Page 73 of Scorched Earth

“And Killian sleeps right next to you.” The corner of Malahi’s mouth turned up. “I have eyes, you know. Once we’re through this, I can keep Baird and Agrippa occupied if you care for some time alone.”

After everything, it should have felt awkward talking to the other woman about this, but it didn’t. So Lydia admitted, “I’m afraid if I lower my guard, that I might hurt him.” She bit the insides of her cheeks. “What if I accidentally take years of his life from him, Malahi? I can’t put them back in. It’s like… slowly murdering him.”

“He’d stop you.” Malahi’s eyes drifted to where the men still argued. “Killian loves you, Lydia, but he doesn’t have a death wish. And he’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”

Malahi’s words did nothing to alleviate Lydia’s concern, so she changed the subject. “Perhaps I should be creating some alone time foryou.”

The Queen’s cheeks turned bright pink. “Agrippa’s only being kind to me because of what I went through. I think he feels guilty because he served Rufina for so long, and this is his way of making up for it.”

“Is that what you think?” Lydia smirked.

Amber eyes shot to hers. “I know you think the worst of him, Lydia, but Agrippa’s never once done anything inappropriate.” Nudging a rock with her shoe, Malahi added, “He makes me feel safe. Maybe that won’t last forever, but while it does, I’ll take it.”

Baird crawled back over to them. “I’m in disgrace for leaving you alone,” he said to Malahi, forcing his bulk between the two of them as he added, “They’re too busy rejecting each other’s ideas to come up with a plan.”

Lydia frowned, watching Agrippa building something with sticks and grass only for Killian to shake his head and knock it over with a swipe of his hand. “Baird,” she asked, “have you seen this pulley system?”

“A few times.” The giant wiped sweat from his brow. “Agrippa always made me do the pulling. He’s a bit lazy when he can get away with it.”

“What does it look like?”

“It’s a big bucket.” Baird frowned. “Hangs from an oak frame with rope as thick as my arm to pull it up and down. It can only fit three men on account of the weight.”

“The ropes might snap?”

Baird shook his head. “Only one man can work the pulley system, and any more than three people and it’s too heavy. Agrippa had a good number of criticisms about the design, but I wasn’t particularly interested.”

“There are five of us,” Malahi said.

“Neither you nor I are very heavy,” Lydia replied.

“But Baird weighs enough for three.”

“And is as strong as four.”

“Fair point.”

The giant coughed. “I think the issue is not how much I weigh but rather how we get past the blighters defending it. All it takes is one of them seeing us and then the whole mass of them will come running.”

“So the most critical thing is them not seeing us.” Lydia tapped a finger on a tree root, her eyes locked with Malahi. “Is it possible?”

The Queen of Mudamora’s eyes were distant as she held her hand to the root, but then she nodded. “Yes.”

Agrippa and Killian chose that moment to return. “It’s not possible,” Killian said. Agrippa nodded in agreement, then added, “We need to backtrack. Steal some rope. A lot of rope.”

“Lydia and I have decided on a plan,” Malahi interrupted, and at Lydia’s nod, she added, “This is how it’s going to go.”

28LYDIA

The good plan no longer seemed so good as Lydia stared into the small tunnel that Malahi had carved underground using the roots of trees. It was dark and narrow, and at the end of it was a fatal drop.

“I hate everything about this,” Agrippa said. “It’s a terrible plan.”

“I’ll go first,” Killian said, probably to be contrary, and without waiting for an answer, climbed into the narrow tunnel.

Lydia waited until his feet disappeared, then crawled after him.

It was tight and dark, the earth slightly damp and the roots rough beneath her hands as she gripped them to drag herself along. Malahi had carved the space with a mind for Baird’s bulk, but she could only imagine how arduous it would be for the giant to get through.