Chapter 10 #2
“Yes, the book knows your desire, but it’s always nice to ask for permission. They are of the old ways, where manners and etiquette go far. But be clear and concise . . . they are known to twist interpretation if it is not exact.”
“What am I asking again? Where this nectar is?”
“Yes, what has happened to it.” Ash squeezed my hand again, probably sensing my nerves. “You ready?”
“Yep.” I nodded, my throat tightening. To others, the book showed them the past, but I became part of it and could be trapped in there forever.
“Close your eyes and clear your mind,” Ash spoke softly, his sexy voice soothing and calming. He took our joined hand to the pages.
“Brexley Kovacs,” the inhuman raspy voice boomed into my head. “The girl who challenges nature’s laws wants more from me? Have I not shown you enough?”
“Yes.” I swallowed. “You have been most kind and helpful. Thank you.”
“But you want more?”
“I was hoping you would show me what happened to this substance called nectar. What happened to it after China? It was last with a Dr. Novikov.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“That you should be asking me.”
“Why is that?”
“You only get one question,” the book replied robotically. “And you already asked it.”
“No—wait! Let me ask again!” I knew I hadn’t been clear enough, my question way too general.
“Too late, child of the gray.”
A blast tore through my body as images whirled in my mind—visions and scenes of the past, like I was scrolling through time. This time from past to present, moving through time so quickly, my stomach heaved with bile.
Coming to the final written page, everything stopped. The page I landed on was blank, and I could feel with every breath, ink was scrolling over the sheet, writing the moment in present time.
A cool, damp chill shivered over my skin as I took in the carved rock walls and low ceiling, man-made archways forking off into a labyrinth of passages.
Only a few fire bulbs flickered on the walls, creating ghostly shadows.
Nerves twisted in my gut, the familiar dank smell sparking a deep-rooted fear in my body.
The taste of adrenaline on my tongue tripped me back to a time Killian’s guards were hauling me through an underground tunnel to my doom.
Intuition told me this location didn’t just remind me of the maze underneath Killian’s palace. It was the same place.
A pull moved me toward a mostly empty vestibule.
There was a lone table in the middle—an altar with items spread over it.
I couldn’t decipher what was on it from where I was, but I knew it was not of the old human religion which used to dominate this area.
I noticed a discolored shape on the wall where a cross used to hang but was no longer.
Stepping closer to the altar, the sound of a dry hacking cough behind me spun me around, my heart thumping in my chest. A shadowy figure shuffled down a dark passage near me. I couldn’t see any features, but it appeared feeble and old, each step slow and uneven.
Then it stopped. Awareness prickled at my spine.
“Hello? Is someone there?” The low, crackly voice clicked something in the back of my head, gnawing on my subconscious. “Show yourself! I can feel someone there.”
Before I could figure out why it felt familiar, the book yanked me out.
“No!” I screamed, not ready to be taken away yet.
Whoosh.
Darkness shrouded me, everything spinning as the book hurled me out.
My head slammed back, my lids bursting open, but instead of hitting stone, a hand cushioned my skull. Warwick’s large, warm palm cupped the nape of my neck, like he sensed my head was about to hit the wall before it happened.
“Brex?” Ash’s worried green eyes were in my face, his brows furrowed. “You okay?”
“Yea-yeah.” I licked my lips, my mind still swirling, my stomach rolling with nausea.
“It kicked you out really fast.” Ash squatted down in front of me. “Did it show you anything?”
“I don’t know.” My forehead wrinkled with the flashes and images. Warwick’s hand didn’t move; his fingers threaded softly through my hair, easing down my shoulders. “It was strange. Doesn’t make sense . . .”
“What?” Ash prodded.
“I think it took me to the tunnels underneath the palace.”
“The tunnels?” Warwick dropped his hand away, tilting his head.
“Yeah, but they weren’t the exact ones they took me down to get to Halálház. This felt like a different area.” I rolled my lips together. “Someone was there, and . . . they sensed my presence.”
