Chapter 15 Vad #3
“Yes.” Finbar met my eyes. “What do you require, Your Majesty? This outpost has no sleeping quarters, but we can secure a location for your group to rest if needed.”
My instincts screamed no. “Splitting up is safer for now. But we’ll need supplies.”
“I’ll arrange everything.” Finbar waved his hand. “If you give me a destination, I’ll have a soldier and an attendant deliver the items.”
Briar’s hand brushed mine, and she linked, He hasn’t lied the entire time, and it would save us time.
I nodded. “As long as we’re sure the people you send can be trusted.”
“I want to speak with them.” Briar released my hand and turned toward the door. I’ll make sure none of them are lying.
Finbar hesitated then inclined his head. “I vouch for my men with my life. But if my queen wishes to confirm their loyalty herself, I welcome it.”
“Then see it done,” I said.
Finbar opened the door. While he gave orders and discussed logistics with me, Briar stepped forward to conduct her assessments, silent but sharp-eyed.
I watched her, pride stirring low in my chest. She was a true leader and warrior, because even injured and exhausted, she did what was best for us and the others.
And she didn’t flinch from what had to be done.
I followed her, watching her move among the soldiers. Pride bloomed within me even more, watching her stop and assess people without showing even a hint of how horrible she felt. After each encounter, she’d link with me and fill me in. So far, everyone had cleared.
But a few looked her way and lingered too long. A low growl curled in my throat, enough to remind them she was claimed. One step out of line, and not even Fate could shield them from me.
When she returned to my side, her brow was furrowed. Concern rippled through our link, the sensations fading in and out, which had never happened before at this strength. It was getting worse.
I reached out for her elbow, my claws grazing her flesh. “What troubles you, my love?”
“It’s working, but…I feel even more distant from my wolf. And…it’s all fainter.” She pressed her lips into a line, trying to hide her discomfort.
My jaw clenched. “Is she in pain?”
“She’s restless. Whimpering. I can’t reach her properly. It’s like trying to grasp fog.” Her voice thinned, frustration bleeding through her expression.
I took her wrists gently and examined both tattoos. The veins around them pulsed dark and slow, the marks looking more like brands than ink. Why had the guardian done this to her?
“We’ll find the answer.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. Her scent of cinnamon and ginger was a balm to my fury. “Do you want to stay here? You don’t have to face Kaylen.”
Her spine straightened. “I don’t fear Kaylen. You bet your sexy ass, I’m going.”
Finbar approached with supplies. He handed Briar a pair of boots that were a little too large but better than her going barefoot, and a long black tunic that hung off her frame but hid the worst of the grime.
She pulled them on without comment. He brought me a clawed sword and a reinforced belt, but no armor.
Still, it was better than nothing. For Briar, he had another belt with a light sword attached, appropriate for her height.
Once I’d issued final instructions and supplies were en route to the vesting chamber, Briar and I set out.
We moved fast, our steps echoing softly through winding tunnels.
The air grew colder as we descended toward the eastern dungeon.
At each intersection, I paused, scenting the air and listening, but there was nothing but stone and silence.
Briar stayed close behind me, her boots whispering against the floor, discomfort pulsing from her wrists and the distant ache of her wolf’s absence anchoring our bond.
Then came the cries. They were soft at first, then rose like a chorus of the void from women, men, and children. My stomach twisted. Rage simmered low and hard. I felt Briar flinch, her hand brushing mine before she masked her heartbreak.
The final passage narrowed to a cleft just wide enough to slip through sideways. I pressed my shoulder into it and squeezed forward until we reached a slanted pocket door. I pushed it open a fraction.
Empty.
No patrols. No posted guards.
Only corridors lined with cells, dim lamps guttering against stone slick with moisture.
The reek of sweat, filth, and despair hit hard.
I swallowed against it, teeth grinding. The cells were not meant to hold so many, and my father had sealed these halls decades ago.
At least, it wasn't claustrophobic. The halls themselves were wide enough for two men to walk while hauling a coffin between them with ease.
The cells were little more than chiseled tombs: no windows, no beds, only bare rock and holes for waste. Water dripped from small pipes. It was deliberate suffering, meant to keep a guilty prisoner in darkness and isolation until either madness or starvation claimed them.
Briar’s breath hitched, and our bond stuttered with her raw need to help these people. Her hand caught mine as the low wails and murmurs of the imprisoned reached us through narrow viewing slits. The best way we can help them is to take back the palace, I reminded her through the bond.
I know… It’s just— she started.
