Chapter 38
Inej had made a mistake. A big one. And now, she was neck-deep in something far more dangerous than she had expected.
The structure was a graveyard of shattered stone, broken relics, and bodies locked in frost, like a grotesque echo of whatever horror had befallen the place.
Chanda moved ahead, silent and steady, guiding her through level after level of a place that had once dripped in wealth but was now nothing more than a ruin steeped in death.
It was hard to know what was more treacherous: Chanda or the building.
The rooms were enormous. Windows above them let in small slivers of light that blinked off the jewels adorning the dead.
Frost scaled the walls and curled around banisters to produce beautiful, haunting designs.
Inej’s heart lurched into her throat when she slipped, barely catching herself before she fell.
She held out her arms, her heartbeat and breathing labored, as she stared down at the icy floor.
She had been too intent on looking around to think about how treacherous the floor was.
Inej slowly straightened, realizing too late that she must be in Shaldorn.
She looked behind her and saw a set of double doors with the glass blown away.
She didn’t understand why Chanda hadn’t brought them through there, but it didn’t matter.
It was a way out, and Inej wanted out of the stronghold.
Manu had practically spat its name when he spoke of it.
Why would he bring her here? Inej turned and found Chanda, who had halted midway up one of two curving staircases, and stood watching her.
At least she thought Chanda watched her.
The hood of her coat was pulled up so that Inej couldn’t see her face.
“Where’s Manu?” Inej demanded.
“Hopefully, running around Navara searching for you.”
Icy fingers of terror coiled ominously around Inej. She had willingly followed Chanda out of Navara to Shaldorn. There was no way out. No one would be coming to her rescue. Because who would think to look for her here?
“Why are you doing this?” Inej asked.
“To finish what you began.”
So, this disturbing, despicable place would be her tomb. But that wasn’t what scared Inej. It was Chanda’s words. If she knew that Inej had come to the Peaks to kill Manu, then that meant Chanda planned to bring Manu here.
Inej wished she had never left his room. Why hadn’t she waited for him? She’d known in her gut that something wasn’t right, but she’d gone with Chanda anyway. A human facing an elf. There wasn’t much Inej could do now.
Chanda pushed back the hood of her coat to reveal her face. Black eyes as cold as a grave and just as unforgiving watched Inej. There was no warmth or mercy anywhere to be found. The monster Inej had sought hadn’t been Manu. It was Chanda.
The elf’s smile was chilling. “I see you’re putting it all together now. You dismissed me because you saw me as nothing more than a servant.”
“Manu and Jalall are your friends. How can you do this to them?”
“Friends?” Chanda repeated with a bark of laughter.
“They stopped being friends when they forgot about me. Jalall thought he was being kind by giving me the job of keeping his home. I wanted to spit at his pitiful offer, but it was a way in. They spoke freely around me, which allowed me to gather information.”
Hatred coiled through Inej, dark and venomous. “You gave Gita the information on Manu.”
“I’ve been working with her since she first built Shaldorn.
” Chanda lifted her hands and turned in a circle.
“You should’ve seen this place when it was in its prime.
It was spectacular.” She stopped and looked at Inej.
“Gita recognized my potential. We made a fortune together, and in the process, I’ve worked my way up the ranks of the Masters. ”
“Was your husband part of it?”
Chanda rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose in distaste. “He was a means to an end. A few months after our marriage, I made sure he had an accident, so I no longer had to suffer his attempts at sex.”
“What was your excuse for trying to kill me?”
The elf chuckled and walked to a nearby corpse before taking a bracelet from its arm and putting it on hers. “That was Tahmine. She was beside herself when she learned about you and Manu.”
Tahmine would have been her second guess. “So, you saved me for this?”
“Oh, I didn’t save you. I saved Tahmine. I got her out of the city before someone put things together.”
“She’s in this with you?”
Chanda’s smile grew chilly as her amusement waned. “Tahmine is dead. She couldn’t get over Manu, and then she rejected my advances. Now. Enough with the questions. You need to prepare yourself.”
Inej swallowed hard as trepidation churned in her belly. “For?”
“You came to the Peaks to kill Manu, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do. I gave you plenty of time, but you let every opportunity pass.”
“Why don’t you do it?”
Chanda strode down the steps and grabbed Inej’s arm, her fingers digging in deep as she dragged Inej up the steps. She was surprised at the elf’s strength.
“You’re the perfect scapegoat. Manu will die, Jalall will be killed while searching for you, and all of that will allow me to step in and take over the city, giving the Masters a foothold in the mountains,” Chanda declared.
“It’ll never work.”
“Oh, it will. Manu is tracking what he thinks is our path. It won’t be long before he’s brought here, and we can wrap this up.”
Inej waited until they were at the top of the steps before jerking her arm free. “And when do you take my life?”
Chanda grinned. “You can walk away if you do what I say.”
“You expect me to believe that?” Inej asked dubiously.
The elf shrugged and started walking. “I don’t care if you do or don’t. You can either take the path I’m offering and potentially go free, or you can refuse, and I’ll make you watch Manu die horribly before I kill you.”
Inej looked over the banister to the ballroom below.
She wouldn’t get far if she tried to run.
Humans learned to survive among the elves by bowing to their dominance and biding their time.
It made for a degrading, miserable life.
Humans had been able to outwit the elves a few times, however.
Inej’s chances were slim, but it was all she had.
