Chapter 34 #3
I was so determined that I didn’t notice the rough terrain until my foot caught on a rock and I fell, tumbling toward the edge. A scream tore through me, my face meeting the open air until a warm hand caught me and yanked me back. I fell into Kiyan’s chest with floppy relief.
“Thank you.” I looked up at him, but he stared stoically ahead and then released me abruptly. I fell to the ground in a heap and made a frustrated sound. His mouth quirked but he stepped back from me, not meeting my eyes.
“You can’t help us if you’re dead.”
I shot him an annoyed look before sweeping my gaze around the area. I stood, searching for the thing that had pulled me here.
“A carving,” I said, seeing it again. The rock I had tripped over jutted out from the mountain, innocuous, but when you looked closer, it had a carving in the top of it.
An image of a jasmine flower.
Kiyan looked down at the same time as I did, and we both drew in a breath at the small flower at our feet.
This was something.
I pulled away from him and knelt down to inspect it. I traced my fingers along its edges, the symbol that was on my mother’s jewelry, and on every book about the Queen’s vault.
In the center was a large hole, the width of a thumb.
Air whistled between my teeth. It looked like keyhole.
I didn’t have a key, but usually, I didn’t need one.
Brushing the dirt away, my excavator instincts kicked in, and I wished I had all my tools with me.
“What are you doing?” Kiyan’s shadow draped over me.
“Looking for a door. Help me.”
Kiyan crouched down, his large frame looking incongruous as he felt for the seam of a door. I snorted at the thought of him being an excavator for the Citadel, his large hands holding the dainty brushes used to clean the delicate relics unearthed.
“What?” He glanced up at me, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Nothing. I appreciate you being so hands-on.”
“What did you expect? Me to stand there glowering in the corner while you searched?”
“Something like that.”
My fingers brushed at the dirt, trying to find the edges of a door that didn’t seem to exist. I released a frustrated sound before something occurred to me. I stood and began to step back, right to the edge of the plateau.
“If you fall off again, I’m not saving you.” Kiyan crossed his arms over his chest.
“I thought I can’t help you if I’m dead?” I mimicked.
“I’ll tell Reza your own stupidity killed you.”
“I’ve been called many things, but never stupid,” I snapped at him. I kicked at the earth. If I couldn’t find the door, I couldn’t unlock it. My gaze ran the perimeter of the plateau, taking in everything.
“It’s the whole thing,” I whispered, and knelt at the edge again. I closed my eyes, imagining the perimeter of the plateau, allowing my magic to fuse into the edges of the door, feed into the jasmine carving, and snap into place.
My golden threads unfurled, pouring into the large hole in the center of the jasmine like rain.
“What . . .” Kiyan began to speak until my magic sparked to life in the air again, and he watched it with his mouth half open, awe painted on his face.
But I didn’t deserve his admiration, because the lock resisted me. It didn’t open.
I shook my head, working on the lock with my threads, coaxing it to listen. I fought it, pushing against its resistance.
Sitting back on my heels, frustration rose in my chest. I realized that Kiyan had no idea that I could open doors as well as find them, but I couldn’t be bothered to hide that portion of my magic anymore.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Unlock it.” I met his gaze.
He crouched down next to me. “You can do that?”
“Sometimes. I’m not sure if I can now though.” I released a bitter laugh. “All this, and we can’t even open the door.”
Kiyan made a small sound, and I looked up at him. “You said you use magic like an extension of you?”
“Yes.”
He hesitated a fraction of a second, before taking my hand and pressing a finger into the keyhole. “Use your magic now.”
He was using my hand as the key. My eyes fluttered closed as I exhaled, calling my power forth once more.
Something moved around my finger, transmuting it to fit the lock, or the lock to fit my hand. It folded around my hand until it had swallowed it whole, the stone changing to a shimmering gold metal.
I felt rather than heard the lock click and give way. The earth rumbled, rocking with the force of my magic, with the energy of whatever was placed here to keep visitors out. I jerked my hand away, checking it over closely, but it looked the same as it always did.
The center of the plateau began to lower, a platform forming into stairs, leading slowly down like a pattern of cards fanned out across a table.
We moved to stand at the edge, taking in the cavern that had opened up in front of us.
I glanced over at Kiyan. “Do you want to do the honors?”
“I’ll follow you,” he said as he gestured toward the ominous entrance.
“Coward,” I muttered.
“I’ve been called many things, but never that,” he said, an echo of my own statement earlier.
And so, the coward and the fool stepped into the earth to find what neither of them knew was there.