Shrieking in outrage, she responded by throwing more things in his direction. Glass shattered all around him. It’d been a long time since anyone had ambushed him and all he could do was be grateful she wasn’t armed with anything more than household objects.

Thankfully, she finally ran out of ammunition.

When she limped to find more, he bolted across the room toward her. He caught her arm as she seized a heavy lead vase. Yeah, that would really hurt if she hit him with it.

He gently twisted it out of her grip. “What’s wrong?”

“You!” she snarled. “How dare you!”

Her anger baffled him. “How dare I what?”

“Lock me in here like I’m a criminal!”

It was probably a stupid idea, but he couldn’t resist laughing at her. “Technically, you are a criminal.”

Yeah, not the brightest comeback he’d ever made.

She raked him with a scathing glare. “Oh wait, Lord Sentella. My bounty is nothing compared to yours. You want to talk criminals? How many governments want you dead? I’m only wanted by one. And it happens to be yours.”

He had to give her that, and it reminded him that he needed to put through a pardon for her.

You hate her, remember?

Yeah, but she’d been outlawed for no reason whatsoever, and he wasn’t about to hold her accountable for her rebellion against his uncle’s reign when he’d been the one who’d helped her pull off her most damaging attacks. His personal feelings for her shouldn’t prevent him from doing what was right…

Her expression fuming she gestured toward the door behind him. “In spite of what you might think… man… I am not your pet or your toy. Why did you lock me in here, you bastard!”

He ignored her insult, which was mild compared to what others routinely called him. “I didn’t know you were locked in.”

Her gaze turned suspicious as if she didn’t believe him. “What?”

“You heard me. I didn’t do it. I knew nothing about it. Are you sure it’s locked and not jammed or something?”

Zarya hated how reasonable he was being. It was beginning to make her feel like a hysterical child. “No, I’m too stupid to tell the difference between a locked door and a stuck one. Thanks.” She pushed him toward it. “Go, try to open a door. Any door.”

He went to the one in the middle of the wall and opened it with an ease that made her ill. “See. It’s fine.”

Zarya limped toward him to try it herself. But she’d only taken two steps before Darling recrossed the room and picked her up, then carried her to the door. She wanted to maintain her anger at him, but it was hard when he was being so nice.

Damn him for it!

She reached for the door. Once again, it refused to open. “See,” she said triumphantly.

He scowled as he tried it again and once more, it opened easily for him. “It must have a bio sensor on it. Since they always open for me, I didn’t think to check. Sorry. All you had to do was tell me calmly, and I’d have gotten it fixed. You didn’t have to throw things at me.”