Devil Mine (Walk Through Shadows Book Two)

Chapter Eleven

Em didn't sleep when she returned to her room. After closing the door in the guard's face, she wandered to the French doors, then out to the balcony. In the daylight, the drop to the bottom of the valley looked impossible. The trees gave way to sheets of rock that, from the angle she was looking, didn't appear to have much in the way of hand holds. It would not the escape route she needed.

The guards at the front door were no doubt replaced by new ones throughout the day to ensure it was always watched. There was an unobstructed view of the gate at the end of the driveway, so that would not work either. On the other side of the house, she would have to get through the trees in hopes of finding a road or another house. The walk she'd gone on with Davros had gone very far, so she had no way of knowing just how far it was to the top of the mountain or if there was a way down if she kept going through the trees.

She sighed as she went back to the room and closed the doors. "Now would be a great time for you to your creepy pop in trick," she muttered and then threw herself onto the bed. Her gaze turned to the door. "The sooner the better." The image of Balthazar she'd been thinking of faded into Davros as she stared at the door. "I don't know how long I'm going to be able to hold out."

Em was right to be concerned. She tried to avoid Davros but every time she ventured out of her room, which wasn't often unless it was for a meal, he was somewhere close by, waiting for her with a charming smile on his face despite the scowls she kept throwing at him.

At his insistence, they ate all their meals together. He kept up a steady stream of pleasant conversation, to which she barely responded, except to plead with him to let her go. He would, gently but firmly, decline. It became a routine between the two of them. She persisted even when he started answering her question before she asked it.

On the twelfth day of her imprisonment, he invited her to tour the lower level of the house. At first, she refused to even look up from her coffee cup. He smiled at her bent head and asked again.

She sighed and peeked up at him through her lashes. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" she asked with a frown.

"I had something done that I think will entice you out of your room," he said, then stood up and held out his hand to her. She set her cup down, got up, and sidled past him to walk to the stairs.

He got around her as they went down the stairs, then flipped on the light as they moved from room to room. Near the back of the house, he stopped and flicked on the light. On the right side of the big room was a bunch of gym equipment. It was obvious that Davros worked out, so that wasn't a surprise. What caused her eyes to widen was the space that had been cleared out on the other side of the room. The wall facing the gym equipment had been lined with panels of mirrors.

"How—?" she asked as she stepped into the space.

"It was easier than you'd think," he said as he moved closer to her. "You haven't been out of your room much." She didn't say anything, so he went to the stereo that had been placed along the wall to the right of the mirrors. On top of it was an old MP3 player that was plugged into an adapter. He turned it on and scrolled through the song selection. "This was the best I could do under the circumstances." He picked a song and hit play. Music poured out of the speakers that had been set in the corners of the space. "Once we can trust each other, I'll give your phone back."

"You didn't toss it?"

"No." He set player down and walked back to her. She inched away from him. "Em, you don't have to be afraid of me."