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“Ark!” Nava transferred to them. She, too, was breathless. “Are you all right?”
Her face was scratched and bloodied. Fuck, he hadn’t even noticed that happening. He stepped closer and reached for her chin, lifting her face to his to better inspect it. He traced every freckle, the curve of her lips, the long line of her neck.
Nava forced a smile, but the gesture didn’t fool anyone. Then she glanced down. “Your hand!”
“I’m fine,” Orion said past gritted teeth and pulled his hand away before she could grab it. It hurt too much, and they couldn’t linger here for much longer. They had already wasted too much time.
She cleared her throat, clearly not happy at this turn of events.
Devon stood, winded and bloodied, much like Orion. The number of spirits had far exceeded their expectations. “Someone failed with the records they kept about this place,” his brother choked out and spat blood on the ground.
The family trapped in the cellar had been a large one. Perhaps even their servants had suffered the same fate alongside them.
It gave him pause. What if Nava’s family had shared their destiny? Would the Society of Crows have converted Celeste’s manor into a hidden safe house?
The thought of her loved ones being cursed to be Neems for eternity crushed his heart. He felt for these people—now they were liberated from their haunted forms.
“We need to go,” he said. Gods, he hated how his voice broke. He let go of Nava. He wasn’t good enough for her. Not in this life. Not in the next.
Carefully, they crept forward. Brown water pooled in front of the cracked door. No more spirits emerged, but the air still crackled with angry energy.
While the Neems appeared corporeal enough to push this door open, once dissipated, they vanished into nothingness. Their true bodies rested inside the cellar they were heading into.
It took Orion only a moment to rip off a strip from the bottom of his shirt, and with Nava’s help, they wrapped it around his bleeding hand to stem the flow. Then he pushed the door open. The light from the candelabra outside trickled inside the dark cave, illuminating rotten wooden stairs and deep green water beneath. The back of his throat ached, and his tongue tasted bitter.
His legs felt heavy—both from exhaustion and from the horror of stepping into that water alongside the corpses of those poor people.
“Do you think there are any more Neems down there?” Nava’s voice shook, as if she was contemplating the same thoughts.
Devon brushed the long strands of hair out of his face. “I’m going to guess not.” His mouth was set in a hard line. “They would kill us. They have no need to hide, especially since we’ve disturbed their haunting grounds.”
Well. Wasn’t it their lucky day if they escaped with only a few bites and scratches?
Orion moved down the first creaking step. It bowed under his weight. The stone walls were slick with algae, and the smell of seawater and rot was overwhelming.
His aura swirled around his body in a protective shield, much like Nava’s did. The whispers of his souls warned him to stay away. He tested the second step before committing to the next. On his third step, the wood underneath him creaked and snapped, and he stumbled forward with the weight of his body.
Orion fought to regain his balance as his heart lodged in his throat. Thankfully, he steadied himself before he could tumble all the way down. The remnants of the previous step fell into the dark water beneath him.
Nava stood by the doorframe, illuminating the room more than any magical candle could. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” he breathed, trying to calm his erratic breathing. He didn’t want to step into the water and walk over bones, but he had little choice. “Don’t come down yet. It’s all rotten.”
The stale, humid air stuck to the back of his throat, tasting like old magic. If only he could be far away from it.
Shuffling forward, Nava moved close behind him, although she didn’t follow him into the cellar yet. Surprising, that she wouldn’t challenge his request when she usually enjoyed it so much.
Still, Orion knew her well enough by now to comprehend that she was one word away from transferring inside this hell and fighting whoever might harm him, before he’d even had time to inspect the place.
“I could transfer there…” she offered.
Hah. “Not yet. It’s not safe.”
“Why is it that you are so keen to believe you’re more disposable than me?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder. His wing shrouded most of her body. Dammit, they had no time to get into this discussion. Still…he’d been trying to mend the rupture between them. Best not to aggravate her further.
“If you aren’t safe, my head’s not in the right place, which could get me killed. I want to protect you more than anything.”
