The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(51)

She swore again, this time throwing in a few choice Dharkan curses as well.

Kunal clutched his arm, cut up and bleeding. He got on his knees and turned toward her, his mouth a tense line.

She glared at him. “I tried to warn you,” she said.

“You could’ve done a better job,” he snapped back, his amber eyes flashing, turning almost yellow. His voice came out more gravelly than normal.

Esha raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t known he had that kind of bite in him. Perhaps the soldier could lose his temper.

“Is there a reason you’re still sitting down?” he asked as he rose to his feet, some of the edge having bled out of his voice.

She shook her leg at him and he looked confused. To demonstrate, she moved and was yanked back by a thick, viscous string attached to the ropes.

“Trapping glue. Made of tree resin. It’s what thieves or sell-swords use to take their competitors out when following a mark.”

Kunal arched an eyebrow at her intimate knowledge of mercenary tactics but said nothing. Instead, he moved toward her and reached for the ropes binding her legs.

“No! Don’t come—” she cried.

Too late.

Kunal’s legs collided with the rope and it snapped around him, coiling over his foot like a snake. He tripped and fell heavily on her and she let out a small yelp at the impact.

He looked down at her, accusation stamped across his face.

“Don’t look at me. Not my fault you weren’t taught to be careful in that stupid fort of yours. Or listen to people who know better than you.”

He brushed the hair out of his eyes, making sure to pick the sticky residue off his fingers first. “I thought you were exaggerating,” he said, looking slightly sheepish.

She snorted. “Serves you right, then.”

He was still sprawled across her, and when silence settled between them she could feel the heat from his skin. It made her uncomfortable, and not just because he was cutting off circulation to her arm. She coughed.

“This is very cozy and all, but I really can’t breathe,” she said, wheezing against his bare chest.

He moved as much as he could, slowly easing his weight off her and falling to his side. It was a task made much harder by his bound and sticky feet.

Esha pulled in a full breath, shaking her arm around to get the blood flowing, resin stretching with her as she leaned forward.

“That’s better,” she said, wincing a bit.

Kunal was still close to her and it unnerved her. This close, his eyes weren’t just amber, but gold and flecks of sun. His gaze lingered on her and there was an intensity in the tightness of his jaw.

Their hands accidentally touched as they moved, their fingers brushing, and Kunal pulled away suddenly, as if realizing where he was and who he was with.

“We need to get out of here. If you’re right about this being a trapper’s pit, then someone will find us soon and I’m sure neither of us want to be here when they do.”

“Of course I’m right. But yes, let’s get out of here,” she said coolly. He nodded but avoided her eyes as he set upon the ropes with his unsheathed knife.

Esha knew she should help but felt a niggling doubt. Kunal was frowning at one of the knots that had wound its way around his foot. The fence of rope had been woven with loose knots, designed to capture and hold trespassers along with the glue.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“You don’t understand what? How to untie a knot?”

He didn’t look up, continuing to inspect the knot, making faces at the sticky resin.

“No, you lout.”

That made him look up. He grinned at her.

She frowned at him. Had he been dropped on the head as a child? She was insulting him.

“Why are you smiling?”

“You reminded me of my friend. He always has a number of creative insults to address me with.”

“I can’t imagine why,” she said drily.

“What can’t you understand?” She looked at him in question. “You said you didn’t understand,” he repeated.

“Oh.” She paused, uncertain how to say it. “Why did you come out to help me that first night?”

His hands stopped for a moment, a stillness overtaking him as he quirked his mouth to the side. It looked as if he was deciding whether to be honest with her. A snort escaped from him.

“You mean when I didn’t realize I had a snake in my backyard? When you used me to kill General Hotha?”

If it hadn’t been directed at her, Esha would’ve been proud of the snark in his voice.

“I hadn’t meant to use you. You just happened to show up.”

He said nothing, giving her a pointed look. Putting the knot down, he turned his torso toward her, the glue restricting his movements.

“The cease-fire had been announced, and yet this girl shows up near the Fort only a half hour before we were about to start war exercises. I assumed you were new to the area. I didn’t know who you were, but I was worried you’d get trampled underfoot, especially as all the soldiers would be drunk. I decided I didn’t want to wait and see what might happen.”

Esha bit her lip, thinking that all of her current problems were a result of this soldier’s damn bleeding heart.

An utter paradox in her world.