Chapter 53 – Neve
Chapter 53
NEVE
T he door to the mine creaked open, sending the scent of dirt and dust up my nose and a shiver down my spine.
Humans toiled down there, mining gold. And from the looks of her ragged, dirty clothing and gaunt face, she worked hard and didn’t get out of the mines much.
My mother told me to come west. I’d assumed that she wanted me to journey west to confront Roar and obtain closure. Perhaps also to gather information on the Hallow too, though I was fairly certain that House Lisika had lost that.
But could she have sent me here for something else entirely?
Why would he use humans? Because they’re free labor?
While that made a bit of sense, dwarves would still be far more effective and knowledgable when it came to the mountains. Stars, even faeries would be a better choice. All races of fae were stronger than humans and got more done in less time. And as much as I despised Roar, he was not stupid.
He had a reason for breaking the rules and running his mine as he did and something told me it wasn’t all about gold.
The moment I stepped into the mine tunnel, motion-activated faelights flared to life. Good. Excellent vision aside, I didn’t want to fall down a mineshaft. And though I hadn’t let on, I worried about Anna’s mobility in a place with such an uneven ground.
Gagged, the woman eyed me sidelong. We’d debated leaving her outside, tied to a rock, but Caelo had brought up the fact that these mines were very old and likely very maze-like. The human knew where to go, so we’d gagged her and told her to lead the way to Roar.
“Take us to your High Lord.” I patted the sword at my side—the one I’d taken from my father’s room. I had no intention of using it on the human. She was too helpless, but I would threaten to get her to do as I wished.
She reached to the side, patting the rope attached to the wall that miners used as a guide if the faelights went out. The motion said follow me .
And we did. Down a wider entry tunnel that progressively narrowed until we walked two by two. The human remained at the front, Vale beside me and Anna and Caelo at the rear. Though my best friend had not trained in weaponry, I’d given her one of my daggers. Better to be safe than sorry.
Faelights continued to ignite as we approached, but somehow the tunnels grew darker and darker. I shuddered. How could anyone work in these conditions? Let alone live down here as the woman had confessed before we’d gagged her . . .
The human stopped, and I nearly bowled her over. She twisted and glared at me.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
With a sharp thumb, she gestured right.
Ah, she’d told us about this. The mines spun outward like a spiderweb, but it all began with a T, an initial breaking off point.
“Closer and single file,” I said to the others. Vale slipped behind me, and I waited until the other two got into position before facing the human again. “We’re ready.”
The woman grabbed the rope and continued on.
Within minutes, another split occurred. The woman reached back and took my hand. Vale gripped my hip, saving his hand for Caelo, and Anna hung on to Caelo’s cloak. Just as discussed. Three more splits in the tunnels later, and we remained connected, though I was feeling far less confident.
What if the woman is tricking us? What if ? —
The tunnel we’d been trekking down opened into a great cavern. I exhaled.
“Bleeding skies,” Vale whispered right after me as we stared down into the bowl below. On the edges, homes had been carved into the rock, and in the middle, larger buildings of stone dominated the space. “It’s as if a city built by dwarves crumbled.”
I could see how this would resemble the ruins of dwarven cities. Though there were stark differences. A great lacking in this place that made me shudder.
Greenery grew in the dwarves’ cities because dwarves, like fae, could have earth magic. Though most of them used it to shape metals, a few would be trained to work with plants to grow food. If there were enough of them, and a few limiters, fae with the power of sunlight, people might survive within the rock and never see the surface.
Humans, however, didn’t have magic to help them survive under mountains, and I did not see healthy cascades of green. Just black and gray stone and the odd faelight or torch. Most of the buildings were in desperate need of repair too.
The woman waved us forward, and we descended steps cut into the stone. At the bottom, I took a moment to scan the surroundings. Carved into the walls of the mountains with open doors and open windows that allowed us to peek inside the homes was evidence of lives being lived. Blankets spread out on the floor and basic cookware littered their stone tables.
Though I was appalled by the conditions, the woman remained unaffected. She kept walking through the city, passing two larger, nicer homes built of stones. Through the windows, which were made of real glass, I spied a bed and other amenities that the other homes could not boast.
I pointed. “Are those overseer’s places?”
