54. Kiera
FIFTY-FOUR
KIERA
“ Y ou were made for this. You blend in better than I could ever imagine.” Faolan grinned when I met him in the stores.
I smoothed my hands over the worn in healer’s robes. I didn’t know where Faolan acquired them, and I hadn’t bothered to ask. We’d decided early on it was best for me to know as little as possible, so if questioned, I could genuinely deny it. We didn’t want to run into a situation where they tried to magically interrogate us.
It’s why Jaxus and I played the parts we did.
“Which way does the map say to go?”
He passed it to me. “To the left and just follow it. My father will meet you at the far passage. You just need to get the keys so you can let them out without setting off any alarms.”
“I got it.” I exhaled, memorizing the map before I crumpled it in my hand. If I were caught, I’d swallow it.
“I know you do. I’m proud of you.” Faolan vanished before I could reply.
I turned down the passage, going over and over, my story in my head. This relied on our timing. If Emrys moved too quickly before I got the keys, the alarm would be raised and my story would fall apart. We had to do every part of this with precise timing and all play our parts so we could escape.
I nodded in respect when I entered the controlled substance room. “I need the keys to the glass room. We are running low in the clinic.”
The storekeeper didn’t even look up at me. He flipped a page in his ledger and wrote something down. “How many are you taking?”
“I need half a dozen enchanted vials, ten jars, and two dozen bottles.” I let a few seconds pass, then said, “Oh! I need to restock the herbs for the clinic so they are fresh for the alchemists in the morning.” Something I’d already done earlier, but since the shift change, it shouldn’t be noticed, and if it was, I had a story for that, too. “I’m so forgetful sometimes. Working so late makes me so forgetful.”
He looked up at me for the first time. “I feel you. Third shift is rough and you’re new, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “It’s a lot to remember.”
“But you did. Might as well do them together. Less walking.”
“Too true.” My heart hammered in my ears, making it almost impossible to hear him.
He nodded, scribbling numbers into columns. “Take a basket, and here is the key. It’s enchanted to open all the storeroom doors for the next hour. Get what you need and send me a note with what you used before morning.” He pushed a key across the desk .
“Thank you so much.” I plucked the key off the table and took one of the baskets off the stack.
“You’re welcome.”
I hurried off, going to the right rooms in case anyone lingered around, and also to buy time to not look like I was loitering. I busied myself until the stone clicked with the signal.
I had to stop myself from sprinting to the passage. Making my pace as slow as possible, running through my excuses over and over if I was stopped. Why I needed to be in these rooms. I’d gotten lost looking for some elderflower. I’d completely missed them in the other room.
I exhaled, almost crying with relief, when I came to the door and unlocked it, finding Emrys and Drystan on the other side. Drys had a bag slung over his shoulder, and I didn’t ask.
We didn’t exchange a word as I led them to the other exit.
“Firefly,” Jaxus’ voice broke into my mind as I used the key to open the final door. “I’m sorry. I love you.”
I spun around like he’d be behind me. “Where are you? What happened?”
“I had to save Faolan.” His voice was strangled and laced with fear.
“What’s happening?” I pleaded. The others watching me communicate with my mate with fear in their eyes.
“Faolan lost his footing and—it’s too much to explain. But I don’t know if I can get out of this, my love. There’s sand all around, and I’m sinking.” He tried to keep his tone even, but he couldn’t lie to me mind to mind.
“How deep is it?”
“At my chest. Faolan went to look for something to help. It’s closing in, Kiera. I can’t breathe.”
“Where are you?”
“Half way down the other exit.”
I could retrace their steps and get to the vessel chamber and find them—I worked through it. “You two go. I need to go back.”
“What happened?” Emrys was inches away, and I hadn’t even noticed.
“Jaxus is in trouble. He’s trapped.”
“Where?” Drys demanded.
“Along his exit route. This key is the only way to get to him,” I said, trying to control my breathing.
“Let me take it. You go with Emrys to the tunnel and wait.”
