Page 62 of The Torment of Two

A hidden room?

I walk back into Alexander’s office and begin inspecting each bookshelf for a hidden latch or knob, starting with the far end by the windows. Two, equally engrossed in his task, ignores me as he pulls books and reshelves them with efficient speed. I skip past him to check the other shelves. When I reach the last one and find nothing, I let out a sigh.

Maybe I’m imagining it.

“What’s wrong?” Two asks as he saunters over to me, eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”

“It’s what I didn’t see.” I blow a strand of hair away from my face. “There’s a space between this room and the next one. I think it’s a hidden area.”

His eyes light up. “Seriously?”

As though he has to confirm it himself, he leaves me to inspect the other room. Then he strides back in, a huge grin on his face.

“You’re brilliant,” he murmurs, capturing my face in his hands. “So fucking brilliant.”

Our hunt is soon forgotten as he crashes his lips to mine once more. I climb my Two tree again, happy to hang onto him like a koala. As our kiss heats up, he leans my back on the bookshelves.

That are collapsing under our weight.

I suck in a sharp gasp of air as I fall backward, him on top of me. The bookshelves didn’t collapse. I think we just found the door to the room.

We both scramble to our feet, aware that we’ve uncovered a dark, dusty hidden space. Two pushes on the bookshelves that seem to pivot on some sort of rolling mechanism. It clicks softly into place, bathing us in complete darkness.

“What if there’s a dead body in here?” I hiss, shivering at the prospect.

Dim light from Two’s phone shines on his face. “That’d be unfortunate but also quite an interesting find.”

I snort because he’d find that interesting. He mashes the flashlight button on his phone while I pull mine out of my pocket.

“Holy shit,” he mutters.

By the time I get my own flashlight on, he’s stepped ahead of me into the narrow passage. The area can’t be any bigger than six feet wide and twelve feet long. The ceiling is the same height as the other rooms.

It’s what this room contains that makes it so interesting.

“There’s a bed,” Two states, shining his light on the small, ancient, rumpled bed. “Were prisoners kept here?”

I push past him to discover a small table beside the single bed with an oil lamp on top. When I try the drawer, I discover it’s locked.

“Need a key?”

I turn to catch Two’s delighted grin as he wiggles the key he’s been carrying around with him ever since he found it in one of the false books on the bookshelves. He’s tried every lock in this building. Every lock except this one.

He hands me the key and I make quick work of opening the drawer. Inside, I find a stack of letters, written on brittle paper from another time period.

E,

You are everything to me.

A

Oh my God.

“I knew it,” I shriek, turning to show Two the top letter. “They were lovers!”

He studies the letter, eyes widening. “This was their…”

“Love nest.”

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