Midnight End

17

He closed his eyes, and swirling golden designs began to glow through his shirt. They arced from his waist up around his chest to his neck, and I wondered what it would be like to touch them. One minute he was there in the dirt, the next, he was back near the tree line. I released the air I’d been holding in my burning lungs, bending over to rest my hands on my knees. “Damn, that was close.” “Morgan, don’t move!” Knight barked from across the clearing. Instinctively, my eyes flew to him but then slowly fell to where my feet had been swallowed by the ground. In my concern for Knight, I hadn’t even noticed the cool dirt rising up around my ankles. “Knight, get me out of here!” I cried in a strangled whisper. My voice bore a note of hysteria as I sunk at an astonishing pace. “I’m working on it.” He rushed into the trees, scouring the area for something to use. The urge to struggle was overwhelming. My arms and legs itched with the need to try to free myself, but I knew that would only cause me to sink faster. I took shaky breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth, attempting to calm my racing heart. By the time he cautiously made his way over to me, the dirt had swallowed me up to my waist. Knight poked all around where I stood with a long branch, trying to gauge how close he could get. I had managed to center myself in a large pit of the sinking soil. He lifted the branch toward me, but I couldn’t quite get my fingertips on the end. “It’s too short. Knight, I’m sinking. Hurry!” I was racing toward full-on panic, tears clouding my vision. “Dammit, Morgan. I’ll get you out, just stand fuckin’ still.” He hurried back to the trees, careful to retrace his steps through solid ground. Even though he was going to come back, watching his retreating form was a terrifying feeling. Frustration at my situation had me lashing out. “This is why you should have taken off my cuffs! I knew something like this would happen, but noooo, it was more important for you to keep me powerless.” I raged at him because it was the only place to direct my helpless fury as the soil moved further toward my chest. I knew he wasn’t responsible and I was a b***h for berating him while he was trying to help me, but I had to vent the frustration somewhere. Knight ignored my venomous shots and rushed back to the edge of the pit, holding several layers of sheet bark that resembled thick roofing shingles. “Morgan, shut the f**k up and pay attention. I’m going to set these on the edge of the pit and use them to get me a couple feet closer. I’ll only have a matter of seconds to get the branch over to you and get back on solid ground. You have to grab it tightly and not let go. You got it?” “Yes,” I breathed with a quivering jaw. “Ready? Go.” He dropped the bark and stepped on the pile, thrusting the branch toward me. I grabbed hold with both hands and clung to the wood as Knight stepped backward, dragging me through the dirt. As his feet stepped off the wooden planks, they disappeared beneath the grainy soil. With just my face and hands above ground, I held as still as possible as Knight towed me toward safety. Once I was close enough, he took my hands and hoisted me out of the dirt. When I was free of the ground and could take in my first deep lungful of air, I clasped my hands around my rescuer and fought off an onslaught of tears. Knight wrapped his powerful arms around me and held me securely in his lap while my body shook from the rush of adrenaline. His hand pressed my head into the crook of his neck—it was the most protected and safe I could recall feeling since I was a child. Knight had not let me be buried alive. Whether out of consideration for Merlin or another unspoken reason, he had saved me. I could almost feel the delicate threads of trust forming a tenuous bond between us. There was only one thing that resonated in my mind—this was bad. Nothing good could come from forming an attachment to this man. Not only was he working against me on my mission to take down Guin, but I had no more spare pieces of myself to hand out. He was the type to wrap his sexy self completely around a girl’s heart and not let go. Ugh! Where had my thoughts taken me? I should be thinking about the upcoming challenges or how to avoid future sandpits from hell, not analyzing my feelings for a man I hardly knew. I squirmed from his grasp and stood, taking my backpack off and batting at the moist dirt particles covering it. “Thank you. Sorry I freaked out back there,” I offered in a murmur, too upset to meet his eyes. When he didn’t respond, I peeked at his hard face. His brow was deeply furrowed, lips pressed in a thin line as he stared at me. There was something going on behind those amber eyes, but I couldn’t make out the meaning, and he didn’t offer an explanation. Good. It was best for everyone if we pretended the incident had never happened. “I guess I’m a mess now. Maybe we’ll find a creek soon, and I can wash off,” I rambled in an attempt to fill the awkward silence. Two more days, and I’d be like every other simpering woman who jabbers every time there was a lull in conversation. “I doubt it’ll be a problem,” he indicated gruffly, eyes glancing up at the black clouds above. Knight’s mood had gone just as dark as the billowing clouds above us. Why had he withdrawn? Was he upset with himself for comforting me? He couldn’t possibly be upset I had pulled away—could he? I shook my head to myself. It didn’t matter what bug had crawled up his ass—it wasn’t my job to make him happy. Hell, he had my wrists in iron cuffs. He didn’t have to keep a smile on his face, and I wasn’t about to try to cheer him up. We weren’t lovers or even friends. I was his captive, and I needed to remember that. “We’re losing daylight. Let’s keep going,” he ordered before walking to the tree line and disappearing into its depths. I followed gingerly in each of his footsteps, attempting to ignore my niggling unease at the tension between us.