Chapter 140: What Really Happened

His hand closed around her wrist.

"Don't be foolish," he sighed. "We stick together."

She turned, immediately pulling against his grip, he pulled back, bringing her around and back against the wall, his forearm above her shoulder and her back against the stone. Grace glared at him, Enzo almost smiled, her eyes had begun to glow at the edges, her wolf coming up in response to being cornered.

He held the position.

She twisted. Faster than he had braced for, using the angle of the wall and the direction of his forearm to get under his reach, he adjusted to it and she moved again, it was movement that went too fast to narrate, each of them responding to the other, until they both ended up taking a step back from each other, breathing hard.

He looked at her, lips curled in amusement.

She glared at him.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, the dim light dancing around and creating shadows.

He turned away.

"Fine," he gestured to the path she wanted to take. "Walk. But we'll mark the walls as we go." He picked up a sharp piece of stone from the ground. "Every junction we pass through, we scratch an arrow. So we know where we've been."

She did not agree out loud. She muttered about it being high time he loosened her binds and started walking.

"I can't just yet, it's my insurance." He sighed as he fell into step behind her. Grace frowned and began walking faster while he simply increased his pace and kept with her. At the first junction, he scratched an arrow into the wall at chest height, pointing back the way they had come, as they went through, he scratched another on the far side and they kept going.

The tunnels were no help. Every passage looked exactly like the last, offering no clue as to which path was the right one. He had to rely on scraps of memory instead, trying to retrace a route from when his father had dragged him through these tunnels twice, years ago when he was twelve, without bringing him back. The first time was counted as a failure and he had to be found by a pack enforcer. He was punished for failing, so when his father put him back there the second time, he made sure to come out. Some of the turns felt familiar. Others felt completely wrong. But standing still wasn't an option, so he kept moving.

After a while, he stopped and looked at the wall.

There was an arrow on it. Pointing back.

He looked at it, looked at the passage they had come from, and looked at the arrow again.

"We've been here before," he scratched a single vertical line beside the arrow.

Grace looked at the arrow.

"We need to rest," he looked at Grace and knew she was tired, the stubborn jut of her chin and her lips pressed into a thin line made him know she wouldn't admit it. Also, the cold was becoming worse and their source of light wouldn't last for long. "I'll make a fire."

He had been picking up pieces of wood as they walked, dry fragments from what might have been old support beams at some point, and he had a lighter. He set the wood down at the corner where they both wordlessly agreed to stop. Grace walked a few steps and pulled at some grass that was growing in the walls, she took that back and dumped them in the midst of the woods without saying anything.

Enzo made a short amused sound as Grace sat, facing away from him. The grass made it easier, and he got a fire going in a few minutes the warmth of it was immediate.

Grace sat against the wall on the far side of the fire with her back to him and her jacket pulled around her and he sat on the other side and looked at the fire and thought about what the heck was taking Zion so long anyway. He wondered if the council had caught up to him somehow.

The fire settled.

Grace's breathing had become regular, she was feeling drowsy though sleeping with her hands bound was uncomfortable, Enzo stared at the wall, behind her. They sat in each other's silence for a long time.

Then he suddenly broke the silence, "I didn't mean to kill Matteo…"

He said it at the fire rather than at her. He was not sure she was awake because she hadn't moved in a long time, and he was not sure he needed her to be awake to listen to him. He just needed to say it out, loud.

He looked at the wall.

"I went to him to ask him to give you over to me." The fire moved. "Not to own you, but to protect you. Things were getting complicated and I knew what my father was and I knew what was coming and I wanted to put you somewhere safe. I went to Matteo because Matteo was the only person I thought might actually do it." He paused and looked at her unmoving back. "He didn't want anyone else finding out about his connection to you. His secret daughter. He thought if I knew about it, I'd use it. Or my father would use it." He looked at the fire, tossing a stick in. "He tried to kill me first."

The cave was very quiet except for the crackling of the fire.

"I defended myself," he frowned. "That's all it was. But I understand why you might want to hate me for it. And that’s fine too.”

On the other side of the fire, Grace's hand tightened on the jacket pulled around her. It was a very subtle movement.

He watched the fire for another moment before he lay down on the cave floor with his arm under his head, he stared at the ceiling and waited for sleep to come, but he doubted it would.