Maybe, if I concentrated, I could pull that power forth. I focused on bringing it out from within me like I did when I killed Ivan.
With my eyes closed, I searched deep inside me, but instead of feeling a rush of energy, I experienced the empty hollowness of nothing.
“Fuck,” I bit out through my clenched teeth.
“What is it?” Tucker asked from the next cell.
I didn’t dare tell him what was happening. I couldn’t get his hopes up if I failed to break free.
“This place is a nightmare,” I said.
“I can’t argue with that.”
With care, I shuffled back to my cot to avoid crashing into it. When my foot connected with one of the legs, I rested my hands on it. I slid them over the lumpy surface until I discovered my abandoned tray of food, lifted it, and sat again.
I placed the tray on my lap, and my fingers brushed over the remaining food until I found the bowl of gruel. I didn’t bother with the spoon as I plunged my hand into it.
The cool, lumpy mess swelled around my hand and spilled onto the tray as my fingers brushed something hard. The object scraped the bottom of the bowl when I gripped it.
Smiling grimly, I pulled the small metal piece free and held it before me. I couldn’t see it, but I had no doubt it was a second key.
CHAPTER THREE
Ellery
Luna opened a portal into the forest outside the Earl of Oakley’s castle. Since she’d once worked and lived here, she knew the property best.
We stood behind the castle, where the back of the fortress rose high above the land sloping around it. Ryker, Callan, and I had emerged on this backside after fleeing the earl’s catastrophic ball… a ball my mother didn’t survive.
I swallowed back the lump that formed in my throat at the reminder. Now was not the time to lose myself to sorrow; we had far too much to do for tears to fall.
During our escape, we’d used an unknown section of tunnels the servants had created in preparation for the rebellion they’d planned during the earl’s ball. We wouldn’t take them to get back into the castle.
By now, the earl’s men had probably discovered the tunnel and closed it off. Even if they hadn’t, we’d have to navigate all the way through the castle to get to the earl’s rooms.
We couldn’t avoid being seen by them if we did that. While we only had three gargoyles with us, they couldn’t move easily through the castle’s halls.
The presence of guards wasn’t as thick outside the castle as I’d anticipated, probably because the duke had commandeered many of them once he claimed the throne for himself. He wasn’t legally the king of Tempest, but he would never let that throne go while he lived.
However, I was sure that after the rebellion and Ivan’s death at Ryker’s hands, the earl still had a fair number of guards inside to protect him. Which meant we might have to destroy many of them too.
I ignored the small twinge of guilt tugging at my conscience. These men and women had decided their fate when they sided with the aristocrats over the rest of the amsirah. They guarded the monsters who’d trapped us all here, and they’d suffer the consequences.
“Do you see those two windows, right there, with the lights on?” Luna pointed to the top floor of the castle. Behind the glass, the flicker of lanterns illuminated the space within. “That’s the earl’s room. That whole floor is his, but his bed… bedroom is there.”
Luna’s voice quivered, and her words broke when she uttered the word bedroom. She could be abrasive, callous, and sometimes rude, but my heart ached for her.
I couldn’t imagine what she’d endured at the hands of the earl, but I knew what he’d done to her. I’d meet the same fate if one of these aristocrats, especially the duke, got their hands on me.
My fingers itched to offer her some comfort, but I closed them. My nails dug into my palm as I restrained myself. Even if I meant it to be a show of support, Luna might perceive it as a sign of sympathy, and that would annoy her.
“You said he also has sons?” Indon asked.
“Two,” Luna said.
“Where are their rooms?”
“On the floor beneath the earl’s. Their windows are dark already.”
