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"The Keeper is like anyone with power," Helene said slowly. "He likes to play at being benevolent, but he keeps his toys close to hand until he tires of them."
"You think he saw me as a toy?" I asked.
It was Luther who responded. "You're powerful and beautiful. He wouldn't be the first man to aspire to own a woman like you."
"And yet, you're the asshole who threatened to break me." I wiped a bead of sweat from my brow and puffed lightly from the exertion of climbing the stairs.
"Because this is bigger than you," Helene said curtly. "Breaking you is a last resort. We prefer to have you be one of us. Dex would discard you once he grew bored, just as the witches discarded you. Just as your Hades chosen mate did."
I wanted to deny that, but I couldn't. The Covener and his asshole son had done exactly that, with the blessing of the Council. Dex had probably forgotten all about me already, in spite of what he'd said when Helene forced me away from him.
If Comus truly wanted to free the world, in return for living out his days, then he might be the lesser evil.
I would consider it at least.
I looked past Helene. "Where to now?" The tunnels seemed to have reached a dead end.
"This way." Helene led us into the deepest shadows, her steps unwavering.
I followed, hands out in front of me, drops of power held instinctively against anything unexpected. Where I thought I would hit a wall, there was nothing. The darkness here was so absolute, it masked the way.
Something scurried across our path.
Shit.I jumped, my heart racing.
By the rapid sound of tiny feet, it ran from us, more scared than I was. A rat or mouse, most likely. I ventured a sniff and caught the musty smell of vermin.
After a few minutes, the dark gave way to gloom, which gradually became light, the same dappled green as down below, but the air here was cooler still and somehow thinner. It reeked of something I couldn't identify. Something unpleasant, but not disgusting like sewage. It was more like fruit which had hung too long on the vine. The vines covering the citadel might bear fruit, but I couldn't see any, just stalks and tiny leaves.
We stepped into yet another chamber, this one small and rectangular.
I hardly noticed. My eyes were drawn to a stone sarcophagus which dominated the centre of the room. The lid sat closed, carved with ornate symbols and images which tugged at my memory, but I couldn't quite place them.
"This is your Great One?" I asked. I winced as the echo in the room threw my words back to me.
"Merely where he rests right now," Helene replied. Her voice was soft, reverent.
"Ah." My tongue darted over my lips. "And how do you know what he wants, or plans? Or that he is even alive?"
"Quiet," Helene urged. "Listen. Feel." She gripped my wrist in a firm hold before I could move away from her. Luther moved to the other side of Helene. She grabbed onto his wrist as well.
I had the strangest sensation of power slipping from me and almost used it to shove Helene back. At the last moment, I realised the power lapped back into me like the ebb and flow of the tide. It didn't just come from Helene, but from Luther as well.
I was wrong about one thing. They weren't stronger than me. Their power was different, more refined, but I was their equal, if not their better, in strength. Did Helene realise she'd revealed that?
The woman stood with her eyes closed, mouth set in a firm line. I gave a slight tug on the power and drew some of it in.
Helene flinched. "Focus," she growled.
Torn between curiosity and the desire to push Helene against the wall and cut off the flow of air to her lungs, I gave in to curiosity.
I turned my gaze to the sarcophagus and half closed my eyes. I kept a portion of my attention on Helene, all too aware that if I could take their power, they could take mine.
I tucked a little bit away in the back of my mind, in the hope it might be enough to fight back if they tried anything.
I blurred my eyes and opened my thoughts to whatever I was supposed to open them to. At first, I felt nothing but the power, like the lap of a warm pool against my body. The sensation threatened to lull me, but I caught myself at the brink and held myself firmly there.
Gradually, I felt a fourth presence in the room. Faint at first, it grew until it was almost on par with Helene and Luther.
