Chapter 34
We moved through the darkness for what felt like hours.
Time had no meaning in the absolute black. We could have been walking for ten minutes or three hours. My sense of direction was completely gone. The only things I knew for certain were Rafael's hand in mine, the chain between our ankles, and the stone walls under my fingertips.
My ear had stopped bleeding, but it throbbed with each heartbeat. Rafael's breathing had gotten ragged, each inhale catching on what I suspected were bruised or cracked ribs from Constantine's bludgeon. We were both limping now, the ankle chains having rubbed our skin raw.
"Left or right?" Rafael whispered.
I ran my hand along the wall until I found the opening. "Right. We've been going right."
"We don't know that. We could be going in circles."
"Then we'll die going in circles." I tugged him forward. "But we keep moving."
Our footsteps echoed off stone. The chain clinked between us. Somewhere in the darkness behind us, I could hear Constantine's breathing. Not close, but not far enough. He was following, letting us exhaust ourselves.
The passage narrowed, and I had to turn sideways. Rafael followed, our bodies pressed together as we shuffled through. My shoulder scraped against stone, and I bit back a curse.
Then the passage opened up again. Wider. Much wider.
"Wait." Rafael stopped. His hand tightened on mine. "Do you hear that?"
I listened. At first, nothing. Then I caught it. A sound like wind moving through a large space. Not a passage. A chamber.
"We found something," I said.
"Or we're about to fall into another pit. We can't see anything, Lorenzo. We don't know what's ahead."
"We know what's behind us." I could still hear Constantine's footsteps. Steady. Patient. "We keep moving forward."
We stepped into the open space together, hands outstretched. There were no walls, just empty air in every direction. The echo of our footsteps changed, becoming distant, swallowed by the vastness around us.
"How big is this?" Rafael whispered.
"Too big." My heart was hammering. Being in open space in complete darkness was worse than the narrow passages. At least there we could orient ourselves by touch. Here, we were completely exposed.
Wings beat somewhere overhead.
We both froze.
"He's above us," Rafael breathed. "Constantine must be—"
A sharp whistle cut through the darkness, coming from our left. Then Constantine's voice, calm and pleasant. "You're doing wonderfully. Truly. But you must be getting tired by now."
I pulled Rafael right, away from the voice. Our feet moved faster, but the chain kept tripping us. I went down on one knee, and Rafael hauled me back up.
Wings beat again. Closer.
"Run," Rafael hissed.
We ran blind through the darkness, hands outstretched, the chain forcing us into a stumbling, awkward gait. My shin cracked against something solid, and pain exploded up my leg. I nearly went down, but Rafael kept me upright.
Behind us, Constantine's laughter echoed off walls we couldn't see.
The ground sloped upward. We climbed, using our hands when the incline got too steep. The stone was rough under our palms, cutting into the already raw skin.
"There has to be a way out," Rafael said between gasping breaths. "The center. We need to find the center. That's where the exit is."
"How? We can't see. We can't read the map. We don't even know where we are."
"Then we follow the sound."
"What sound?"
Rafael went quiet, listening. I did the same, straining to hear anything beyond our own breathing and the distant echo of Constantine's footsteps.
Then I heard it. So faint I almost missed it. The guttering of flames. Torches.
"There," Rafael whispered. "Do you hear it?"
"Yeah." I turned toward the sound. "Could be a trap."
"Everything's a trap." Rafael squeezed my hand. "But if Constantine is herding us somewhere, that's probably where we need to go."
We moved toward the sound of flames, testing each step before committing our weight. The ground leveled out and became smooth stone instead of rough rock.
The sound of fire grew louder. I could smell smoke now. Old smoke, like torches that had been burning for hours.
Light appeared ahead, faint at first, but as we moved closer, it grew brighter and I could make out an archway carved into stone. Beyond it, I could see the flicker of torchlight.
"That's the center," Rafael said. "Has to be."
"Constantine will be waiting for us."
"I know."
We stood there in the darkness, just outside the circle of light. My legs were shaking from exhaustion. My ear throbbed. Rafael's breathing was labored, each inhale clearly painful.
"We're not going to win a prolonged fight," I said quietly. "We're too tired. Too hurt."
"I know that too."
"So we go in fast. Hard. We end this quickly or we don't end it at all."
Rafael turned to face me in the darkness. I couldn't see his expression, but I felt his hand come up to touch my face. His fingers traced the line of my jaw, careful around my injured ear.
