Chapter Thirty-Three
Arianna
Arianna and Rion both ran, hearts thundering as they bounded up the stairs two at a time.
The hall was narrow and winding, a passage carved from the stone.
Arianna couldn’t exactly explain what had happened.
The wall had simply … opened for her. The runes had moved like the ones at the entrance, climbing inside to light the way.
She probably shouldn’t have gone in, but it had beckoned her forward, whispering that she was safe.
She didn’t feel safe now.
The floor beneath their feet rocked again, and Arianna jumped from the tiny exit, sprinting toward the staircase on the far side. She didn’t bother turning to see if the wall closed up again.
Raevina and Talon were already waiting, weapons drawn. Their eyes lit up upon seeing the pair, and her guards loosed a heavy sigh. Arianna imagined Talon scolding them for losing her.
Another tremor shook the space, and Arianna nearly lost her footing.
“We need to go,” Talon said, magic suspended around his body in tiny droplets. Arianna just nodded. Explanations could come later. She wasn’t keen on the idea of being buried alive.
She followed them up the stairs, her legs burning with every step.
She hadn’t realized until now just how far down they’d descended.
Statues rocked on their pedestals, and a glass vase hit the floor, shattering and spilling water all over a rug.
They kept running, reached another flight, and Arianna winced upon seeing broken pieces of stone. One of the ancient relics.
Raevina came to a screeching halt. A dozen warriors rushed toward them. Raevina’s flames burst to life, and Talon surrounded himself in liquid ice.
The warrior’s hands flew up in surrender. One slipped on the stairs, barely catching himself on the railing. All were breathing heavily. Arianna’s gaze snagged on their uniforms. Why were her father’s personal guards—
“Lady Evelyn—”
Two words and Arianna was bounding right back down the stairs.
The entire structure shook again. Another statue fell, shattering across the stone.
She missed a step, but Arianna covered the stairs in a sheet of ice.
She grabbed the railing, lowered her body weight, and let gravity carry her down the winding staircase.
Cracks spread along the walls, and the blue lights began flickering in and out. The stone itself groaned, as if it were a sentient being calling out in pain.
Arianna continued sliding, only slowing herself enough so that she wouldn’t crash into the wall.
She caught Ellie’s scent. A new ancient hum echoed through the space, and dread filled the pit of her stomach.
Arianna hit the final step, not caring at all about the runes carved into the floor.
Not when Ellie was standing right in the middle of them.
Her little sister stood before the center-most pedestal, one palm hovering over a glowing sphere. The interior of the sphere spun with greens and browns, slowly swirling in a myriad of shades. Ellie turned slightly, eyes glazed over.
Two more orbs had been uncovered. One had a brown and gold swirling interior. The other was blues and greens, matching the colors of the sea. The orbs reached out with tendrils of their own magic, each matching their respective colors. They danced around her sister’s hands like wisps of smoke.
Arianna studied the runes on the floor again. They hadn’t reacted to Ellie’s presence. This place was supposedly made for The Divine, but after seeing what it had done to Rion, Arianna feared stepping forward. What if it viewed Ellie as a threat next? What if touching the orbs was taboo?
The floor trembled again.
“We have to go,” Raevina called. Marble-sized pieces of stone had already started crumbling from the ceiling, pelting the floor like hail.
“Ellie,” Arianna said, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Walk toward me.”
Ellie didn’t acknowledge the command. She just turned back to the mysterious orb, her fingers arching over it as if she were pulling those tendrils into herself, coaxing them to bend to her will.
The ground shuddered beneath their feet again, harder.
A section of the ceiling broke off. Arianna launched across the room before anyone could stop her.
She let the remnants of her magic cascade over the area, filling in the cracks already spreading along the walls.
She remembered what had happened when Ashling had collapsed.
She wasn’t letting this place take her sister.
Arianna wrapped her arms around Ellie’s bony shoulders and tugged her back.
The wall in front of them burst open. Arianna gasped when snapping teeth tore through the space.
Sinister creatures clawed through the stone, their images matching those of the relics just above.
Crippling fear engulfed her for all of one second, then Ellie’s hand tightened around her arm.