“They sensed your presence?” Ash’s eyes widened.
Nodding, I added more. “It was in real time . . . not the past. I was there right now.”
Ash’s brows shot up. “What? Right now, as in this moment?”
My head bobbed again, watching Ash pinch his nose, confusion and astonishment mixed on his face. Everything about my interaction with the book defied the rules.
“I could feel the book recording every step and movement,” I stated. “Writing present history.”
“Fucking hell.” Ash scoured his face, muttering under his breath.
“Did you see them?” Warwick asked.
“No . . . they were in the shadows” I started to shake my head, though a prickle of something kept dragging across my gut. “It showed me what looked like some underground room . . . an altar, I think. I got the feeling it was once used for the old religious practices.”
“An altar?” Ash’s eyes widened as he stood up. “In a cave?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Faszom,” Ash muttered, tipping his head back.
“What?” Warwick rose warily.
“I know exactly where the book showed her . . . and neither of you is going to like it.”
Warwick’s chest expanded, his fists rolling into balls, waiting for Ash to continue.
“What?” I stood up, already knowing the answer, but hoping I was wrong.
“The old Gellert Hill Cave.” Ash cringed. “The gutted church at the bottom of Lord Killian’s palace.”
“Killian?” Warwick barked. “He has it? He’s the one who has the nectar?”
Ash rubbed his forehead, frowning deeply, his head wagging with puzzlement.
“That doesn’t make sense. I don’t think he does.” My thoughts settled back on Killian, my time with him. If he knew about the nectar, had it the whole time, why would he have been so concerned about the pills?
“You are clouded by your feelings for him, princess.” Warwick gritted his teeth, his gaze drilling into me. “Your boyfriend is not the nice guy you like to think he is.”
“Think about it.” I ignored Warwick’s pointed tone.
“If Killian had the nectar, he has the ultimate prize, especially for humans. I mean, game over. Killian wouldn’t be concerned about the pills or what Istvan is doing.
I get that you hate him, what he did, but I spent every day for a month with him.
If it’s there, he doesn’t know about it, or he hasn’t found it yet. ”
Ash’s eyebrows curved up. “He literally could be sitting on a gold mine and doesn’t know.”
“Exactly.” I smiled at Ash, his grin spreading, both of us turning to Warwick. “One we can take off his hands.”
“How do you expect to get in?” Warwick’s jaw rolled. “Knock on the door, bat your lashes, and ask nicely?”
“No.” I put my hand on my hip, irritation tapering my lids. “Figured you would just blow it up.”
“Funny.” He scowled back. “That only works when you are fleeing an area, not trying to get in. Have any brighter ideas, princess?”
“Yeah, actually.” I twisted, getting in his face. Warwick’s chest hit mine, closing the distance, his nose flaring. “How about you shove—”
“Okay! Ease back, you two.” Ash pulled us apart. “I thought you would have worked all this tension out by now. You didn’t hate fuck enough?”
“Not even close.” Warwick scoffed, still using his massive size to loom over me. I didn’t flinch, daring him to test me.
Ash grasped my arm again, tugging me farther away.
“Man, you guys are killing me.” He cupped his pants, his face pure agony. “I’m about to dry hump the skeleton over there if you don’t take it down a notch or two.”
A dry laugh rose from my throat, the visual making me cringe and laugh. I really hoped he was kidding.
“Warwick’s right.” Ash folded his arms, taking a deep breath, switching the subject back. “We need to find a way into the underground caves that won’t be guarded by a dozen sentinels. If he knows about the nectar or not, he’d have every entrance around his palace highly secured.”
A memory flashed from my time in the underground tunnels when Sloane, Conner, and Vale hauled me through, and especially my exit from them.
My eyes widened, my tongue sliding over my lip. “I think I might know.”
“What?” Ash and Warwick replied in unison.
