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The cave itself has smooth walls all around us, a pale white-blue from the ice. There’s just enough light from up above to see by, which is good because I don’t think Cain could use his fireball to help us see, under these circumstances.
“Originally we chose Everest,” Cain says. “An easy marker to get a portal to, easy to focus on and remember. But Everest has become absolutely choked with tourists. There are waiting lines to get to the summit and people die on there constantly. We figured the chances of someone stumbling on the Key, or a supernatural person on a vacation detecting it, was too great. So we chose this ice cave a couple of peaks over.”
That makes sense.
North makes his way directly to the back of the cave, crouching down onto his knees and brushing some of the snow on the floor out of the way. “We set up a lot of traps too. Just in case.”
I stay back as North presses his hand down into the snow. I can’t see exactly what happens, but I hear something that sounds like a click and then a moment later, the back of the ice cave slides open.
Raven and Cain walk up and join North at the mouth of this entrance. Bit by bit, the three of them undo whatever magical protections they put in place. Some of the protections seem to only need one of them, but a specific one. I get the impression that certain locks can only be opened by Cain, for example, and that if Raven or North tried, it wouldn’t work. There are also a few that only open when all three men open them at the same time using the same motions.
It would be impossible, or so it seems, for someone else to get in. You would need all three men to cooperate with you, and I don’t see these men giving into someone else and letting that person steal from them no matter what.
“Can I watch?” I ask. I’m wildly curious. This would be a dream for me to try to break into. I could really challenge myself. I mean, having to break into this for a job would piss me off like nothing else, and I doubt I would actually accept the job, given the level of security, but just for fun? I would love it.
North gives me a look like he knows what I’m thinking. “When it wouldn’t kill you to come close, then yes, you can try to break this open.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“That’s what you were thinking.”
I grin. It’s only been a few days but he clearly already knows me too well. He knows my tricks.
“Okay,” North calls. “You can come up.”
I walk over to them. I’m so cold I can’t stop shivering, my teeth clacking together. I curl up into Raven, who curls a wing around me again. We really should’ve brought coats or something for this.
With the protections gone, now I can see into the hidden room and find that there’s a huge block of ice taking up almost the entire space. Inside of the ice, right in the center of it, is a key.
Looking at it, you wouldn’t think that it was an Immortal Key. An Immortal Key is basically a skeleton key for literally anything. Magical, mundane, whatever. As a burglar, if I had one of these, I could open anything. Supposedly all you have to do is hold the key up and think about what you want opened, and it opens. And I really do mean anything. I don’t know for sure because I’ve never had one, but I hear you can open people’s thoughts and mouths, get them to tell you truths.
But this just looks like an ordinary key. A bit tarnished. I can’t tell what metal it’s made out of. But it’s not big or flashy, not made out of solid gold. Fascinating.
Cain walks up and lights a fireball in his hand, pressing it to the block of ice. Fueled by demonic heat, the ice quickly melts, much faster than it would if someone else were to try that. Cain presses his hand farther and farther in, until he’s reached the key and can grab it and retract his hand.
The key looks perfectly normal in his palm. He holds it out to me to look at. “You want to test it out?” Cain teases.
I shake my head. I don’t need to do that, thanks. And the idea of holding something so powerful in my hand kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies. I just give my magical items that I steal over to my fence. I don’t actually use them myself.
Cain hands the key to North, who pockets it and nods. He reaches down into the snow again and closes up the hidden panel. “If we ever need to hide anything else here. We’ve still got this place set up,” he points out.
That’s good. But seeing this key, just feeling the power of it that radiates off of it, makes me uneasy. Is it really a smart idea to give this up to someone like O’Shae? It could put the men in a bad position, and it will take away their one safeguard. They could be using this for themselves, not for me.
“We need to get out of here before we portal out,” North says. “Can’t risk anyone finding this place by having residue of a portal here.”
“Wait.” I grab onto Raven so that he doesn’t grab me and lift me up out of the cave. “You shouldn’t do this, any of you. I can’t let you do this. I have to take care of this. I’ll find a way. I always do.”
“Of course you can find a way,” Raven says. He smiles warmly at me. Even with his face like that of a gargoyle, his smile makes his face light up, and I melt a little.
Raven takes my hands and squeezes them. “You’re our mate. Of course you’re resourceful. It’s not about what you can and can’t do. It’s about what you don’t have to do. And we’re here now. Of course you can do this on your own, but you don’t have to. That’s the whole point of having us and having mates.”
My heart swells. I really don’t have anything to add to that. What could I possibly add? All of my emotions are cramming up in my throat, so I just swallow. “Thank you.”
I kiss him, short and sweet, and then the other two. I don’t let it get heated because this is definitely not the place for it. I don’t care how hot the guys are, I’m not taking what few clothes I have off in this weather.
“Shall we head on home, then?” Cain says.
Home. What an idea. Could I really have a home with other people, with these men, after this?
