Chapter 31 Getting Warm
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
GETTING WARM
ADELINE
We enter the dim temple, cool air rushing to envelop us in a scent of wet stone and minerals. Ardruna nudges the huge doors shut behind us, but then she and Talton don’t wait for me, disappearing in the darkness.
I’ve upset them.
I need to get my act together.
First off, I need to find the way down. Exhaustion clings to me like a leather mantle, heavy and constricting. I take my time locating the stairs, then descending one careful step at a time.
“These people are awful,” Olm mutters.
“No, they’re not. They helped me.”
“But now they don’t care anymore.”
“That’s not true. This is my fault.”
“You want to live in denial? Suit yourself.”
“Great.” I climb down the stairs, trailing a hand on the wall for balance, the other pressing the griffin egg to my middle. “Everyone is upset with me. Roane, Ardruna, and now you.”
“Talton isn’t.”
“How would you know that, genius?”
“It doesn’t take a genius to see you’re infatuated with the asshole.”
“With Talton?”
Olm sniffs. “With the fae male.”
I feel the next step with the toe of my shoe before I descend. “I’m not infatuated with Roane.”
“Is ‘head over heels’ a better description?”
“You know, you’re not a nice person, Olm,” I tell him.
“I’m trying to save you, Adeline.”
I stop in my tracks. “What did you say?”
“I’m not the villain in this story.”
“Oh, right. So you say. But you were the villain in another?”
Silence greets my words. Good Gods. Is his lack of reply an affirmative? Did I stumble into something here?
“Talk to me, Olm.” I sigh. “Who are you? What is your story? What is your connection to this place? Tell me!”
A faint glow appears at the foot of the stairs. It resolves into the shape of a tall man.
“Olm?” I squint. “Is that you?”
“Olm? Have you lost your mind?” Roane grinds out, because of course it’s him. Now I make out that broad set of shoulders, the square jaw, the long black hair. The dark scar on his cheek. “Get down here.”
My spine stiffens. “Is being rude your new hobby? I was having a conversation.”
“With a fictional character.”
“You of all people should know that fictional characters are real.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“Monsters. Goblins. Hydras. All the monsters you fight with every day. What did you think I meant? They come from books and stories.”
He’s silent, observing me as I make my way down the rest of the steps. “Why did you lag behind?”
“I’m tired.”
“Ardruna and Talton should have kept an eye on you.”
“Like you did when you raced down the hill, leaving me behind?” I get off the last step. “Don’t kill yourself worrying, I’m here now.”
“That’s what worries me,” he breathes.
I go still. “Wow.”
But he turns and stalks into the dark, broken only by the faint glowing symbols on the pillars. Did he just say he’s worried because I’m here? Is his desire to see me gone so strong?
I’m surprised by the bitter taste of sadness.
Light fills the enormous space, spilling from the lamps hanging between the columns as I hurry after him once more, and damn, this can’t keep happening. Is he doing it on purpose, keeping me off balance by always leaving me behind?
Soon enough, the glow of a fire sends shadows leaping on the columns and walls, and I see the nest. Ardruna is sitting on her haunches before it, gnawing on a bone, and Talton is toying with a round object.
As I approach, I get a better look and think it might be a button.
A pile of clothing is set beside them, not very far from the small fire.
Roane walks past it and sits on the edge of the niche, letting his hands hang between his knees. His long hair is a tangled mess, hanging over his shoulders.
I deliberately look away and place the griffin egg down. “Are you all going to hang out here today? No work? Is there a truce with the monsters I wasn’t made aware of?”
“You think we’d inform you of any plans we make?” Roane grinds out.
“Are your plans a secret?” I crouch down by the fire to warm myself. “Such as why you glow in the dark like a fireworm?”
“You like that comparison, do you?”
“Very much.” I turn to face him again, smirking. “Why do you glow, Roane?”
“That doesn’t concern you.”
“You concern me. Your friends concern me. This world concerns me. Because I now live in it!”
“It’s not your world.”
“And yet. Tell me more about it. Teach me how to defend myself. Explain to me why the monsters can’t all be returned to the books they escaped from. Give me some answers.”
His head bows, dark strands falling in his face. He clasps his hands together. His knuckles are covered in old, white scars. Dirt has gathered in every crack and hollow, turning them into a spidery map.
“Come on, Roane,” Ardruna says. “You’ve never been a chatterbox to start with, but you can answer her questions.”
“Can I?” he rasps. “What if I don’t have all the answers?”
“Oh, come on. You always do.”
“This time I don’t,” he whispers. “Her presence here makes no sense.”
“Well, your presence here makes no sense, either,” I say, lifting my chin.
“You can’t put the monsters back into the books, but it doesn’t matter, because for some reason this world is closed and locked.
And you’re imprisoned with them. It can’t be right.
This can’t be how this world has always been. What did you do?”
He lifts his head and his gaze is kind of blank, impossible to read, though something flashes in his eyes like the fin of a sea serpent.
Fear.
“Am I getting warm?” I ask. “Did you cause this? What did you do, Roane?”
“Nothing,” he says.
“Right. You expect me to believe—”
“I don’t fucking expect anything.” He stands, eyes closing. He takes a step and stumbles, catching himself in the last moment. “Fuck.”
“Roane?” I shoot to my feet and start toward him, only to stop when he finds his footing.
“Whoa,” Ardruna pads over to him. “What’s wrong, Ro?”
“Nothing,” he snaps. “Mind your own business.”
“How dare you speak to me like that?” Ardruna growls. “Mind your manners, child.”
He grunts something unintelligible and turning, he walks away.
I frown after him. “Where is he going?”
“Back out to hunt, most probably.” Ardruna settles down on her haunches. “Unless he went to the cave lake.”
“To think deep thoughts? Brood and let you worry?”
“Laugh all you want,” she says. “Something is off, I’m telling you. You saw that. He wasn’t steady on his feet.”
“It was only a stumble,” I mutter, refusing to be concerned about him.
“Roane doesn’t stumble.”
“Really? Nobody is that perfect.”
“Roane doesn’t keep stumbling,” she goes on. “He stumbled three times today already. It’s not normal.”
“So you’re saying he’s sick?”
“Sick? Roane? He’s never been sick a day in his life. At least, not since we met him. Though he’s often in pain.”
“He is? Why?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Talton says. “I bet you he got worse because he’s lovestruck. Being in love is agony.”
I laugh, I can’t help it. “Very funny.”
“I am a funny bird. Mark my words.” He says it seriously, though, no croaking laughter following his words, and then he takes off. “Ro, wait!”