Chapter 35 Isi #2
It didn’t belong here, hidden away in Trew’s office. In a locked drawer. It was my sister’s. And my sister’s possessions now belonged to me.
I stood, my knees cracking in protest. Adrenaline surged through me. From rage. From the keening grief that rose up inside me, aching to be set free.
I hadn’t cried for Addie in weeks and now wasn’t the time.
But I was going to take the journal. I didn’t care what Trew thought, or how he came to have it. It wasn’t his. And if he dared to argue otherwise—
Well.
I tucked the book into the top of my pants, yanking my tunic down over it to hide it, and kicked the drawer shut with my boot, only pausing to make sure it and the others had locked again.
I walked to the center of the room and glanced around, taking in the maps and papers and books. The ginger, evidence of softness that clashed with the steel-edged man I’d encountered since I’d arrived.
What else was he hiding? I didn’t know, but I’d start with this. With Addie. And I would not stop until I knew the whole truth.
Footsteps rang out in the hall, followed by the low murmur of voices.
I froze. My pulse spiked, and I took one step backward, quiet as a breath.
Then I heard Trew’s voice, speaking to someone outside the door.
“…stop them any way we can. I don’t care what it takes. Send word to all the villages. Anyone who wants to bond can. We’ll hold the Rite weekly if need be.”
The answering voice sounded rougher and male, maybe one of his advisors. I couldn’t make out the words.
“I’ll speak with the Beast Council,” Trew said. “Make them understand. We need everyone.”
I assumed he meant he’d advocate for more to make it through the trials, and while I appreciated that, he was going to catch me inside his study if I didn’t find a place to hide.
My heart beat like a drum inside my skull.
I glanced around. The map table was too exposed.
The desk had space beneath, but if he sat, his feet would find me.
I darted toward a big chair carved from blackwood, with a back tall enough to hide behind.
I squished myself into the narrow sliver of shadow between it and the paneled wall, pressing my spine flat, willing myself to appear tiny.
The latch clicked, the sound like a lightning bolt straight down the spine.
I didn’t dare move.
Footsteps traveled across the room.
“Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning.” The door to his study banged closed.
I pressed my palms against the wall, forcing myself not to hyperventilate. The thin blade I’d used earlier remained in my hand, and I slipped it up my sleeve to hide it.
If I was found…
If he saw me now…
I didn’t want to think about what might happen. Not when I’d broken into his office and shoved a piece of my sister’s past into my pants.
Don’t breathe. Don’t move. Don’t think.
A moment passed. Maybe two.
The soft thud of boots stopped beside my hiding place.
His light scent wrapped around me, making my pulse thrash so hard it hurt. He was close enough I could reach out and curl my fingers around his calf, close enough that I remembered exactly how wonderful it felt to have him pressing me against the wall only hours ago. Stars, if he leaned down—
He pivoted and moved away.
Silence descended again, but I could still feel his presence in the room.
Every hair on my body stood on end. My thighs ached from how tightly I’d curled.
My back started to cramp, and I couldn’t help it.
I shifted. A soft, mechanical sound echoed behind my spine.
Almost nothing. So quiet, I doubted he heard.
I didn’t move, not even to look back. It hadn’t been the chair. Something had moved inside the wall.
A quick peek revealed a gap in the panel behind me, swinging into darkness.
I went as still as death, the shallow rise and fall of my chest my only motion.
If Trew caught me…
Another moment ticked past. Then another.
He opened the door and stepped back into the hall, calling out to someone named Blye, the panel shutting behind him.
I exhaled through my nose, forcing myself to remain calm and in control, as I tested the edge of the panel behind me.
Nudging, pushing. The gap widened. Cool air spilled out of the opening, full of the scent of dust and stone, like the air inside crypts or cellars.
It prickled along my arms and slithered down my spine.
I carefully turned to face it.
The opening wasn’t tall, maybe two feet at most, though high enough to crawl through if I wanted to do some exploring.
Where did this small passage lead? It could be a forgotten servants’ corridor.
Or the kind of passage meant for slipping unseen through the castle, for appearing behind someone before they knew he was there.
I imagined him in that narrow darkness, shadows coiling over his shoulders like a cloak, his breath ghosting the back of my neck as he hid behind me. The idea should make my skin crawl. Instead, heat pooled low in my belly, traitorous thing that it was.
Trew’s voice echoed again in the hall, and the door latch clicked.
My pulse shot into the sky. There was no time to think or plan or find a new place to hide.
