Chapter 10 #2
“She—”
The ground begins to shake.
Bael’s hand slides down my arm as he turns his body to put himself between me and the source of that rumbling. “The Labyrinth is going to rearrange itself. This one feels stronger though. Hold on to me.”
I squeeze his hand.
Ahead of us, the walls of the Labyrinth begin to tremble.
“Run!” Bael bellows.
A crevice snakes through the Labyrinth, stone tumbling from the walls and plummeting within the bottomless crack. It creates a domino effect, walls slamming into each other. Crack. Crack. Crack.
I scream, hands shielding my head as Bael shoves me along in front of him. There’s a clearing ahead, but the walls begin to shudder. We’ll never make it. We’re going to be crushed—
“Go!” Bael bellows, slamming into me.
I stagger into the clearing.
“There!” Bael points to a small mountainous peak rising out of the maze. A set of ruins sits atop it. “We need higher ground.”
Stairs circle the peak. Hammering up them, thighs burning, I don’t look at the Labyrinth surrounding us until I reach the top.
The nearby walls lie in ruins, dust rising from the rubble. The chaos spreads in a perfect circle around us for perhaps half a mile. Nothing remains.
The ground stops shaking.
“Well,” I whisper, “at least if someone was following us, they’re no longer an issue.”
Bael staggers to a halt at my side, bending over.
I catch a glimpse of the blood dripping down his arm. “You’re hurt!”
“I’m fine,” he growls, surveying the ruins around us. “A rock smashed into me.”
“Sit,” I tell him. “I’ll fetch some water.” There’s a well nearby.
Hauling up a bucket full of water, I cup my hand and scoop it up, reaching forward to sniff at the waters.
“No!” Bael yells, grabbing my wrist and snatching me away from the well.
“What’s wrong? I can’t smell any poison.”
“It’s not poison.” He trails his fingers along the roses engraved into the stone that encircles the well. “This is… a joke. It has to be a joke.”
“I fail to understand?”
“It is said,” Bael growls, stabbing a finger toward the roses, “that any well that was encircled by Amara’s mark was a safe haven from the savagery of this world.
The water within is the coolest, freshest water you’ll find, but one taste and you shall find the lies struck from your tongue, the violence from your heart.
I’ve seen a man babble for hours about a woman he loved after he took one sip from such a well.
We could hardly shut him up about it, and he’d been professing his undying hatred of her for years. ”
“Then how is it a joke?”
“Because the Goddess vanished centuries ago, and the wells with her.” He shoves away from the well, stalking down the circled stairs that lead away from it. “This shouldn’t be here, and if it is, then it was created by Kasaros as a trap. Who knows what it does. Don’t touch it.”
I wait long seconds until he’s nearly out of sight, then slip the small waterskin he gave me from around my shoulder and fill it swiftly from the well.
With one last look at the roses, I hurry after him.
“Well,” Bael says. “I hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
The world drops out from under us, an enormous cavern gaping across the landscape. A narrow bridge stretches across it, rickety timbers swaying in the breeze. I swallow, because how do I reply when the answer is yes?
Kari is across this ravine.
And once you find Kari, then you can turn your attention to Aylin.
“Anchor yourself to me,” Bael instructs, taking some rope from his pack and unrolling it. Tugging me closer, he makes short work of binding us together, testing the give in the ropes so firmly that his biceps bulge. “Let’s go.”
He takes three steps and I don’t.
The rope snaps tight.
Right. I need to move. Sweat dampens the back of my neck as I take my first step.
“What’s wrong?” he calls over his shoulder, strolling across the bridge ahead of me as if he’s on solid ground.
I stare straight ahead, sweat dampening my upper lip as I concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. “I don’t like heights.”
“I’ve seen you climb to the top of the Labyrinth walls to get a good view of your surroundings.”
“That’s different. I’m in control when I’m climbing…” The bridge sways and I swallow. “And it’s… when there’s nothing under my feet. When one step sideways could send me plummeting—”
Fuck, fuckity, fuck. I freeze as another blast of wind sends us swinging.
“Tell me what else you don’t like,” he says, holding out his hand toward me.
There’s something tempting about that outstretched hand.
“I don’t like Bride Hunts,” I reply, slowly reaching forward and curling my fingers around his. “I hate pyres and the stink of smoke. I despise men in white cloaks. I fucking loathe the Beast of Kerawan—”
“What did he do to you?”