She twisted to take in what I referred to and nodded. So at least two fae remained down here to keep track of the humans working the mines. How could they live with themselves? Slavery was permitted in the kingdom, but these conditions . . . well, they were exactly the reason the law stated that slaves had to be kept in noble homes, the House of Wisdom, or the Tower of the Living and the Dead. No one should have to live like this.
My fists clenched, but I said nothing more, just followed the human. Finally, we reached the end of the little city and approached another circular tunnel, delved deeper into the mountain.
“How much longer?” I asked.
She held up a finger, which I took to mean one minute. Soon I’d see Roar, and this would be over. I’d have the answers I needed.
“Don’t let him manipulate you,” Vale whispered.
“Never again,” I agreed.
We entered the tunnel, and voices drifted over from the other end. The woman was correct in that wherever she was taking us had people, hopefully, Roar was still there too.
Faelights flickered on in waves as we walked. I both appreciated their illumination and wished they were not there. I’d much rather surprise Roar. That way, he had less of a chance to get his story straight and figure out ways to twist the truth, as he was so adept at doing.
The end of the tunnel came into sight. The sound of people speaking intensified, but there was no echo of hammers. Wherever we were going, the miners must not be working.
When the tunnel opened, a stench assaulted me. It smelled like piss and shit. Before I inquired about the stench, the woman stopped and pointed down .
The scene before me froze my blood.
Near a hundred humans languished in cages. Some stood there, quiet. Others pleaded with some unseen figure; their palms pressed together. Faelights were not used here, but rather flickering torch lights illuminated their faces, dirty and miserable.
“What in the nine kingdoms?” I whispered, pulse quickening as I took in cage after cage after cage. “Is this where you live? I thought . . . the homes we passed . . .” I trailed off at a loss. The homes were still awful, but this was worse. Far, far worse.
The woman twisted, eyes wide, and shook her head. I wanted answers, so I reached out and extracted her gag.
“ I don’t live here. I work the mines and earn my keep!”
“Does he pay you?”
“My lord feeds and clothes us.”
So that was a no. Just as I’d suspected. Roar was blatantly breaking the law for his own gain.
But that still didn’t explain the caged people. My eyebrows pulled together. “Why the difference in their treatment?”
“ They came in through the portal recently. Within the last moon or two.” She pointed to the far end of the rooms. Far away and beyond the masses of bodies, a faint light glowed. “Fae who work for the lord take them and cage them until the vampires come.”
I stiffened. “Vampires?”
The woman nodded. “They buy them.” She paused, fear flickering across her face momentarily before she donned a mask of steel once more. “I suppose that could be me. One day. If we don’t mine enough gold, the vampires buy us too. But that hasn’t happened in many turns. We always try to mine enough gold to keep our lord happy.”
My vision dimmed. The mine disappeared, and I was transported back in Frostveil, the vampire prince cornering me, taunting me.
Prince Gervais had been so smug when he’d told me Roar had been duplicitous. What exactly had he said? I thought back, ripping at my memory until I reached that day and that terrible moment. He had said the Lisika mines produced gold for centuries and that one would think they’d need to diversify.
Diversify . . . My stomach dropped.
Can you think of nothing as valuable as gold, wildcat?
People. Human life. Any life . That was more valuable than gold.
Roar didn’t just use humans to dig and labor in his mines. He sold lives, human slaves , to the Vampire Kingdom for gold. I swallowed. Did he really even need the mines? Or were they simply a cover for more nefarious purposes?
“Burning moon!” Vale hissed, putting things together, even without the thinly veiled hint I’d received from Prince Gervais. “He sells slaves!”
My body tightened as the horrible truth washed through me again, colder, harder this time. Roar, the male I’d once put my faith in, was a true monster.
I had been a slave. Roar had known it too—from the very moment we’d met. Perhaps that was why I hadn’t seen slaves in his home. Maybe he’d hidden them. Or maybe he simply kept them all here—working to the bone in horrific conditions. I shook my head, unable to believe how stupid I’d been. How much I’d been able to overlook. Like how Roar had known about the potion the vampires gave slaves to keep them powerless. The Warden of the West knew so bleeding much about the vampire court because he was doing business with them.
My fists formed tight, furious balls and I glared down at the scene below, searching for the male I wanted to rip to pieces.
“I swear to the stars,” I growled as frost crackled at my fingertips. “I will kill Roar for this.”