Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Briar
When I made it to the top of the stairs, sweat coated my body, and my hands trembled as I stood before the tower door. Unlike the other doors in here, it had no window in the center and was made entirely of wood.
She wouldn’t have housed Seth behind something that could break so easily, would she?
It didn’t seem plausible, but I couldn’t retreat without checking every room first, even if I wanted to enter the tower about as much as I wanted to tear out my hair.
I flexed my trembling fingers before resting them on the handle and pushing down. The door swung silently open on well-oiled hinges to reveal the empty, circular room beyond.
Stale air drifted out from within, and a thin layer of dust coated the floor. A few thin cobwebs dangled from the corners; they floated on the air currents the opening door created.
The fading rays of the sun pierced through the sides of the drapes drawn over the two windows in the room. One window faced Nightshade while the other faced Luminaire. I had no idea what they used this room for; maybe homesick casters came here to gaze down on their kingdoms.
The room clearly wasn’t used often, but it did get cleaned on occasion. Otherwise, the dust and spiderwebs would be a lot worse.
I pondered entering the room, but what was the point? There was clearly nothing here, and while I didn’t understand why the tower was empty, I wasn’t going to waste time trying to figure it out.
Closing the door, I retreated down the stairs as I tried to figure out my next move. Without knowing what else to do, I returned to the first floor.
I suspected the prisoners on this floor had been here the longest. It would make sense for them to fill these rooms first, but if I were being honest with myself, none of this barbaric ritual made any sense to me.
It’s what the casters had always done. They either sacrificed their souls to debauchery to worship the moon god and goddess, or devoted themselves to righteousness to worship the sun god and goddess.
Both paths sounded truly awful to me.
I had to find Seth and get out of here before my Needing started. The only problem was that he wasn’t here.
I searched the first floor again for something, anything, I may have missed. Maybe there was a door to another room, or a basement, or a back entrance to something I didn’t know about, but I couldn’t find anything.
When I finished, I was jittery and lost as I found myself standing outside the first room again. Inside, the elf remained on his bed. He glanced at me before returning his attention to his book; he licked one of his long, elegant fingers before turning the page.
The elves were known for their wisdom and possessed extremely powerful earth magic. They were tuned into their surroundings in ways many others weren’t.
If anyone knew any secrets about this place, it might be him. And if my theory about the first-floor occupants was correct, then he’d been here for a while. Maybe he’d seen Seth and could tell me where he was.
Dread clawed at my heart like fingers tearing at a casket. I struggled not to give in to my rising panic, but breathing was becoming more difficult.
What did his absence mean for Seth? What did the casters do with the eternals they grew tired of? Did they kill those they’d stopped deeming worthy? Or did they maybe… just maybe, turn them loose? Did Seth’s father manage to free him?
I didn’t see my mother agreeing to let anyone go, especially not Seth, the man who’d publicly humiliated her by having sex with her daughter. But if he wasn’t here, did that mean they’d killed him?
I strained to breathe through the possibility that had never occurred to me before. I couldn’t picture that beautiful man, who I loved so much, being gone from this world.
Seth had one of the gentlest souls I’d ever encountered. Being locked in here would have damaged it greatly, but he was strong enough to survive it… if they didn’t kill him.
But maybe that’s exactly what they’d done, and if that was true, I didn’t know what I’d do. The hope of seeing him again was all that kept me going through my bleakest days and nights. Without the hope of Seth, I had no home and no one who loved me. I had nothing.
I could exit on the day caster side and maybe find shelter there, but I didn’t want to be bound to anyone other than the man who’d marked me as his mate. I could never return to Nightshade, and no other kingdoms would take me in. I wasn’t one of them, and no one would risk my mother’s wrath.
I had no idea what would happen when I opened this door, but I had to talk to someone about what was happening, and the prisoners were the only ones here. They also knew far more about this place than I did.
Resting my palm on the handle, I pushed down. When it went all the way down, I was relieved to discover it wasn’t locked. They must only have a mechanism or spell on the inside to keep the prisoners within.
When a click sounded, the elf lifted a bookmark from the stand beside him and slipped it between two pages. He set the book on the stand, brushed back his braid, and rose to stand in the center of the bed. He was tall but not quite six feet.
I hesitated before pushing the door further open. I couldn’t enter the room with a prisoner who wasn’t confined. He’d kill me in a heartbeat.
I couldn’t see it, but there had to be something magical to keep them in check. The other casters entered this harem and left again without being slaughtered by the eternals within.
But then, maybe my mother preferred to see me dead. I’d been a thorn in her side since birth. Perhaps they sent the other casters into the harem with some knowledge of the prisoners that they’d denied to me.
While it was a possibility, it didn’t stop me from pushing the door further open. Certain death or not, I would get answers.