The bridge sways beneath me and I close my eyes, nostrils flaring. “Later, definitely later. I’m trying to concentrate.”
“I hate porridge,” he proclaims, which jerks my eyelid open again.
“What? Why?”
“Because I spent years suffering through it on the campaign trail.” He grimaces. “If I never eat porridge again, it will be too soon. Your turn.”
“I’m terrified of spiders—”
“Spiders?” His tone mocks me as he leads me, step-by-step to the edge of the bridge. “But they’re so little.”
“Little? Not where I come from.” I shudder, trying not to look at the other side. We’re so close… “And their hairy legs… Nope, nope, nope.”
Wind gusts through the canyon, sending the bridge swaying again.
“Bael,” I blurt, clinging to his hand.
“I like your scent,” he says suddenly. “I like the way you say my name. I like the sound of your laughter.”
“What?”
“You’re beautiful,” he continues. “Beautiful and fierce and… I like the way we work together.”
My cheeks burn. I’m a big, bad huntress, and I’m blushing like an inexperienced maiden. I default to my usual sarcasm in order to deflect the sudden turn the conversation has taken. “Are you sure you’re not trying to get into my breeches? That was quite charming.”
Bael stills, his head snapping up as if he hears something I don’t.
I can’t see anything, but the way he reacts has my senses on high alert. “What’s wrong?”
Bael slowly looks up.
And my heart drops to my stomach again as I see an enormous creature overhead, wings tucked tight against its body as it plummets toward us.
The Beast.
The blood drains from my face. I can’t kill him. Not like this.
“Go,” Bael yells, hauling me across the bridge behind him, our hands still clasped together.
Wings spread wide, the creature banks. Fire roars past us, jets of heat blistering my skin. I scream as the flames engulf the bridge behind me, reaching desperately forward—
The world drops out from underneath me as the bridge snaps in half. Bael launches forward, barely hitting the edge. Scrambling to haul himself up, he turns to grab me—
My stomach freefalls, my eyes shooting wide open as I clutch desperately at the wooden slats of the bridge as it vanishes beneath my feet.
“Zyla!” Bael yells as the ropes jerk to a halt, sending me smashing into the rock wall.
I dangle over the ravine, and Holy Fucking Malus, but the world drops away. A scream tears itself loose from my throat and I clutch the ropes desperately, snatching for a grip of the cliff face.
“Zyla,” he yells. “I need you to stop kicking and swinging. I can haul you up, but you need to help me.”
Nope. Nope, I am staying right here, with my fingertips digging into faint crevices in the rock face as though I’m part beetle. The strain quivers through my arms, but I don’t care, because I’m not going anywhere.
“Zyla,” he repeats. “Look at me.”
I shake my head.
“We’ve got half a minute until that scaled prick returns,” he growls. “That was a warning blast. He could have had me. He’s drei. Honor dictates that a drei will never strike you from behind. So he’s warned me. This next pass, he won’t be so kind.”
“You don’t understand,” I blurt, kicking at empty air. I’m not in control of my body at all.
“Eyes on me,” he says firmly.
I look up, staring into his amber gaze.
“Don’t you look away from me,” he commands, his voice rough and low. “You’re my huntress. And I know you’re strong. You’re going to climb, hand over hand, whilst I pull you up. That’s an order, Zyla.”
My body reacts as if he’s controlling it.
Bael hauls me up, one hand over the other on the ropes. The second I reach solid ground, I throw myself forward into his arms. I can’t stop shaking. Bone deep shaking. He saved me. I don’t know what to think about that.
In the distance, thunder rumbles.
Bael rubs my back, his face buried in the side of my neck. “You’re safe, little lioness. Safe here in my arms.”
An insane urge drives through me. I want skin on skin, my hands gliding over that molten warmth. I need to touch him. I need to be touched. Only this can anchor me, stop the trembling, stop this horrible fucking feeling inside me—
I shove my hand beneath his shirt, palm grazing over the ripple of his abdomen. He flinches. Heat meets my touch, and suddenly it’s not enough to just touch him.
I want to consume him.
“Zyla.” A hand slides through my hair, his other hand capturing my face.
Desperation bleeds through his eyes. For a moment he controls himself.
I feel it bleeding through him. Want. Need.
It’s there in the press of his body, in the way his thumb strokes against my cheek as though he knows he nearly lost me.
And then the moment is gone, his control shattered as something violent and irredeemable surfaces in the depths of his irises. “Curse you.”