“It’s coded to me. You can’t.” I was running out of time. Jaxus’ breaths got more shallow with every second that passed. His panic and claustrophobia pulsing through our bond, nearly making my knees weak.
Drystan looked at Emrys like he didn’t believe me.
“She’s right. That’s why she had to be the one to let us through. They bind the key to the healer’s magic and log them. The key won’t work for anyone else. It’s how they protect the stores and artifacts.” Emrys chewed his cheek, thinking.
“I have to go.” My magic pulled towards him and he was draining it fast. It kept his life-force thrumming, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Fear choked my throat.
“She doesn’t know where to go. You’ll have to go back with her. Or one of us has to, but she has the map. How else will we get out of here?” Drystan snapped.
“We don’t have time to consider this.” My hands shook and I almost dropped the key.
“We can’t. We had an agreement—you know that. Two of us stay with the vessel at all times.” Emrys’ eyes flashed with worry. “If we are found, we can each go a different direction. We promised Jaxus, Drys. Kiera and this vessel has to make it out, one way or another.”
“What about Faolan? Surely he can help?” Drystan seemed to show little concern for his own brother, and it shocked me.
“I have to go to him. We are wasting time. I can feel his heart slowing down. One of you take me, or I will go myself.” I reached out to him again. “Jaxus?”
“I’m so sorry,” he said breathily, trailing off.
“No!” I cried.
Drystan finally reacted. He grabbed my arm. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Tell me how to get back to him and then take the map and go.”
Emrys roughly gave me directions in a hurry, and I ran, leaving my basket and not caring about my cover. I felt Jaxus’ breaths getting slower and slower. I repeated the directions to myself as I ran, leaving them to do as they will.
“Kiera!” Jaxus’ voice cried weakly in the back of my mind, curdling my blood with fear.
“I’m coming.”
I don’t know if he meant me to see, but awful images flashed into my mind of sand pouring in around him. It felt like I was there.
Like I was the one getting buried alive in the sand.
It was around his chin, compressing his chest and coming faster.
He wasn’t so much sinking as the chamber was filling with it. Or maybe it was both.
“I love you. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time.”
“Don’t you fucking say that to me.” Tears streamed down my face.
I came upon Faolan in a passageway but part of it looked like it had given way, a large hole before him, half filled with sand.
“What happened?”
“We must have triggered a trap. I don’t know how. But he dove at me, and it was enough to jolt me free from the sand but not to carry himself out.” Faolan’s voice shook. His face was drained from color, and he hyperventilated.
“Did you find anything we can reach him with? ”
Faolan shook his head. “The chamber behind sealed off. We are trapped here unless we can get past him.”
I turned scanning the room. “Give me your dagger.”
He handed it over without question. I ran over to one of the glass cases and struck it as hard as I could with the pommel of the knife. I took out the woven bag displayed within and cut the top row of its weave open.
“That’s a priceless relic.” Faolan put his hand over his mouth.
“And my mate cannot be replaced.” I pulled at the thread, undoing the twine. When I had enough, I tied it to the end of the handle of the dagger and shoved it into Faolan’s hands. “You must use this to pull us back in when I get him.”
“What?” Faolan stared at me. “It will snap.”
“It won’t. I am going to reinforce it with magic while I’m in there. The cord would slip through your fingers, but if you wind it around the knife, you will be able to keep a hold of it.”
“Keep a hold of the blade of a knife?”
“Do you have anything else?” I asked, looping the cord around my body before handing him the other end to tie with the first around the handle.
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” I looked back at Faolan before I stepped into the sand. “If you can, use your wind. Blow as much as the sand out as you can.” I took a breath and stepped into the sand, instantly sinking to my knees.
“Please don’t do this,” Jaxus begged, the sand already over his nose. I felt his lungs burn through our connection. “You must escape or they will find you.”
“We are running out of time,” I said between sobs. “Don’t ask me not to try.”
“One of us needs to live to save Nyx.” He tried to appeal to the rational side of my brain .
“There is no world where I can exist when you don’t. I won’t suffer a fate worse than death and lose myself slowly to your end. We are both getting out of here, or neither of us is.”