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'But you've been down here before?' He certainly seemed to know his way around, navigating the narrow, winding corridors with barely a check in his long strides.
'When I became King, the devouts showed me the egg.'
'You've seen it?' asked Fyia. A jolt of surprise hit her so hard she nearly fell over her own feet.
'No. No one has seen it in hundreds of years, but they showed me where it is, and explained theoretically how to retrieve it.'
Fyia rolled her eyes at the now familiar pattern. Whoever had decided no one should ever set eyes on the eggs was a total idiot.
They passed door after door, and Fyia's fingers itched to reach for the handles. 'Don't you want to see what's inside?' she asked, for he strode past with barely a glance.
'They're bedrooms for the devouts,' he said. 'I've explored almost every room on this level. That was easy. It's the lower levels where things got tricky.'
'But you're planning to poke around now?'
'What do you think?'
Fyia's chest constricted at his conspiratorial smile. 'So that's the real reason you came? A man after my own heart.'
He checked his pace, his eyes meeting hers for a heartbeat. Then he was off again, and she had little choice but to go after him, unless she wanted to be stranded in the dark. She wondered when she'd last been the assistant to another's desires. Had he planned this whole thing? Had he known about the tunnel? Was that the real reason he'd been in the library?
He turned a corner, then led her down a flight of steep stairs, the air around them becoming warm and humid. 'There are hot springs here too?' she asked, concentrating hard on where to put her feet.
'I don't know,' he replied. 'I asked the devouts, but they wouldn't tell me.'
'Something for us to explore after we retrieve the egg,' she said, excited at the prospect. But a sinking feeling filled her stomach, because although she held a single thread of hope, it seemed likely the dragon egg would be missing, that they'd find one of the strange metal balls instead. And then she'd have to explain to Cal what it was … or lie to him …
'Here,' he finally said. He stopped in front of a bland wooden door at the bottom of another flight of stairs.
'Inconspicuous,' she said, trying the handle, but finding it locked.
Cal pressed three stones in quick succession, and a low click reverberated through the air. An enormous slab of stone in the wall next to the door moved towards them. Fyia's mouth fell open. 'Sneaky,' she said, curling her fingers around the edge, and helping Cal pull it towards them.
'Clever,' he countered, then stepped into the corridor on the other side. The corridor was short, and after a few paces, they emerged into a nondescript stone-walled room. They were on a raised platform, next to steps that led down to the sand below.
Cal paused, looking at something across the room, and Fyia stepped past him, heading down the stairs.
She had one foot on the first step when Cal realized what she was doing. 'No!' he screamed, then yanked her back. He spun her, so his body pressed her flat against the wall, his hands covering hers, pressing those hard against the stone too.
'What?' she stuttered, but he said nothing, only pressing her more thoroughly against the rock.
Apparently they were in danger, but she couldn't discern the threat, so her mind noticed the feel of him against her. His muscular arms that wouldn't let her move an inch, his chin resting against her temple, his … and then she heard it, a great yawning sound like a dam breaking, or a building collapsing.
'Cal …?' she said, hearing the tremble in her voice, but not finding the will to care.
'Stay perfectly still, and we'll be alright,' he said, although he didn't sound certain.
'Booby traps?' she whispered.
'Booby traps,' he agreed.
'I should have known …'
'Yes, you should,' he said, his voice not angry exactly, but it wasn't friendly either.
A swooshing noise filled the room, accompanied by a surge of warm air strong enough to make the loose strands of Fyia's hair whip around her face. And then everything went still, and silence fell.
'What in the Seven Hells was that?' said Fyia. She tried to see, but he refused to budge, using his hips to pin her against the wall.
