Chapter 42
Tension could be felt from everyone as they walked down the hallway while a guard escorted them through the mansion to the dining area.
Raine was walking next to her with the men forming a protective circle around them. Even the other males knew this place was eerie, and she was thankful to have all of them with her on this trip.
Taking too many turns for her to follow, they wound around different hallways and a few sets of stairs before they finally turned to see a long table lined with silverware and covered food platters.
Her eyes quickly left the table and noticed the servants standing behind the chairs, her power flickering at her fingers at the sight.
All the females were wearing the same risqué outfits the maiden had on the night before and two males wearing tight shorts amongst them. All had iron collars fit to their necks and her stomach instantly felt sick.
She glanced at Raine who was just as shocked as she was, their arms linked together as they came to a halt just inside the door. She pulled at her cotton long-sleeved shirt and suddenly felt like she wasn’t covered enough.
“Welcome.” Oak said from the head of the table. “Please sit.
They walked towards the table, Kaden pulling a chair for her to sit in and then sat next to her, Finnley on the other side, then Raine, and Xander. Titus and Boone sat across from them, leaving a few empty chairs on either end of the table.
The nearly naked females all went to stand next to the men, her eyes darting to the same female from last night starting to move towards the other side of Kaden and gave her a lethal glare. The female paused and kept her hands behind her with a nervous look on her face.
One of the males tried to stand between her and Kaden, a loud deep rumble sounded in the room and she saw Kaden’s face staring at the male. Everyone was silent, realizing the noise came from him and the male stepped back.
“Seems you must not have servants where you come from?” Oaked as curiously.
“We do, we just hold ours to a higher standard.” Kaden growled.
“I suppose we are a little different here than the capital. Being a single male, I guess I have learned to like certain things.”
Oak’s eyes moved to her and she could see him assessing her only a few feet away. The look made her uneasy in her seat and Kaden again growled.
“Why did you want us here?” Kaden’s voice was ice cold and the rest of the group stiffened.
“I wanted to go over some rules of my home, and welcome you with a fresh breakfast.”
She didn’t like the look on Oak’s face and grabbed onto Kaden’s hand that was on his leg. Everything about this place felt off, and she had a feeling Emris sent them here for a reason.
No one said a word, or even reached for their drinks with how the tension clouded the air. Oak seemed to be annoyed by it but just cleared his throat and continued.
“The third level is off limits to visitors and you must be back in your rooms no later than nine o’clock.
Everything else on the estate is yours to explore.
If you would like an escort, my offer to show you around still stands, My Queen.
” Oak’s eyes lingered on her again and this time Xander spoke up.
“She is not your Queen, and she doesn’t go anywhere without us like Kaden said last night.” Xander’s voice was deep, unnerving and even Oak leaned back in his chair slightly. Kaden must have mentioned it to him when he talked to them this morning.
“I see, it was just an offer.” Oak chuckled, obviously hiding the fact Xander terrified him. “Please, eat and then you can get on with your day.”
The servants moved and lifted the coverings off the platters, revealing an assortment of breakfast foods. Piles of eggs, bacon, and biscuits lined the table and once Oak started to eat, the rest of them grabbed food.
She had lost most of her appetite when she walked in the room but knew she needed to eat to keep up her strength for the day. She was also heavily aware of Oak’s lingering gaze every so often towards her, but she didn’t dare look back at him.
No one said a word as they ate, awkward tension filling the air and she thought it odd the servants just stood silently as everyone finished eating.
“I would like a meeting with you after we eat.” Kaden glanced towards Oak, his face schooling into his normal cold stare.
“Of course.” Oak nodded, clearly uncomfortable but agreeing anyway.
Once it seemed everyone was done eating, they rose from the table and walked towards the entry while Oak talked to his servants across the room.
“Xander and Boone, take Alyra to the library. Keep a close eye on her and I will relieve one of you shortly.” Kaden whispered.
“What are you doing?” Xander asked.
“Something seems off, and I want to see if I need to worry about our stay here.” Kaden answered just before Oak appeared next to them.
“Come with me Kaden, we can talk in my office.” Oak smiled and started waddling towards the hall to the left.
Kaden grabbed her hand before placing a gentle kiss to the top of it. “Behave,” he mumbled and she smirked in response.
She waited till he had disappeared around the far corner of the hall before turning to Xander and Boone. Both looked at her as if waiting for instruction and she chuckled.
“Let's go find the library.”
Raine, Finnley, and Titus had started to head back towards their rooms while she ventured down some new hallways. It was taking her longer than she would have liked to find it in this massive mansion so once she saw a guard, she asked.
He led her group down a few more halls before opening a large wooden door, the light from outside brightening the stacks of books around it.
