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Graeson’s grip on Kalisandre tightened. Her breathing had thankfully returned to normal, but the wrapping around her head was already stained red. “But—”
Terin stepped forward. “No buts. If I take Kalisandre, you’ll be distracted worrying about her well-being. You should know that better than anyone. The best option—” Terin shook his head. “No, theonlyoption is for us to go with you.”
Graeson was about to fight him, but another scream echoed from the hallway beneath the temple. Dani needed him. As fierce as a warrior as Dani was, Domitius had escaped them once before.
“Fine.” Graeson gritted out at last. Maneuvering Kalisandre to lay over his shoulder, he hurried down the steps. “But at the first sign of trouble, you take her and run. We cannot lose either of you. Esmeray would have my head if anything happened to one of you.”
Their feet clapped against the floor. The air was musty and cold as they descended the steps, but Graeson could not let himself focus on the narrow path. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat.
“She just might when we return,” Terin mumbled.
Graeson huffed. “But at least both of her children will be safe.”
She cannot lose another,which is what Graeson actually thought but refused to say aloud.
Graeson jogged down the steps, almost sideways, as he shuffled down two at a time. He focused on the small flame that flickered at the bottom of the stairs. If Domitius was down here, there was another way out. He was not stuck down here.
He kept his mind off the small space, the closed-in walls. Instead, he allowed the darkness to sweep in as they followed Dani’s screams down the steps. Their footsteps echoed, bouncing off the empty stone walls.
When they reached the base of the steps, there was one straight hallway, and the torches were few and far between. Patches of darkness filled the space. Where the walls met the rocky ceiling, thick cobwebs existed. A few of them hung in the hall as if someone had rushed by them.
Behind Graeson, Terin shuffled, his hand scraping the wall.
“Terin, if you need to—”
“No,” Terin said, interrupting. “There’s no going back now, only forward.”
Biting down on his tongue, Graeson only nodded.
* * *
As they continuedtheir trek through the tunnel beneath the temple, the sound of clashing metal bounced off the walls. Grunts and shouts darted down the hallway. He couldn’t tell if they were getting closer or falling behind. Sometimes, it sounded as if Dani were hundreds of yards away. Other times, it seemed as if Dani was right beside him. But then, when Graeson turned, all he saw was solid stone.
They quickened their pace.
Until, that is, they saw the cells built into the walls.
The first cells were empty. Just old, untouched dirt inside. Then, the bones started to appear. At first, Graeson couldn’t identify them in the surrounding darkness. But when one of the torches illuminated one of the cells, Graeson spotted a deer skull with antlers still attached in one of the cell’s corners. Bones of other animals appeared as well. Having observed Dani countless times when she would track animals through the woods, Graeson quickly identified the other bones belonging to wolves, alligators, and eagles.
“What is this place?” Terin whispered behind him.
“A dungeon?” Graeson suggested.
“But why the animal bones?” Terin whispered in the darkness. “If it were human bones, that would make sense. But these have all been—” Terin stopped talking, crouching at one of the cells, and Graeson peered over him.
A human skeleton lay slumped against the wall. They scanned the cell, trying to find anything to help explain what they were seeing. Was this Frenzia’s prison? If so, why was it under the temple?
A growl further up the path had both men straightening.
Terin looked up, face pale. “What in the god’s breath isthat?”
The hissing snaked down the hall, and their steps became more hesitant as they traversed it. Graeson couldn’t see it in the darkness, but he could hear the inhuman breathing that was unlike any animal he had heard before.
An animal charged at the cell, and Terin fell to the ground, shuffling back and cursing. Its teeth gnawed on the metal, spit spewing out as it growled. It scratched and clawed at the iron railings.
Graeson’s arms tightened around Kalisandre, pressing her body closer to his. “Are you all right, Ter?”
Terin nodded. “Let’s just find Dani and get out of here.”
