AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or dangerous.
“My magic is reacting to whatever this is.” She threw me a panicked glance. “What if the iron bands stop working?”
Down here in this enclosed place, one blast of Anaria’s magic would kill us all.
“This could be Dane’s shortcut.” I tried to sound reassuring. “I smelled the magic all the way back in Warrington Hollow. But we’re getting closer.” Even the glowering darkness seemed to lighten, pale-blue patterns dancing on the walls like sunlight off the waves.
Tristan waited for us to draw alongside before he jerked his head at the shifting blue light. “I don’t like this.”
“For once, you and I agree on something.”
Tristan frowned at Dane and Tavion’s backs. “Call me a fool, but why am I doing this again?”
“Because we were out of options, and I didn’t hear any better suggestions from you.” I kept my voice low. “Can you smell the magic?”
Tristan nodded somberly. “Older than any I’ve sensed before.”
One minute we were inside the rounded tunnel, darkness pressing in on all sides, the next, the floor dropped away and the narrow tunnel opened up into a cavernous space that took my breath away. Anaria gasped softly at the sheer vastness of the enormous crypt, the carved-out walls towering around us. Blue-tinted light danced in the ice-cold air, like we’d just plunged to the depths of the ocean.
In the middle of the room stood a glowing portal, the center gently swirling, the source of all this light.
But that’s not what any of us were staring at.
We couldn’t take our eyes off the piles of enormous bones along one wall—two skulls, each as big as Anaria’s horse, the smaller one half crushed. They had the same yellow, aged appearance as Torin’s throne and Anaria’s head whirled around, her wide-eyed gaze meeting mine.
“We sleep here, go through there tomorrow.” Dane jerked his head at the portal. “Once you’re on the other side, you’ll only be a day from Tempeste. The other end of the tunnel dumps out in the forest just outside of the city walls.”
“Where, exactly?” Tristan asked, his knuckles white he was gripping his reins so hard.
“Now, I can’t give away all my secrets for free, can I?” Dane countered, but this time, his smile did not reach his eyes.
Was this where he betrayed us? I moved closer to Anaria, the freezing cold air in the cavern growing tenser. Dane could play his games, but I had a feeling I knew where these tunnels went.
Into the catacombs beneath Tempeste.
And we did not want to end up there.
Tristan’s eyes narrowed on Tavion, who studiously avoided looking at us. “We could have used these tunnels weeks ago,” Tristan hissed, loud enough for everyone to hear. “But instead, we battled our way across the wastelands of Caladrius, chased by the Fae King’s army.”
Dane and Tavion shared a long look, then Dane scratched his chin. “These tunnels have been a family secret for a millennium. Our survival depends on them remaining a secret, as does the survival of every citizen inside Tempeste. Tavion knows better than to jeopardize their welfare.”
I hated that his comment made so much sense.
Hated that it might have been something Zor said. Or me.
“What is this place?” Anaria asked softly, swinging her leg over the saddle before I could stop her. “And don’t feed me your usual bullshite. These skulls don’t resemble anything I’ve ever read about.”
“There’ve been too many theories to count. Dragons. Goblins. Monsters. Even the Old Gods.” Dane shrugged. “Take your pick. I suppose any of them could be true.”
“How many times have you been through here?”
“In five hundred years?” Dane shook his head. “I couldn’t say. Five thousand? More? It hardly matters, because there’s no one alive who knows for sure what this place is, and we’re all just guessing.”
Anaria’s eyes snagged on mine.The Old Gods wasn’t just a guess. Dane was full of shite.
“Well then, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to explore this place while we’re here.” In an act of pure sacrilege, Anaria tied the reins around a bone jutting out of the ground—what looked like an enormous femur. Dane opened his mouth to say something then snapped it shut.
So full of shite.