Arianna roared, her battle cry echoing off the stone.
Hoarfrost coated the space, engulfing the creatures in a thick layer of ice.
Rion’s magic flew down the stairs, lifting the floor itself.
The stones crawled over one another, shoving into the hole the dark creatures had just created.
Silence, then all the lights on the bottom floor blinked out at once.
The wall to her right burst open next, and jagged stones flew in all directions. Rion’s magic lifted, shielding Arianna and Ellie before crashing into the hole again. Arianna grabbed her sister and ran for the stairs.
More of the blue lights winked out, crawling up the wall, fading one by one.
Her heart beat frantically as Arianna dragged Ellie up the stairs, her sister’s body nearly limp.
Sive claimed the runes had protected this place for centuries.
If they were the only things stopping Vairik and his monsters—
Another wall broke open, the fissure stretching all the way up to the next floor.
Fangs snapped, and she glanced back upon passing Rion to watch as two of the pedestals cracked beneath the weight of the massive creatures crawling over them.
One of those mysterious orbs hit the ground, bounced, then rolled beneath more clambering claws and bodies until it was gone from sight.
The Dark Fae snapped at one another. One grabbed the other’s throat, tearing through sinew. Arianna turned away.
On the next floor, the wall to their left burst open.
Those creatures with massive bat-like wings filled the space.
Arianna felt her face pale at the sight of their barbed tails, then she grabbed her sister, slung Ellie across her back, and began sprinting up the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her.
Raevina and Talon were already locked in combat on the next level, swords swinging and magic sparking through the air.
Raevina’s shadows skittered up the walls, and the flames within the sconces burst to life, taking on the forms of small birds.
The flaming wings darted into the fray, singeing everything they touched.
Arianna swore some of the shadows took flight as well.
Another wall cracked. Arianna adjusted her grip on Ellie’s legs, then shoved her magic into the fissure, praying it would hold long enough for them to escape.
Sweat trickled down Arianna’s temple. The door’s lock had taken too much. Her body was already on the brink of exhaustion. Rion’s was as well. And now the very place she’d offered her magic to was crumbling against an unknown force.
But how? This place was supposed to be impenetrable. It had stood for centuries. Had the walls weakened because she’d opened it? Had Vairik somehow followed her inside and unraveled the wards from within?
Or … was it worse than that? Was he already in the palace? Had he attacked while they were searching for answers? Were his creatures feasting on the refugees above?
“Let’s move,” Talon roared over the chaos. The ice wall she’d created cracked. The first chunk fell, allowing a creature with a long snout and thick scales to slip through. Rion crushed its body with half a thought. Then they were running all over again.
Talon, Raevina, and the remaining warriors cut a path through the chaos, shoving the creatures back from the stairs as they ascended floor after floor.
The mass of them grew less dense, telling Arianna they were more concentrated on the lower levels.
Had Vairik quite literally dug through the stone?
Liam and his warriors met them halfway. A breath of relief left her, then the entire wall to their right collapsed. A wave of Dark Fae flooded the room, dozens upon dozens all at once, each scrambling and clawing for a foothold.
Liam let his magic fly, the greenery zigzagging across the ground, piercing the flesh of anything in its way.
Saoirse jumped down from the floor above, her magic joining Liam’s.
Fire exploded on all sides, consuming everything in its path.
Ice froze the creatures mid-stride, and an air current shoved them back, shattering their bodies across the stone.
It wasn’t enough.
Dozens of warriors fighting and the stairs were still blocked, forcing their small group to circle one another with Arianna, Ellie, and Rion at their center. Arianna made eye contact with Rion once. He kept his magic close. His skin was pale, and he was breathing heavier than she’d ever seen.
Cracks crawled up the walls, winking out the lights two and three at a time. Flames took on various forms, all controlled by Raevina and her comrades. The entire space reeked of burning flesh.
Another tremor and they all stumbled forward.
A barbed tail pierced one of Liam’s warriors in his thigh and dragged him into the throng of writhing bodies.
Rion’s magic whipped out, striking the creatures surrounding the screaming Fae, but it had reacted too late.
Arianna could already see the spray of blood.