She didn’t even have a plan, but she would meekly do as Chanda commanded while she tried to come up with one.
She looked at the doorway once more before following Chanda. The room they ended up in was filled with equipment Inej didn’t have names for, and she never wanted to. There were sharp spikes on one, a glass box that looked like a coffin, and other ghastly items obviously used to inflict pain.
Inej should’ve listened to Manu’s descriptions of Shaldorn more carefully. He’d told her everything she needed to know, had she but heard him. No one who sided with the Masters would feel such disgust and horror. Manu had shown her who he was, but she had been too blind to see it.
“Make yourself comfy,” Chanda said with a chuckle.
Inej wished more than ever that she had a weapon or magic she could use. But she didn’t have either. She was at a clear disadvantage in every way she looked at it. Unless she freed Manu. He could take on Chanda and anyone else. Whether she liked it or not, he was their only way to freedom.
She meandered through the many apparatuses, looking for anything she might be able to use as a weapon. There were plenty of sharp instruments, but nothing she could remove for her own use.
“Why side with the Masters?” Inej asked. “Why turn on your own people?”
“Why do you care?”
Inej glanced over her shoulder to find Chanda leaning a hip against a desk. The elf’s dark eyes followed her. “I’m curious.”
“Fine. You want to know. I’ll tell you. Manu has a position of power he doesn’t use. He could rule the Dangerous Peaks instead of just our mountain, but he doesn’t. He believes the other tribes should be able to live as they always have.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Chanda snorted loudly. “He could have a sizable army by ruling all. I knew when he proudly announced that he had helped shut down this place that he would never be the one we needed. Nor would he understand what aligning with the Masters could bring the mountains.”
“I suppose you don’t care that your people will begin to disappear.”
“It’ll be months yet. There are still plenty to be taken in the lowlands.”
Inej was appalled by how indifferent Chanda was about it all. “Do you know what happens to those who are taken?”
“You expect me to believe you’re concerned about elves?”
Inej turned to face the elf with more strength than she felt, then asked louder, “Do you know?”
“I do. Do you want to know?”
Chanda’s voice was lilting and soft, but the excitement burning in her eyes terrified Inej. She should let it go. Forget it. But she couldn’t. For better or worse, she had to know.
“Aye,” Inej croaked, her voice a broken whisper.
The elf’s delight was palpable. “They’re turned into slaves. At least the ones who survive being broken.”
Inej’s throat clogged with emotion—outrage and disgust threatening to swallow her. She thought about Krata’s bright smile and cheerful disposition being wiped away forever. “All of this for…slaves?”
“Life is hard. And if you’re going to survive, then you need to learn who’s in power and join them.”
“Even if they’re criminals?”
Chanda grunted. “Don’t be so na?ve. Nothing is as black and white as you think it is. You believe what we’re doing is unethical, but you don’t see the big picture.”
“Explain it to me, then.”
“I don’t need to explain or justify anything to you, human.
The gods put your kind with us to be dominated and subjugated.
If you meant anything, you would be able to stand against us.
” Chanda motioned to her with disgust. “Without magic, you have no defenses. You are pests to be used as we see fit.”
Inej turned away. Chanda had lived alongside Manu and Jalall, pretending to be their friend, all the while plotting their deaths to take control of Navara and enslave her own people.
There had to be something Inej could use in this evil place, if not to free Manu, then to protect herself.
She needed to alert everyone in the city so they could take a stand.
It wasn’t just getting out of Shaldorn. Inej would need to traverse the Peaks once more.
She had looked back often as they walked to help her navigate a return, but all it took was one misstep before the mountains claimed her.
“Keep looking. You get to decide which of these we’ll strap Manu to,” Chanda said with a laugh.
Inej was appalled that Gita had been able to manipulate her so easily. Worse, Inej had willingly believed her without hesitation. Inej might not have carried out Manu’s death sentence, but she had been dishonest and deceitful to everyone at Navara. That made her as guilty as Chanda and Gita.
Chanda had dangled freedom before her, but Inej wouldn’t be allowed to live.
All she needed was to get Manu free. She got to pick which of the torture devices he was put in, which could give her some kind of advantage.
She swiftly perused the numerous devices and realized that each one got progressively worse.
She didn’t understand how half of them worked.
It didn’t take long for her to understand that none of the devices wouldn’t inflict the utmost torture.
“I do believe Manu has arrived,” Chanda said into the silence.
Inej whirled around and saw her walking away from the desk. Chanda waited near the doors as two female elves dragged in an unconscious Manu. They first appeared as Mountain Elves, but the longer Inej stared at them, the more they started to look like Dark Elves.
They had Manu’s hands covered and bound so he couldn’t use his magic. The women spoke to Chanda in low voices. Inej moved closer, hoping to pick up bits of their conversation, but the trio noticed her and ended their exchange.
“Which one shall it be?” Chanda asked her.
Inej nodded to the desk. “The chair.”
“Nice try. Pick again.”
“You didn’t specify that it had to be one of the apparatuses,” Inej argued.
Fury contorted Chanda’s pretty features into something dreadful. “You had your chance to kill him with the poison. This is your last chance to choose. Or I will.”
“Fine,” Inej hurried to reply before the elf could say more. She pointed to her left. “That one.”
Chanda followed her finger as a smile slowly pulled at her lips. “You heard the human. Get him hooked up.”