“It’s a long shot . . .” I trailed off, my mind still rolling around the idea.
“Out with it.” Ash gestured for me to keep talking.
“While getting me to Halálház, I was taken through the tunnels from the palace area to the old citadel before being escorted into the prison.”
Warwick’s head tipped back, understanding seeping in quickly. He knew the area, what I was saying.
“What?” Ash’s regard bounced between us.
“There is a door by the old prison, which leads down into the tunnels. At one time, it was highly guarded because of the prison—”
“But the prison is no longer in use,” Ash filled in, getting my meaning. “The area has been basically abandoned.”
“Killian would still have a patrol, but . . .” Warwick scratched his beard.
“Nothing like what used to be there. I know he has a lot of his focus on rebuilding and watching the new prison,” I finished.
A naughty grin tugged at the side of Warwick’s cheek, his aqua eyes burning into mine.
“Good plan, princess.”
“Thank you.” I tipped my head to him, neither of us actually opening our mouths.
“You know it will be like stealing treasure from a dragon’s lair.” Ash rubbed his brow. “Very dangerous. We might not make it out.”
A devious sneer hinted on Warwick’s mouth. “Sounds exactly up our alley.”
“Now tell me again how you know where it is?” Mykel paced behind his desk, a deep, furrowed line carving into his brow. “It just so happens fifteen years after its disappearance, you suddenly know where it is?”
“Possibly know where it is,” I added. Technically I hadn’t seen it, but I felt the book showed me the place for a reason.
It would make sense to bury it in the forbidden tunnels, right under the most powerful fae in Hungary, to protect it.
As Ash said, bury it under a dragon’s lair, and your treasure will probably stay hidden.
“How we know isn’t important. We just do.” Warwick folded his arms, raising his height over my uncle, his deadly glare on him.
“Excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.
I didn’t become leader by trusting everyone I encountered, no matter what you and my niece are doing.
” Mykel glowered at Warwick, tension flinging between them like mud.
Chagrin crawled up my neck, knowing Mykel had probably heard and felt us.
He wasn’t my father, and I barely knew him, but it still felt like I had been caught by my parent like some young teenager.
Warwick stepped closer to the desk, the vibration off him punching the room with violence. “And I haven’t gotten where I am by trusting every arrogant leader I encountered.” He snarled at Mykel, both their chests growing with aggression.
“O-kay.” My hand pushed at Warwick’s chest, moving him back from the desk. “Let’s calm down.”
“Warwick.” My link spoke into his ear, my hand wrapping around his arm while both of my real hands stayed on his chest. “Please.”
His nose huffed, but he let me step him back, his angry glare still locked on my uncle.
Twisting back to face Mykel, I took a deep breath. “I understand you barely know me.” I moved closer to the desk, looking in the same eyes as my dad. “You are my uncle. Father would want us to know each other. Be part of each other’s life. Trust each other. Can you give me the benefit?”
Mykel’s head dipped.
“We are heading back to Budapest tonight.”
Mykel shifted on his feet.
“My team will go with you,” Mykel stated.
“What?” Ash and Warwick pelted out.
Mykel regarded them directly. “I have not been searching for it over the last fifteen years for it to fall through my fingers now.”
“I see your trust in family is conditional.” A vein along Warwick’s neck pulsed, his ire canvasing the air, his temper always on a thin line.
Mykel shot him another glare, his fingers rolling into balls.
“It’s not conditional unless you are planning to backstab me first. I protect my family.
Which is this place. These people. Brexley is part of it if she wants to be, but she is not my only focus.
I will always put my cause first. And I think she understands that.
” He motioned to me. “Tracker, Ava, and Luk will go with you. If you are heading into Killian’s territory, it will be dangerous. ”
“Dangerous?” A woman’s sultry voice swung our heads back to the door. A blue-haired demon leaned against the jamb, a coy smile on her lips. “Then you aren’t leaving me behind, little lamb. Sounds like fun.”