A piercing voice echoed, bouncing off the stones. “No, guard! Is there someone out there? Wait! Don’t walk away! Let me out! I don’t deserve to be here!”
Briar and I exchanged a look and crept forward silently. Two corridors passed before we turned right, following the echo of the voice.
This corridor stretched longer, the stench of piss and feces choking now. Each cell was identical and empty, and there were no guards in sight, just as Finbar had said.
I led the way down the narrow corridor, every instinct on edge.
The air stank heavily of rot and something fouler still.
Several of the doors were slightly ajar, as if they'd been recently checked. No other prisoners cried out near Kaylen, which was a small mercy, but strange. These cells had been used to hold prisoners before executions in my great-grandfather’s time. Had she been set apart for some reason?
With nowhere to hide if someone came this way, we had to move fast.
The hall stretched ahead, maybe five hundred more feet until it joined another corridor in the dungeon’s grid. This section was too close to the main entrance for comfort. One wrong step, and any patrol glancing down the line would spot us instantly.
Feck.
Kaylen’s voice broke the silence. “Let me out! I don’t deserve to die!”
I crept toward her cell, Briar at my back. Go ahead. I know you want to be the one to talk to her.
She didn’t hesitate, inching in front of me. I moved slightly toward the cross-corridor near the entrance, every muscle taut, half my attention fixed on Briar’s voice and the other half on the echo of distant footfalls.
“Kaylen,” Briar called, her tone firm but soft. “Keep your voice down. Why did they imprison you?”
“Briar?” Kaylen rasped. Her pale face appeared between the slits in the stone door, barely reaching them on her toes. I stood behind Briar, arms folded, unreadable.
Briar nodded as she looked up at the narrow slits. “Tell us what happened.”
“Get me out, and I’ll tell you everything,” Kaylen said, her voice shaking. “I swear. I will help you defeat them. They can’t be trusted—”
“Neither can you,” Briar snapped, her tone sharpening like a whip crack. Her nostrils flared. “You were involved.”
A dull thunk sounded from the other side of the cell, like Kaylen’s head hitting the stone. “I don’t want to die.”
“You’ll face justice,” Briar said coldly. “But if you want a chance to begin to make things right, then you will talk.”
I admired Briar’s heart and strength. We both knew she wouldn’t leave Kaylen here to die, even though Kaylen deserved death. Her life was the only leverage we had to make her desperate enough to talk.
“You don’t understand.” Kaylen whimpered. “They lied to me. I swear. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to get me out. They’re going to execute me!”
I narrowed my eyes, resting one hand on my sword hilt. “Why?”
“They executed Bram,” Kaylen blurted. “An Aureline council member. He helped Colm. He was crucial to their success, according to him—and they killed him anyway. I’m next.”
I raised an eyebrow at this. Bram was the Aureline Council member who had been in the garden when Briar was framed.
A grim satisfaction passed through me. Some of the Aureline traitors had already received their comeuppance, but why would they eliminate the young Aureline councilman when he’d been involved, at the very least, in framing Briar and likely my father’s murder?
Unless they were eliminating everyone who could attest to that act.
That definitely didn’t bode well for Kaylen.
“Because?” Briar pushed.
Kaylen exhaled in a rush. “Because I tried to smash Calla Lily’s perfect little face into a wall and said some things she found distasteful, and maybe set her dress on fire. The scaffing bitch set me up!”
I blinked and had to hold back a laugh.
“She told me to go up there and declare myself queen. She set me up.” Kaylen stomped, her foot splashing in something I didn’t want to think about.
“You were arrogant enough to believe you could just walk onto the dais and demand to be my queen,” I growled. “You deserve worse.”
Briar’s jaw clenched. “When’s your execution scheduled?”
“As soon as they come back.” Kaylen’s voice cracked. “Please, I will swear any vow—”
“Swearing won’t help you,” I cut in. “Your vows mean nothing now. The magic’s gone.” I scoffed at her. She’ll say anything to get out of there.
I know. Briar didn’t flinch. “Talk, and we’ll consider helping. But not before.”
Kaylen’s tone sharpened. “We’re not friends. But if there’s one thing about me that you know, it’s that I’m a mean, petty bitch.”
I lifted a brow. “You’re not wrong.”
Briar’s arms stayed crossed. “So what?”
A heavy clang of metal on stone split the air.
Skkrrraaang!
An axe blade struck the wall. My entire body snapped alert.
The guards were coming, and Briar and I couldn’t fight them alone.