John gave him a sideways glance. “There’s a mechanism to shift the fireplace to the side. Of course, it’s best not to do that when there’s an actual fire burning in the hearth.”
Cain made mental notes of the entry and exit points and the branches that led away from the tunnel they were in, committing as much of the path to memory as he could. If John led him into a trap, he had to be able to find his own way out. However, Cain had to admit that had John wanted to kill him for whatever reason, he would have had ample opportunity earlier.
Still, trusting somebody didn’t come easy. Even when he’d joined Scanguards a year ago, it had taken some time to trust his colleagues. Now, of course, he knew they had his back and he trusted them with his life. Just like they trusted him. They’d become more than just colleagues to him. They’d become his friends. His family.
But now this stranger was upsetting the tentative peace he’d found with his new family by making him want something that lay beyond his reach. He wanted his old life back, if only for one reason: to know what it felt like to be loved by the woman from his dreams.
“I carried you out through this tunnel when you were injured. You don’t remember. You drifted in and out of consciousness. I couldn’t risk anybody finding out that you were alive but without a memory. At first I thought it would come back, but when you woke, it was clear that the memory loss was permanent. For your own safety I had to get you as far away as possible.”
“I don’t remember waking up and seeing you.”
“Because you didn’t see me. The blow to your head injured your optic nerve.”
Was that what the dream had wanted to show him when everything had gone red in front of his eyes?
“It was healing only slowly, as was the rest of your body.”
“Yet you abandoned me while I was still in recovery,” Cain interrupted him harshly. “So much for your concern for me.”
“I couldn’t stay with you. I only had enough time to make arrangements to get you as far away from here as possible, before my absence would have been noticed. I had to make sure whoever wanted you dead thought he’d succeeded. Only that way could you be safe.”
“Any thoughts on who wanted me dead?”
John hesitated, breathing audibly.
“Spit it out!” Cain ordered.
“I have a suspicion, but no proof. And if you remembered me at all, you’d know that I don’t like to accuse anybody without being able to back up my claim.”
“Well, that’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it? I don’t remember you.”
“You trusted me once.”
Cain locked his jaw, trying to appear unaffected by the other vampire’s words, when in reality he sensed John’s need to gain his approval for the decisions he’d made when Cain had been incapacitated.
“Trust isn’t something I give freely.”
John gave a slight nod. “You didn’t back then either. But we were more than just a king and his guard. We were friends. And I mourned the loss of that friendship more than the loss of my king.”
“Was I not a good king then?” Cain deflected, not wanting to respond to his guard’s claim.
“That’s not for me to judge.”
John’s words were too evasive for Cain not to react to them. “Are you trying to say I was a bad ruler, and that’s what prompted the assassination?”
“As I said, that’s not—”
“—for you to judge, I get it,” Cain finished the sentence.
Suddenly John slowed and turned to him, placing a finger on his lips thus ending their conversation. He pointed to another tunnel. From where Cain stood, he could see that it was short, only a few yards. At the end of it, he could make out the outlines of a door.
John bent to his ear, whispering now, “It leads to the secret corridor that connects the king’s chambers with those of the queen. The king’s are to the right, the queen’s to the left. You will find Faye in the queen’s suite. When you get to her door, move the lever on its left. It’ll open a tiny spy hole to look into her room, so you can assure yourself that she’s alone before you enter. Don’t worry, the door is disguised with an elaborate piece of art on the other side, so that nobody will notice the spy hole or the door itself.”
Cain nodded, his heart suddenly thundering.
“I’ll wait for you here. If you’re not back within fifteen minutes, I’ll come for you.”
Wordlessly, Cain conveyed his agreement. Taking a deep breath, he marched toward the door and walked up the few steps that led to it. He eased it open, making as little noise as possible as he stepped inside the corridor and pulled the door shut behind him.