He swoops down, his mouth claiming mine, even as the wind whips past us.
His tongue is a dangerous weapon, stroking against mine with a possessive claim that brands me.
I lose myself in the kiss, fingers twining through his hair, body wilting into his hold, hips grinding against that hard, brutish length digging into my thigh.
I open to him, yielding with a need that inflames me. Gods, I want him. I want this. Not alone. Not now.
I slide my hand higher. The frantic kick of his heart slams against my palm—
Bael breaks our kiss with a gasp, drawing back and pressing his forehead against mine.
“As much as I’m enjoying the press of your sweet curves against me,” Bael says, “we need to get moving. He’s circling back around.”
I kissed him. Gods, what am I doing?
Lips still branded, I let him haul me toward the next section of the Labyrinth.
He slams me into the first entrance, shoving himself after me. Flames spew through the stone walls, and Bael roars in fury as he grinds me against the rock, shielding me with his body.
“Bael!” I scream, burying my face against his chest. There’s no air to breathe.
Finally, the flames die down.
“Bael.” I slap at the small flames that lick at his clothes, shocked to find he’s seemingly unharmed.
What… what magic is this?
“Spelled cloak,” he breathes, eyes wild as he hunts the skies above us. “It repels fire and magic assaults. Come on. We need to lose him.”
I hurry after him. “How can we lose him when we’re trapped in here and he’s up there?”
Bael flashes me a grin as lightning flashes, followed by the earthy growl of thunder. “I think Kasaros knows what’s going on. I don’t think that prick will be in the skies very long.”
“Wait.” I dig my heels in. I’m no longer a trembling mess and I suddenly realize— “That was my chance! That was the Beast of—”
“That was not the Beast of Kerawan,” he growls, stepping right up to my face. “It’s a second one. He’s not even black. And you can’t kill a drei warrior in his prime. His scales are impenetrable. He’s only vulnerable in his mortal form. We need to move, Zyla. It’s not safe here.”
“They can shift into mortal form?”
“If your precious Beast has been stealing brides, then what did you think he was doing with them?”
Eating them. Burning them alive. Tearing them apart… I don’t know. I never let myself think that far ahead, because if I did, then I would surely scream.
“I didn’t particularly care. I just wanted him dead.”
We stagger out of the maze again, finding ourselves on a small cliff ledge. Beneath us stretches more maze. It seems to go on… forever.
“Then you’ve been looking in the wrong place.
” Bael slides down the small cliff, turning to offer me a hand.
“The Beast isn’t in the skies. I don’t even know why that scaly prick is flying.
Kasaros is treacherously dangerous with his lightning when he wishes to be.
The skies are too volatile. Just fucking look at them. ”
How would he know the Beast isn’t in the skies? A strange ringing arises in my ears.
I stare at his outstretched hand, calluses and all. It never occurred to me that he might know more about the Beast than I do.
“Are you coming?” He arches a brow over those unusual eyes, and again I get the sense that something else stares back at me.
“It’s not a cat,” he’d said.
Self-preservation forces me to slide down the slick rock after him, though I’ll be damned in the Flames of Malus if I take his hand.
And that’s when the skies open, a sheet of rain pouring from those flashing clouds. This is not the drizzle that’s been accompanying us for hours. This is fury.
“Curse it.” We slip and slide down the shale covered slope, and then I dart under an overhanging branch at the edge of the forest maze, shivering as a rivulet of water slides down my skin. “We’ve got to find shelter.”
Bael scrubs a hand across his stubbled mouth, looking uneasy for a second. “There’s a place nearby.”
Holding the edge of his cloak above my head, I glance at the hard line of his jaw, my stomach muscles still tense from the shock of the sudden thoughts racing through my mind. He clearly isn’t fond of the idea of this shelter. “What’s wrong with it?”
“I’m not exactly popular with the innkeeper.”
The little quiver inside me grows stronger. I knew he’d been here before, but I’ve never stopped to ask myself why.
I force a smile through my sudden nervousness. I need to get him off his guard and discover what he’s hiding. And I have just the means to do it. “I won’t say no to shelter and a meal. Come on. This innkeeper can’t dislike you more than I do.”
Bael growls under his breath as he brushes past me. “You don’t hate me.”
“No?” I follow him.
“You don’t trust me.”
Maybe there’s some truth in that. “Don’t take it personally. I don’t trust anyone.”
Especially not right now.