26. Chapter 26
We follow Priestess Seraphina down a discreet stairwell, which discards us into a cave of encroaching shadow that feels a million miles tall and a trillion miles wide.
“Welcome to the Celestial Catacombs,” she says, her prim voice echoing off the walls.
“This is where the gods are put to divine rest.”
I look around to find thousands of alcoves carved into the limestone, each one cradling an upright sarcophagus in its depths. Their stone faces are all angled toward us, wearing grim, carved-out expressions.
“Ah yes,” Maxine sighs dreamily. “Nothing says safehouse quite like the shrieking echoes of the undead. Should I pick a tomb to climb into, or are they already pre-assigned?”
“Please withhold your snide remarks until we reach the safehouse, Maxine,” the priestess snips. “This is a serious endeavor, one that will require your full concentration. Now follow me, all of you, and watch your step.”
I glance over the ledge at the hollowed-out sinkhole festering miles down below, where purple crystals are glowing beneath jagged stalactites, which are fissuring through mountains of rock and stone.
I imagine that tumbling over the edge would earn one a quick death by impalement.
And if that isn’t enough, then perhaps death by strangulation, given how the tenacious roots of strange and harrowing plants are crawling through the gaps in the rock, their flower buds decaying before they have a chance to sprout any green shrubs.
Dead before they’re able to bloom, just like my statue was.
Bombed. Desecrated. Reduced to ash and dust. Nothing left. All hope is lost.
“The safehouse was built in a tomb?” Bella asks.
“That is correct,” the priestess says as she pushes her back against the wall and scoots forward along the edge, sending a few rocks tumbling over the cliff.
“This is the safest place in the entire realm,” she continues, adding, “aside from what lies down in those depths. You’ll find that the safehouse itself has been reinforced with titanium-infused lumicite, making it essentially bomb-proof.
It is a place reserved for only the queen’s most prized possessions, such as yourselves.
” She reaches the edge of the narrow path and then leaps onto a wider walking trail, appearing relieved to finally plant her feet.
The rest of us move to follow, aside from Lily, who is cowering against the wall, frozen in place.
Heights. Lily must be afraid of heights.
“Is this where Jasper and Brielle were buried?” I ask the priestess as Maxine gives Lily a pep talk from behind me.
I can’t quite hear what they’re saying, but I imagine that Maxine must be giving Lily an ultimatum, given how she’s theatrically pointing to the stairs we originally descended down and then making an explosion-like motion with her hands.
Lily winces and then whispers something back.
The priestess watches them in cool calculation, her arms interlocked underneath the sleeves of her robes.
“That is correct,” she replies, swiveling her head back toward me.
“Their coffins are right over there.” She points toward two white sarcophagi to my right, which are dangling open on their hinges.
A spider skitters across one, eliciting a screech from Maxine. “I was wrong. Turn around!” Maxine says, giving Lily a slight nudge in the opposite direction. Lily scrambles to catch her footing, then begins scooting back along the edge in the direction of the stairs.
“Both of you, stop,” the priestess says, her voice firm enough to make them both pause, “before one of you tumbles off the edge.”
“Listen, if I have to choose between spiders or bombs—” Maxine starts.
“You won’t be choosing either option if you tumble to your death,” the priestess cuts her off, jutting her chin. Maxine and Lily share a look, sigh uniformly, and then carefully inch their way back toward us, both of them cursing under their breaths.
“Very good,” the priestess says after they join us on the wider path.
“The safehouse is just around this bend. Follow me, ladies. And be careful of the glowing bugs. They bite.” She takes off walking ahead, humming softly to herself.
The rest of us trail far behind her, dragging our feet and pausing every so often to inspect the trail.
Not that we see any glowing insects, but one can never be too careful.
“Shay, are you okay?” Bella asks, eyeing me skeptically.
“The Goddess of Whispers…” I say, shaking my head. “The other one too, the less important one. The man.”
“The God of Jest,” Bella corrects.
