She saw the confusion in his gaze as he frowned down at her. Then his face hardened, his eyes turned icy.

“I have you, akribos,” he whispered quietly, and yet his deep, accented voice rolled over her senses like a powerful tidal wave. Soothing, warming. “I won’t let the snake Skotos take you.”

She believed that, until one of the new monsters seized her about the waist with a stone tentacle. She screamed as it tore her from her savior’s grasp.

The dark knight created a sword out of air and pursued them through the dark cavern. She watched as he dodged the other stone monsters, as he literally ran down the walls themselves to get to her. He jumped over the thing carrying her, to land before them and cut off the monster’s escape.

The creature caught him about the waist with a hard kick and sent him slamming high into the wall.

V’Aidan didn’t seem to feel the pain at all as he slid down the wall to the floor. More monsters swarmed over him, but he fought them down. His face was a mask of determination until he stood strong and victorious over their broken bodies.

He narrowed his eyes on the thing holding her, then held his hand out, and a red glow blasted the monster, splintering it.

The knight grabbed Erin then, scooped her up in his arms, and ran with her through the darkness.

Erin wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. She could still hear the snake calling out.

“I will have her, V’Aidan. I will have both of you!”

“Don’t listen,” V’Aidan said. “Close your eyes. Think of something soothing. Think of a happy memory.”

She did and, oddly enough, the most comforting thing she could imagine was the sound of his heart pounding under her cheek. The deep accent of his voice.

“V’Aidan!” the she-snake’s voice echoed in the cavern. “Return her to me or I will make you wish you had never been born.”

He laughed bitterly. “When have I ever wished otherwise?” he mumbled under his breath.

Suddenly the wall before them burst open, spilling more monsters into their path.

“Hand her over to us, V’Aidan,” a large gray lizard-man demanded. “Or we will see you pay with the flesh off your back.”

Still holding her close, V’Aidan spun around to flee but couldn’t.

They were surrounded.

“Give her to us,” an old dragon croaked, reaching out its claws. “She can feed us all.”

Erin held her breath as she saw the indecision in her dark knight’s eyes.

Dear Lord, he was going to hand her over.