“No. Never.” Kost gripped my arms tight. “We all want revenge for something. We’ve all lostsomethingto this war already. If we rush out there now with no plan, we’ll be ripping away everyone else’s chance at justice. Noc’s. Raven’s… Gaige’s.”
The riddling anger I felt stalled.Gaige.Eilan. Countless others. So many had already died for this. The heat in my palms trickled away, and my shoulders drooped. As much as I wanted to find Varek and make him pay, immediately, Kost was right. I didn’t want him to be. Gods knew I wanted to storm up those stairs and end this war right here and now. Especially if we were lucky enough to find ourselves in Wilheim’s castle. But if that were the case, then we’d no doubt find ourselves face to face with Sentinels, Darrien’s assassins, and Yazmin. As alluring as the idea was, it was just as futile.
Grinding my teeth together, I slumped against the cavern wall. “So, what now?”
“Now we go back to Hireath. Regroup.” Gently, he released his hold on me. “We need a plan.”
Rather than speak, I answered with a small nod.
“We’ll come back, Leena. I promise.” Kost opened his mouth as if to add something further, but heavy footsteps slammed into the earth above us, cutting him short. A faint layer of dirt dusted the top of our heads. We both fell silent and craned our necks upward. Apparently, we’d climbed up quickly enough to near the exit, though the bend before us obscured any potential door. Muffled sounds like conversation drifted our way, but it was impossible to make out what was being said. At least for me.
Kost’s eyes widened, and he mouthed one word.Yazmin. He wrapped us in a cocoon of shadows as an added layer of protection. The muddy-brown walls and earth tones shifted to dark charcoals and ebony tendrils. My father’s Iksass remained outside the shadow realm, but disappeared entirely to protect himself from the threat above. Only when Kost was satisfied with our now-masked presence did he dare to whisper.
“She’s speaking with a guard.” All the muscles in his neck strained, and he tilted his ear toward the ceiling. “He’s calling her away.”
Between the shadows and our underground position, I heard nothing, save the heady beat of my heart in my ears. Minutes ticked by as we waited in silence. Tightness swelled in my chest, and I wrapped my fingers in the chain of my bestiary. Try as I might, I couldn’t siphon any warmth from the beast realm. Couldn’t soothe my amped-up nerves with a tingle of power. While I was hidden away in the shadow realm, my beasts were definitively out of reach.
Finally, Kost let his shadows recede. “She’s gone.”
Peering around the bend in the staircase, I eyed what appeared to be a dead-end covered in gnarled tree roots. “Let’s see where this leads, and then we’ll leave. Before anyone notices we’re here.”
Kost’s brows furrowed as he contemplated my plan. When he didn’t outright decline, I kept going. “We need some sort of idea of where we are so we can be better prepared when we return. For all we know, we might not even be in the castle. This could be a crypt outside the gates. Or even somewhere further away, and that would do us no good if we want to use it as a back door later.”
He relented with a sigh. “Fine, but summon your Telesávra first. We need to be ready to escape at a moment’s notice.”
Splaying out my hand, I opened the beast realm door and called forth my Telesávra. The dense earth muffled the signature groaning of hinges, but I still held my breath, ears straining for potential footsteps thudding against the earth over our heads. A minute dragged by. Nothing. Letting out a tight exhale, I reached down and patted my Telesávra’s head before signaling him to stay close to my side. Then, I inched forward, Kost a shadow behind me. And while I could no longer see my father’s Iksass, the beast let out a quiet grunt, signifying he was still bringing up the rear.
Gently, I stroked the nearest tree root. A quiet creaking filled the space around us as it retracted into the dirt. And then another one followed, until all the roots were moving to reveal an open hole above us where daylight streamed through.
Gripping the densely packed earth, I poked my head up just enough to catch a glimpse of the massive room. It was strangely beautiful and serene, with nothing more than the tree above us stretching toward an opening in the castle ceiling. But the quiet splendor of the room was lost on me the moment I spied four Sentinels stationed on the far side of the room near the exit. With their backs turned our direction, they hadn’t noticed the subtle shift in dirt near the tree’s trunk.
“We’re definitely in Wilheim,” I said.
Kost tensed as he peered over the edge of the hole. “There are griffin emblems etched into the columns. It’s safe to assume we’re somewhere in the castle.”
“What do we do?” I itched to investigate more, to get a better sense of the layout so that when we did return, we’d be prepared. I felt rather than saw my father’s Iksass slink up beside me, his watery scent heavy in the air. My Telesávra remained close behind in the tunnel. Slightly parted, his jaw was poised to crack fully open and summon the portal back to Hireath at any moment.
“We should leave.” Kost barely breathed. “I can’t safely hide us from Sentinels. Their magic…”
Loud footsteps crashed against the polished tile, and Kost went silent. We both jerked our heads toward the entrance in time to see Yazmin storm into the room. Her gaze cut from Sentinel to Sentinel, and she let out an agitated huff. Smoothing the length of her gown, she hid her frustration with a placid smile. The four guards approached her, temporarily barring her entrance and pulling her focus. After a moment, she ushered them toward the exit, turning her back to the tree.
“Let’s go. Now,” Kost hissed, snaring my wrist. “We can’t let her know we’ve discovered this place.”
With fast, quiet steps, we retreated the way we came. Roots wormed through the dirt above our heads, obscuring the exit and once again sealing us away beneath the earth. My father’s Iksass shifted so I could see him, and I gave him a tight nod. “Go back to the realm and wait for me. We’ll return in a few days to save the Charmers. Okay?”
The beast realm door groaned open, and I froze as the Iksass disappeared. “Do you think—”
Kost immediately pressed a finger to my lips. Shadows danced around us, waiting to cocoon us in safety, but his gaze flicked to my Telesávra. It wouldn’t protect him. Seconds ticked by. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and I prayed Yazmin hadn’t heard the telltale sound of the beast realm opening.
Yazmin’s muffled footsteps filtered through the earth. She was soclose.
I took one look at my Telesávra and commanded him to send us home. “Let’s go!” His jaws flew open, and a flickering portal sparked to life. I grasped Kost’s hand and pulled us through, just as the roots above our heads once again began to move. But as the blinding light washed away our surroundings, I knew we’d made it out safely.
And there’d be no stopping us when we came back.
Thirty-Two
Noc