I gawk over my shoulder at the propped-open sarcophagi and say, “Sure, him.”
Bella cocks a brow in interest.
“Trisda says they came back to life because of a prophecy,” I continue, my heart streamlining into a quicker, punchier pace. “The same prophecy from the bridge. It has something to do with a raven.”
“Some things are better left for the queen to deal with,” Lily butts in, brushing her hand against mine as she falls into step beside me.
“You needn’t worry about their return. Rest assured, the queen will take care of it.
She always does.” She gives me a quick smile, but for the life of me, I can’t manage to return the gesture.
Probably because the feeling of her ring bumping against my finger sends a knot spiraling through my stomach, and it’s taking all of my energy not to scream.
“Why did you do it?” I choke out, fully aware that this damp, echoey cave is probably not the right time or place for this conversation. But I find myself unable to care. “Why did you agree to marry her?”
Lily’s gaze shifts toward a corner of the wall, where an oversized alcove is holding at least twelve coffins collecting dust. Her expression is wrought with pain, like she’s contemplating climbing into one and withering away.
“To be honest,” she says, “I’m shocked that the rest of you didn’t.
” She swivels the ring on her finger absentmindedly, adding, “I thought that perhaps… if I could convince the queen that I’ve fallen in love… ”
Silence pools in the cave’s crevices. That is, until Maxine kicks a nearby wall, causing bits of loose gravel and dust to tumble around us.
“Then perhaps what?” she shrieks at Lily, tears filling her eyes.
“Did you really think she wouldn’t strike you dead once the sun sets on the seventh day?
That she wouldn’t see her own doom coming?
She knows you’re not in love with her, Lily! She’s no fool!”
“But…” Lily replies, sounding far less sure of herself now.
“How could you do this?” Maxine continues.
“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” Lily says, her gaze flicking up to Priestess Seraphina, who is still leagues ahead and out of earshot.
“Upset?” Maxine screeches, throwing her hands over her face. “I’m not upset… I’m…. heartbroken. We forgot to warn you. This is all our faults!”
“Warn me about what?” Lily abruptly stops.
Maxine glares at Bella. Bella looks to me for a response. I place a hand on Lily’s shoulder to brace her for impact.
“Lily,” I say, “the rings are a trick orchestrated by the gods. They siphon their host’s bloodmagic like a leech and then redirect that bloodmagic back to the gods.
We believe the queen is stealing bloodmagic in order to counteract the Curse of Love.
And if this is true, then she doesn’t require your love after all.
Which means she could still kill you at the end of the week… just for fun.”
“What?” Lily chokes back a sob as she shrugs my hand off her shoulder.
“I don’t mean to interrupt this delightful conversation…
” Priestess Seraphina’s shrill voice climbs up the walls.
I spin around, only to come face to face with her.
My heart catapults into my throat, because I thought she was further up the trail.
How did she get here so quickly, and without any of us noticing?
“But we’re almost to the safehouse,” she continues, motioning behind her. “It’s just around this bend.”
The four of us exchange nervous glances. Shit. I hadn’t realized she’d been close enough to hear us. The possibility of what she could do with the information she’s gleaned from our conversation is limitless.
End us, potentially?
The priestess rounds the corner, and we follow quickly after her.
She stops before a cascading vault of steel that rises from the cave’s depths like a sleepy titan.
“This safehouse was hewn together with lumicite after the War of the Wraiths commenced,” she explains, her nonchalant demeanor seeming to indicate she didn’t overhear us after all…
thank all the gods. “It was intentionally crafted without windows so that it might withstand any force, nature or magic. Within these walls, you will be protected from the carnage above.”
“I’m not going in there.” Maxine digs her heels into the ground.
“You must,” the priestess urges. “I can personally attest that within this safehouse, you will find an oasis of grandeur. I know that, because I decorated it myself.” She slings off her leather satchel and dumps its contents on the ground.
A little lantern spills out, which she balances in her grasp.
“What is that?” Lily asks, gawking at the lantern.
