Chapter Thirty-Two #2
I’m not, but I am. “I think if they let Stella see them, it’s because they wanted her to see them. Especially if they managed to ambush Sylvie and Taran. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they led us this way.”
Quinn grumbles and complains more about my distrust, but I don’t hear her.
“Sylvie,” I say. She’s waking up. She’s alive. Thank the gods, she’s alive. Thank you, Vayla. Thank you. I’ll never doubt you again. She’s frightened, but it’s mixed with some degree of comfort. Someone must be with her. Hermes, her alchemist?
“She’s in this direction,” I say, pointing to the floor at the back corner. “Look at these floorboards.”
The others come over, and we tug at each of the floorboards. Nothing. Not even a hint of movement.
“Fuck,” says Quinn, sitting back against the wall.
There’s a soft clink of metal behind her.
“Was that your dagger?” I ask.
“No,” she says, tapping it at her side. She moves away from the wall.
I shine the light from my hands there. It’s incredibly small, but there’s a little piece of metal jutting out from the wall. I push on it harder.
The stones move back, swinging into a passage.
A hidden door. It’s just like the ones at the palace. I’m not sure how they could have missed it.
“Wait, Ronan,” says Quinn as I pass the threshold. “It could be a trap.”
“Of course it’s a trap,” I say. “Why else would they let us find it?” I’m convinced this metal wasn’t here before.
They must have removed it to keep us from finding the door until now.
And if this door works similarly to the ones in the palace, they have a way to secure it from the other side. Which they didn’t do.
“Ronan, stop. Let’s think about this,” says Quinn.
“There’s nothing to think about. She’s through here, and she’s alive. If I wait, she may not be. Stella, go get the other guards and bring them here. There may be others with Sylvie.”
“Yes, sir,” says Stella.
I know once again that Quinn isn’t wrong. But what am I meant to do about a trap set by an alchemist? What would that even look like? Some kind of elixir or poison? Do they intend to dip me into a great big vat of molten gold?
“Let me go first at least, sir,” says Taran, nudging me to the side.
I nod to him. That placates them both.
The passage is pitch black beyond. I send a light floating down the hall where it slopes downwards into a cellar of some kind.
“Let’s go,” says Taran, following my light.
We keep a brisk pace, but we don’t run. Taran uses my light to check for traps, but the passage is perfectly clear.
“They wanted us to keep going,” says Taran. “I don’t like that.”
I don’t either. The cellar we saw from above is really just a wider passage. There aren’t any junctions or rooms. Just a set of connected corridors carved from stone and earth, leading further down beneath the city.
“How did they even dig a tunnel like this? How long do you think this has been here?” asks Quinn.
“A while,” I say, looking at the way the stone crumbles on the walls. There are many cellars and basement passages in the city, some of which even lead into the palace, but they tend to be short, connected only to the next building or so. This tunnel leads across several blocks.
This tunnel leads to the Alchemists’ Guild. I can feel it.
“Still feel her?” asks Taran as we wind around another junctionless bend.
“She’s frightened but no longer terrified. She’s maybe a little confused?”
“Confused?” says Quinn. “I swear to Vayla, if we find her and she’s just having tea with Hermes at the guild…”
There’s an edge to Quinn’s voice despite her words.
They’ve become friends these past few weeks, and I can feel Quinn’s worry for her.
I was glad to see them grow closer, not that I could have prevented it even if I wasn’t.
But I was also immensely jealous, feeling her joy and excitement from a distance and not being part of it.
I wanted to share the things they shared with her, with them both.
I still can, I tell myself as the fear begins to seize me. All we have to do is find her.
“She’s close now,” I say finally. I can’t believe I felt her through all this distance. I don’t understand how or why my connection to her seems to keep growing, but I’m grateful for it, especially right now.
“Should we do this together?” asks Quinn. “Or one by one, in case they have something that can take us out?”
“I still have the smelling salts,” says Taran. “I’ll go first, but one of you should carry them.”
“No,” I say. He’s right—I know he’s right—but I have to let her see me first. “I’ll go alone. Let them think there’s no one else here. You wait in the hall.”
“But we can’t feel you like you can feel us,” says Quinn. “It doesn’t make sense. Come on, Ronan. I know you love her, but think rationally.”
My pulse picks up when I hear those words. Of course Quinn can tell. Hell, I think the entire court can tell.
As much as I’m grateful for Quinn and Taran, I wish I had a shadow-born here to help me. We’ve been trying to hire a shadow-born guard after Sylvie’s rescue pointed out the holes in our security, but they’re in short supply. Maybe we’ll find one in whatever room they have Sylvie in.
“Fine,” I say. “Taran, go around that bend. There’s no one in the hall, but I expect there’s a door nearby. Look, listen, and make no sound. Then we can decide. I’ll keep the light here around the corner. Signal if it isn’t enough for you to tell.”
He creeps in the darkness, his footsteps almost completely silent in spite of his armor. It’s something the Orsa must have taught him because I have no other guards who can keep as quiet.
“There’s a single door on the left. Then the passage continues, but the light didn’t reach far. I see no one around and no obvious traps.”
“Should we knock?” asks Quinn.
I chuckle in spite of myself, and I’m glad she’s here to help lighten the mood. “I’m going.”
They both start to protest, and I silence them. “I know. But she’s there, and she needs me. Wait around the corner. If you hear anything—anything—that sounds like a struggle, come in.”
“Yes, sir,” says Taran.
“Go get her, you idiot,” says Quinn.
I walk to the door, and I reach for the handle, but then—
Sylvie is gone again. Her feelings vanish, and I’m filled with the sudden terror that I’ll find her dead on the other side.
That I won’t find her at all, and that this is the trap.
They’ve somehow impersonated her, or she’s tricked me somehow.
That Quinn was right, and this was all part of her plan to kill me.
No. I don’t believe it. I could never believe it.
She’s here, and she needs me.
I fling the door open, traps be damned.