, too stunned to move. Xilya took up her pack and approached her.

"Let's keep going," was all she said, as if pretending nothing had just happened.

"W-what was that?" Aly asked.

Xilya looked down at her with quiet regard. "A baelev. Creatures that use the glowing plants to lure their prey."

Aly didn't remark that she hadn't exactly meant the bat and Xilya didn't give away whether she thought that Aly meant otherwise.

The vrisha also didn't look ready to tell her anything more, so Aly let it go. For now.

"We're almost to the mines." Xilya waved Aly on to the next passage. "At least we shouldn't fear anything else meeting us from above."

Chapter Seventeen

The next time Aly waited for Ryziel to take her back down with him, she was almost convinced and equally afraid that he would not come for her. The day before, when he'd brought her back to the surface levels, he hadn't looked at her, hadn't spoken save for the few grunts of a reply when she asked a simple question. If she had thought he seemed uncomfortable in her presence before, he was definitely irritated now.

She could probably understand him being upset if it had something to with her drifting away from him in those moments when they were so close to reaching the mines. But when she tried to apologize, it seemed to do nothing for him. He'd blocked her off, and there was no way to break those walls.

So, she forced herself to let it go and wait, even if she didn't yet understand his anger or his unhidden dislike for her.

Because that must be what it was. Something about her irritated him. She had theorized this before. But it seemed there was little she could do to remedy it. If it were her character, she would not force herself to change who she was, and if it were her general existence, well, he would just have to deal with that as well.

She told herself she would keep her distance, that in a way, he was like her new boss so that's how she should treat him. He was not her friend because he clearly didn't want to be and no matter how much that stung, she needed to respect his decision.

So, when he finally did show up (to her great surprise) to take her back down, she gave him a curt nod and nothing more.

Stepping past him to take the stairs down, she did not look up but knew he followed her silently from behind. Once they made it to an empty level, they took the elevator the rest of the way. Aly watched the lights pass by, wondering what fresh hell they might encounter today in the deep below, when she heard Ryziel shift beside her.

"I'm sorry about the other day," he said quietly.

Aly felt her body relax, actually feeling her muscles untighten and her jaw unclenching, not realizing how tense she had been. Her arms, which had been tightly crossed, loosened then fell to her sides. She glanced over at him and saw he looked calmer and less uptight than the day before. His eyes drifted over her face, watching her expression carefully.

She quietly watched him in return until she cleared her throat and said, "It's okay. I'm sorry, too."

He looked away and nodded his head. " We will be more careful today."

Aly arched a brow at him, though he didn't see it. "Yes, I will be more careful not to get on your bad side...or any of your sides." She smiled as she gazed at him. His mouth curved slightly, and for one crazy moment, she thought he was actually blushing.

"I should have warned you about the baelevs," he said. "And everything else we might encounter. I just didn't want to..."

Aly tilted her head. "Didn't want to?"

Ryziel side-eyed her then instantly looked away. "I didn't want to scare you."

Aly blinked. Then, as if like a sneeze she couldn't hold in, she let out a soft hiss of laughter.