“This is a Soul Stealer,” the priestess explains, feigning patience, although not well. “It must be lit in order to open up the safehouse door. Flameweaver, would you mind lighting it for me?” She glances up at Maxine, eyeing her expectantly.
Maxine cocks a brow. “And whose soul is it going to steal, exactly? Shay here doesn’t even have a soul to begin with, so that rules her out.”
I pinch her elbow. She yelps.
“The Soul Stealer does not steal the souls of the living,” the priestess explains as a cavern moth whizzes by.
“It was crafted for one purpose… to steal the souls that are lost on this plane, the ones wandering freely through the void. The souls who wish to break through the veil and move on to the afterlife.” She motions around at all the coffins before adding, “The lantern channels their energy as a power source, which can be used to open doors. There is no other way inside the safehouse, I’m afraid.
Its lack of doorknobs is another layer of protection. ”
“Fine.” Maxine rolls her eyes. “But I swear to all the gods, if we open that door and find a cave troll inside, I’m going to stuff you inside that lantern myself, and then shove it straight up the troll’s ass.”
The priestess’s face falls, like she’s visualizing this. Maxine takes a step forward, her fingertips igniting with sparks as she reaches out to meet the lantern’s wick.
“You may all want to take a step back,” the priestess warns the rest of us. “Stealing souls can get a bit prickly, depending on whose soul shows up.”
She doesn’t need to tell us twice. Bella, Lily, and I all aggregate along the wall as a ghost emerges from a coffin.
And suddenly, I realize what Priestess Seraphina meant when she’d warned us about the glowing bugs.
The ghost whizzes over our heads, forcing us to duck, then it flings itself into the flickering lantern like a moth to a flame, where it begins making gurgling noises like it’s dying.
Or rather, dying again. The embers sound like a ravaging roar as the soul disintegrates to ash.
And it smells like something awful… sulfur?
“Well, that was disgusting,” I say, swallowing down the taste of bile.
The priestess scoops up a handful of the ash compiled at the bottom of the lantern.
She rubs her fingertip, still covered in ash, along the rune-embossed door.
It cracks open, blasting us in warmth, revealing a foyer coated in golden light.
“Go on,” she encourages, motioning for us to enter. “Explore your temporary home.”
“How will we get out if there’s no door handle?” Bella inquires, inspecting the door.
“The queen will come find you once the coast is clear,” the priestess says, “do not fret.”
“I’d rather eat nails than go in there,” Maxine grumbles.
I nod in agreement.
The priestess surveys us all with a frown.
“Then let’s return to the surface, shall we?
If you all survive the bombs, then I will be sure to inform the queen about that little conversation I overhead back there.
I wonder how she’ll feel, knowing that her pets suspect her of stealing bloodmagic. Shall we find out?”
Lily slips past the priestess and enters the safehouse. Bella, Maxine, and I exchange a nervous look.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Maxine says.
“Oh,” the priestess snarls, looking me hard in the eye, “I would.”
Maxine barges right through the door, shouldering the priestess along the way.
Lily’s voice comes a few heartbeats later.
“Guys! This place is incredible! The gold. The food. It’s like a star died inside here and left its glittering entrails inside never-ending chalices of liquor.
Plus, there’s no men! Lock me inside here forever, I don’t give a fuck anymore.
Did I mention there’s no men in here? It’s a dream come true! ”
The priestess gives me and Bella a look that indicates, I told you so.
“And the fur!” Lily continues, her voice filled with fervor. “For the love of all things holy, you won’t believe your eyes! There’s plush rugs, spiced wine, warm towels, and feathered duvets. I call dibs on the biggest bedroom!”
“That one is mine!” Maxine barks.
I exhale a deep breath. Clearly, this is a bad idea, but what other choice do we have?
“I must bid you farewell now,” the priestess says as she quickly nudges me and Bella through the door. “By the way, there is a traitor in your midst,” she adds quietly into my ear, and then she slams the door shut in my face.
A traitor in my midst?
What’s that supposed to mean?