Chapter 29
Asuffocating darkness wrapped around my senses as someone forced thick fabric over my head. Hands pulled me from sleep.
“What is the meaning of this?” I shouted, fighting their hold.
No response.
When had I even fallen asleep? I was reading seconds before, eager to learn more about the portal and how it functioned while trying to stay awake for whatever event Hylos had planned.
Fuck. The journal.
I reached for the bed, desperate to ensure the book was safe under my pillow. But I couldn’t see a damned thing through the material impeding my vision. Touch was all that I had to guide me.
Then, thud. Damn it. The book fell to the floor.
Hands dragged me up and walking against my will.
“Let me go!” My heart was a battering ram in my chest.
The night pricked at my skin through the flimsy nightgown that offered little protection from the cool air as the faceless hands dragged me into the hall.
This could not be good.
Whoever was guiding me was strong. Based on their footfalls, it was three sirens. One on each arm, gripping me hard. One trailing behind. I was surrounded.
Where in Infernum were they taking me?
A left, then a right, another right, then down a long stretch of hall. I tried to form a map of Naiadon in my mind, but I had never traveled this route before.
Smooth marble turned to coarse stone, pressing into the soles of my feet.
Then I heard the crunch of granite. We moved forward through a passage. There were others I could sense around me.
Unease slithered through my stomach. I tried to steady my breathing. A cool head would help far more than fear pumping through my veins urging me to run. Finally, the hands removed the blind.
In a black, cavernous room drenched in pale siren light, I recognized Morvyn’s aunt scowling in layers of stark white to my left. To my right stood Raylik’s uncle, dressed in fiery robes. Both had guards of their own. Surrounding us were clusters of sentries around other Circle leaders.
At the forefront of the room stood Hylos, clad in white, crustacean-like armor layered over a pleated, royal-blue tunic. He peered at us over a jagged pool, its dark waters sloshing relentlessly.
“Why have you brought us here, Hylos?” demanded a male voice somewhere out of sight.
“I’ve summoned you this evening to be escorted to the most sacred of places within Naiadon. Tonight we ride to the Great Womb of Nymphaea.”
Whispers rushed in waves from the royal sirens.
What did that even mean?
He cleared his throat, commanding the room to silence in an instant.
“As the leaders for each of your Circles, I present you with this gift of knowledge as an offering of trust. I will show you the location of my realm’s greatest source of power and, consequently, my greatest weakness.” He fixed his gaze upon me. “Do you accept this invitation?”
If this place was important, and truly his source of power, why would he offer it so easily to these outsiders? Behind his back, they spoke in a way that most rulers would deem treasonous. He could hardly trust them. He could hardly trust me.
“At what price?” barked Draveen.
“No cost at all. It is a show of good faith to my guests.”
“And we can make the holy sacrament?” Elspeth asked, her metallic voice sharp and swift.
“Of course,” Hylos answered.
“I accept,” Melquin said swiftly.
Hylos nodded in acknowledgment.
“I accept,” added Elspeth.
“I too accept,” Serenous called.
Draveen coughed out his acceptance. Another deep but weary voice agreed too.
This place truly had to be important if they were all ready to follow Hylos to it after being dragged from their beds by guards against their will.
Hylos’s eyes settled upon me.
“You dare take a human to the Holy Mother’s womb?” Draveen demanded.
The others muttered their disapproval as well.
“It is an affront to Nymphaea,” Melquin grumbled under his breath.
“Elowyn Blackthorn is our ally. As I am hers.”
The room fell deathly silent.
It would have been a nice sentiment if it didn’t feel like a manipulation tactic.
Allies. Officially. Against my father, and against Oakhaven.
By naming me so, he implied that everyone who took this leap of faith with him was making a similar declaration.
Which was the first step for him assembling an army against Oakhaven.
It was a well-played move, especially accompanied by the show of force. Dragging us all here in the night yet allowing us to make the ultimate choice, so he said, to follow him wherever this holy site was. Then surely to follow him into battle. It was a trust fall into the night in the name of war.
To stop Hylos, I would need to know his plans.
“I accept,” I said.
A smile quirked the corner of Hylos’s mouth.
“You all will be safe in my charge,” he said to the room, but I knew the words were meant for me because I wasn’t safe at all. Which made my heart drum.
Hylos raised his hands over the pool. Deep percussive tones thundered from him and vibrated through the water, sending it churning.
Then, eight beasts surged from the depths.
I stumbled back, the memory of the kelpie snapping into my mind as horse-like chuffs escaped from the creatures’ snouts, steam tumbling in their wake.
Their heads resembled white horses, but instead of velvety pelts and silky manes, they had hard, sleek skin, with spines where ears should have been.
Hylos, with practiced ease, swung his leg over the back of one of the beasts, aligning perfectly with the hard ridges.
He gripped the two spines on its neck and shouted, “Onward!” The creature bucked, turned, and its hard-shelled tail cracked against the water’s surface as it plunged beneath the water.
The guards nudged me forward. With cautious steps and a trembling hand, I reached out, brushing my fingers over the creature’s hard, plated side. It whinnied at my touch, just like the horses I loved to ride at home.
Summoning my courage, I hoisted myself onto the creature’s back, mirroring Hylos’s seat. My hands tightened around the makeshift reins and with a flick of its tail, it propelled itself around, cutting through the water with an effortless plunge as we dove into the black sea.