She nodded in thanks and started into the room, her eyes in shock at the amount of literature in one place. It was almost bigger than the one she glanced at in Elnora, and she thought maybe there was a reason for it.
“What are you looking for?” Xander asked quietly next to her.
“Anything that has to do with the reason the war started.” She sighed and walked to the first set of books to figure out how they organized them.
“I heard it was over a female.” Boone shrugged.
“That’s what we thought too but when I looked in Elnora, all the history books were gone.” Her finger grazed over a few books and realized there was no dust on any of them.
“That’s strange.” Boone added.
“Seems they are hiding something.” Xander mumbled behind her and she glanced over her shoulder with a smirk.
“Exactly.”
They wandered around the hundreds of books that had lined the walls and shelves throughout the room. She could tell some of the books came from the capital; she recognized similar spines from when she looked with Kaden.
She grabbed a few and flipped through them. They had no real useful information and she let out a sigh as she placed them back.
Boone and Xander started to get bored and decided to look around themselves while keeping an eye on her. Not that it was dangerous, they were the only ones there and it was quiet except for the sound of them closing books.
Over an hour passed and she knew Kaden was going to be seeking her out soon.
Disappointment started to overtake her, only a few references to the kings being brothers and how Mavros was supposed to be crowned king, but last minute Emris took it. After that it skipped to the beginning of the war and nothing more.
They had made it to the far wall and to the last of the books, her face covered in annoyance. She thought maybe they would have moved the books from Elnora here since it was a smaller town, but apparently she was wrong.
The last section of books were just ahead of her, and she sighed as she picked up another book with no hope it would have any use. Xander and Boone stood behind her, leaning against the books with defeat on their faces.
A sudden draft of air hit her, the edge of the bookcase cold and she studied it carefully. It was unlike the rest of them, and when she looked down she could see a faint wear line on the floor.
“Xander.” she waved towards him, his body instantly tense and only took a few steps to stand by her side. “You see what I see?”
He kneeled down, Boone joining them and he studied the bookcase along with the floor.
“Let's find out if we are correct.” Xander shrugged and motioned for Boone to step closer.
Both men grabbed onto the shelf and tugged on it, the corner sliding along that already worn mark and a burst of air hit her face. It was a secret stairwell and she smirked.
“Nice job.” Boone smiled at her and Xander peered into the dark room.
“Looks like it's a long way down, I’ll go first.” Xander said, his tone blunt and she walked up behind him.
There was a Fae light just inside the door, instantly lightning with Xander’s touch and he started down the stairs holding it ahead of him. She followed in step, Boone behind her and they descended down the spiral stairs with caution.
“You think it's only books down here?” She whispered
“With the feelings I get from this place, probably not.” Boone mumbled behind her.
Xander stayed silent, his body on high alert and she could see his face looking around for any traps or dangers.
She summoned a little spark of her power, letting the flame give them a little extra light until they got to the bottom of the stairs. They must have gone down at least two floors, meaning this was somewhere underground.
An iron door was at the bottom, the thickness of it was double what a normal door would be and they all looked at each other with a puzzled look. They had all halted at the bottom of the stairs, both men on either side of her and she let out a long breath.
“Yeah, definitely more than books.” Boone mumbled next to her.
Xander continued forward and cautiously grabbed onto the door handle, his shoulders instantly tensing but opened it slowly. Boone took a step in front of her, his hand on his sword and she realized she didn’t have a weapon on her.
She gently grabbed Boone’s dagger from his hip, his eyes quickly glancing back at her and nodded in agreement that she should have it before looking back towards the door.
She couldn’t see anything as the door opened wider, the blackness inside swallowing everything except for the light leaking into it from the Fae light in Xander’s hand.
There was a rotting stench that blew towards them, her stomach instantly sick and she had to stop breathing for a moment to keep from vomiting.
Both men also seemed like they were having a hard time keeping their breakfast down, but none of them let themselves get sick and Xander continued into the room.
“Boone, stay at the door just in case, we don’t need us getting locked in here.” Xander mumbled.
She followed Boone closer to the door and then joined Xander inside the room a few steps. The fire in the palm got larger as she pulled at more of her available power, the room brightening some but not enough to see anything.
“Just throw some out there.” Xander whispered. “Maybe it will trigger more Fae lights.”
She nodded and thrust both her arms forward, white flame shooting forward into the darkness and a gasp escaped her lips as she jumped back.
Xander’s theory was right, Fae lights sensing the magic and illuminated the walls around the room, one larger one in the middle. She clasped a hand over her mouth, partially not to scream and also to not puke all over Xander next to her.
This was not what she expected at all.