I dropped low, twisting my shoulders and hips to scoot through the narrow entrance. The journal caught, digging into the crease of my belly, but I shoved past it, forcing myself inside. Uneven stone covered the floor, scraping my palms as I righted myself, making my poor hand start bleeding again.
The ceiling of the crawlspace was only a handsbreadth above my head and peppered with a few nearly extinguished faelights.
I carefully closed the panel with a soft snick as the office door creaked open.
Muted darkness snapped around me like a fist.
I didn’t dare breathe.
Cool air drifted past me from somewhere ahead. Silence pressed in on me from all sides.
On the other side of the wall, the desk chair creaked. He rustled papers.
I lay motionless, the journal a stubborn pressure under my tunic, my hand pressed against my shoulder to stop the flow of blood.
Dust prickled my nose, and it was all I could do not to sneeze.
My spine ached already. I didn’t know if this passage led anywhere. It could be a hidden compartment. Which meant I’d just sealed myself inside a coffin. But it kept me hidden from him for now. And Addie’s journal—Addie’s words—would soon be mine.
I smiled. Trew hadn’t caught me, and I wasn’t leaving his study empty-handed.
Silence descended beyond the wall. Was he still there, maybe working into the night? I could lie here until morning if need be. The stones gouged into my body, but I’d slept on the ground most of the nights traveling here. This wouldn’t be any worse than that. At least it wouldn’t start raining.
My tension slowly eased, and I rested my face on my forearms, nearly dozing. Truly, it wasn’t that uncomfortable…
I woke with a jerk, wondering why in the world I was lying on a stone floor, only to remember. Rising onto my knees, I stretched my hand toward the panel before I thought better of it.
If Trew was still working, he’d catch me. I’d evaded his reach so far, and I’d hate to give away the fact that I was snooping before I had a chance to decipher Addie’s journal.
My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could make out a tiny corridor stretching ahead, sloping upward. Time to go exploring.
The journal still pressed into my belly, its worn leather warm from my skin. Overhead, the muted faelights flickered like distant stars caught in a web of clouds.
As I crawled forward, the faint scrape of my knees on the rough floor echoed in the tight space, and the slope pressed my weight backward, making each motion forward feel like a climb into something forbidden.
The tunnel appeared endless. My heart thudded, each beat pounding out both warning and anticipation. Would I find answers or betrayal at the top? Maybe just more questions.
Fear tickled across my skin. I didn’t want to get caught.
I forced my hands to remain steady and pushed on, the incline stretching out like a challenge. Cold stone grazed my knees, reminding me that this was no dream. Tiny grains bit into my skin, each scrape a reminder that I was far from the comfort of the castle’s torchlit halls.
At last, the passage leveled, and I came to another panel. I paused, pressing my cheek to the wall, listening but hearing nothing other than my own ragged breathing.
Slowly, carefully, I reached for the tiny latch on this side. It worked with the smoothness of something well oiled—and frequently used.
I eased the panel open enough to poke my head through, finding myself behind yet another tall-back chair, my palms resting on a smooth wooden floor. Hearing nothing, I slipped fully through and eased around the chair to stand.
The room was unmistakably masculine, rich but without showy luxury.
Heavy wooden beams framed the ceiling, their grain dark and glossy. Paintings of fields and trees and even the castle had been spaced on the walls, and the wall on the left hosted a bookshelf filled with leather-wrapped tomes.
A large bed dominated the space, a monstrous, carved wooden thing draped in linens the color of storm clouds.
It wasn’t the bed of a man who wasted time on frills, but its surface looked invitingly soft.
I eased over to the side of it and reached out, grazing the fabric, wondering if it would still hold the warmth of whoever last slept here.
A soft sound stirred the air behind me. The hairs on my nape lifted before my mind caught up, the instinct that warned prey it was no longer alone.
I pivoted, my breath caught in my throat.
Trew stood framed in a doorway, a shadow carved from the night itself.
He wore only a towel slung low around his hips. Bare chest. Bare legs. Hair damp and curling around his chiseled jaw and cheekbones.
All his gorgeous golden skin and muscles were fully on display.
His eyes gleamed with that light I’d only recently begun to understand. A slow smile curved his lips.
“Pretty women come to my bedroom for one thing only,” he drawled, padding toward me on bare feet.
The quiet menace in his gaze wrapped around me like a noose.
He stopped so close to me I caught the scent of his warm skin. He’d bathed. Recently. And now he wore…almost nothing.
Reaching up, his knuckles grazed my cheek. “Take off your clothing, Minx, and lie on the bed. I’ll be happy to show you everything I have to offer.”