"Whatever happens in there," he said, "I want you to know—"
"Don't." I pressed my forehead against his. "Don't say goodbye. We're not dying in this place."
"But if we do—"
"We won't." I kissed him hard and desperately. "Because I'm not done with you yet, Priest. I'm not done with us."
His lips curved against mine. "You realize we've been together less than a week and we're already planning our future while standing at death's door."
"We're not good at normal." I pulled back. "Ready?"
"No." He took a breath. "But let's do it anyway."
We stepped into the light together.
I blinked hard against the sudden brightness. My eyes burned as they adjusted after hours in complete darkness. I had to squint against the torchlight, but after a few moments, the central chamber came into focus.
Dozens of torches were mounted on the walls of the massive space. A whistle carried up into the dark. The chamber had to be fifty, sixty feet wide.
Constantine stood dead center, hands clasped behind his back like he was waiting for a bus. His white suit didn't have a single fucking wrinkle. Meanwhile, I was covered in stone grit and sweat and blood, and my shoulder ached from where Rafael had landed on me at the pit.
Caesar perched on Constantine's shoulder, talons punched through the fabric. The eagle's eyes locked onto us and didn't blink. A delicate chain connected Constantine's ankle to Caesar's leg.
"There you are." Constantine's smile belonged at a dinner party, not a killing ground. "I was beginning to worry you'd gotten lost."
Rafael's fingers crushed mine hard enough to hurt. Good. The pain kept me focused.
"Sorry we're late to the party," I replied, dusting off my shirt. "Not all of us got the benefit of a head start."
Constantine smirked as he paced forward slowly, gesturing to a pedestal off to the side.
"The exit is right there. Press the button, and the door opens.
I could've done it, you know. Could've opened the door and climbed out, leaving you two scampering around down here in the dark.
I was, after all, waiting quite a while. "
"Why didn't you?" Rafael spat.
Constantine shrugged. "Where would be the fun in that? Victory without sportsmanship is hardly a victory worth having, wouldn't you agree?"
"Besides," Constantine continued, "Zeus doesn't need me to finish what we started. Kill me, and someone else takes my seat. Someone less inclined toward these courtesies." He picked up his bludgeon and rolled his shoulders.
"I'm sure when Zeus comes for us—"
"Comes for you?" Constantine's eyebrows shot up.
"Oh, no, mein sü?es Kindchen. You're mistaken.
He won't come for you. He'll come for your families.
For your friends. For everyone who helped you get here and everyone who ever helped them.
You see, that's why he needed me. I was his scalpel.
My way only necessitated a handful of deaths.
Should I fall here today?" He gestured widely.
"Well, I'm afraid you'll be looking at a massacre in the near future. "
Caesar's wings snapped open.
"Such a shame, really," Constantine said. "I've always detested unnecessary bloodshed, but… As they say. When in Rome…" He lowered his hands. "Caesar, Greif an!"
The eagle launched from Constantine's shoulder, wings beating hard. But the chain jerked tight after a few feet, and Caesar had to pull up sharp, screeching his frustration. He wheeled back toward Constantine, circling overhead in tight arcs limited by the length of chain.
Not the aerial nightmare I'd been expecting.
Constantine stepped forward, and Caesar dove with him, talons extended. The bird came at Rafael's head from the right, his blind side.
"Down!" I yanked Rafael left, and we both dropped. Caesar's talons raked empty air where Rafael's face had been.
The eagle pulled up, wings straining against the chain's length. Constantine had to step back to give Caesar room to recover altitude.
Rafael squeezed my hand twice. I squeezed back once.
Constantine moved right, and Caesar banked with him, circling for another pass. The chain between them stayed taut, limiting the bird's range to roughly ten feet in any direction from Constantine's position.
Constantine's bludgeon came up, and he advanced, forcing us back. Caesar dove simultaneously. Talons from above, wood from the front.
Rafael swung his bludgeon up at Caesar while I blocked Constantine's strike. Wood cracked against wood. The impact jarred up my arms, but I held.
Caesar pulled up short, unable to commit fully to the dive because Constantine was engaged with us. The bird screeched and circled back.
Constantine pressed forward, swinging hard at Rafael's ribs. Rafael twisted, and the blow glanced off his side instead of crushing bone. He grunted but stayed on his feet.
I swung at Constantine's head. He ducked, and the bludgeon whistled over him. I had to pull back before our chain tangled with Constantine's.