Page 47 of Their Queen

Now that he mentioned it, that same heavy feeling that had pervaded my senses upon entering the rotting ring when we first arrived now stood out to me. The malevolent magic pulsed in waves, and as I focused on the feeling, I was drawn to the back of the room. Thinking back to the maze in the first trial, I figured it couldn’t hurt to push the stones again. “Here, help me,” I said as I continued shoving each individual square. “Whatever it is, it’s coming from behind this wall.”

Cyerra and Jonathan started pushing as well. We worked from edge to edge, each of us taking a section to ensure we didn’t miss one. Sure enough, to the far left of the room, just above Cyerra’s head, I found a stone that had missing mortar. It wouldn’t budge, but I wondered if it was locked the same as the door. “Cyerra, push on this one,” I told her.

She did as I had instructed, but it still didn’t budge. Well, shit. What now? “What if I went back there in my smoke form?” she asked, hesitant about that idea and for good reason.

“We don’t know what’s back there. It could be a trap,” Jonathan reasoned with her.

She shrugged, tilting her head up as she said, “We’ll never know if we don’t try.” Before we could stop her, she turned into smoke disappearing into the crack in the wall.

Fuck. If something happens to her, Rhowyn will kill me.

Chapter Thirty Four: Callum

I paced as I waited for Cyerra to return, running my hands through my hair. She was taking too long to come back. Just when I was preparing myself mentally to tear the walls down to get to her, she popped back into existence, a thick tome clasped to her chest. “Where the fuck have you been?” I snapped.

“Easy, puppy, I found an alcove back there. On it was a pedestal that held this book,” she explained, still cradling the book as if she couldn’t let it go.

“What took you so long?” I asked, trying to figure out what was so hard about grabbing the book and bringing it back. It shouldn’t have taken her the thirty minutes it had.

“Well, getting it off the pedestal wasn’t that simple,” she said, dragging out the word “well,” looking sheepishly at me again. I didn’t like that look.

“What do you mean? What aren’t you telling us?” I pushed her for an answer.

“So, the book was stuck. It wouldn’t budge. However, my tattoos started glowing again when I touched it. Obviously, I snatched my hand away, but I couldn’t find a lever or anything to release it. I touched it again, placing my hands on the slate pages, and…” she paused taking a deep breath as she rushed out the rest, “then the book poked me, and once it had my blood, it released. But I’m here now, everything’s good. Nothing happened.” She smiled up at me innocently. “Should we go now? This seems like it should be enough for Rhowyn.”

“Not so fast.” I put a hand on her shoulder to hold her in place. “Don’t think I missed that little bit. It took your blood?” I needed her to clarify.

“Just a little bit, a small pinprick really.” She tried to assuage my nerves unsuccessfully.

“Whatever this temple was, it’s connected to the Ravens. If anything, she was probably the only one who could have gotten in here. I have a feeling that if we had tried to force access, the magic would have retaliated,” Jonathan reasoned, letting her off the hook.

Realizing I wasn’t winning this battle, I sighed. “Fine. But don’t think I’m not telling Rhowyn.”

“Shit, do you have to?” Cyerra whined, knowing the conniption Rhowyn would throw when she found out the risk Cyerra had taken by doing what she did.

“I wouldn’t lie to her, and she’ll have questions when we tell her about this place,” I told her honestly, happy that she didn’t seem so smug now. “Let’s take a quick look at the book,” I said, holding my hand out to see what was so important that it had been kept secret for millennia.

Instead of handing it over, she hugged it tighter to her chest. “Let’s get out of here first,” she suggested, avoiding the fact that she didn’t want to hand it over.

Narrowing my eyes, I prepared to rip it away from her, but the snap of a branch had us shutting up and turning to face where the entrance had been. Straining, I heard mumbling from multiple men and a single female voice. A woman that was definitely not Rhowyn. “We need to hide,” I said.

“And just where do you think we should do that?” Cyerra asked, her eyes wide as she sensed the danger. “It’s not like there’s anything to hide behind.”

“Take us through to the alcove that the book was in. Hurry,” Jonathan snapped at her as she rushed over. We clamped our hands on her shoulder, turning to smoke and pushing through the mortar like before. She released her magic, cramming us into a room that was barely three feet by three feet. Right smack in the middle of the cubby was a large pedestal that forced us to get closer than we had intended.

Just as we settled, a voice came into focus. “We need to find the book. It’s here somewhere, I can feel it.” Titania’s tinkling tone had my back snapping straight as flashbacks of having to remain silent while she took pleasure in my pain assaulted me. Next to me, I vaguely heard Jonathan’s breaths start to rush in and out. He was also reliving her torture.

I forced my eyes shut, taking a deep breath in and holding it for a count of three before exhaling. Repeating this process until I had grounded myself back to reality, I leaned down to Jonathan. “Take a deep breath. You can’t panic here. You’ll give our location away,” I pleaded with him on a whisper, barely more than an exhale.

His eyes met mine, wide with pinpoint pupils, terror painted across his stricken face. Demonstrating what I needed from him, I took a deep breath and held it, nodding at him to do the same. He inhaled shakily, barely able to hold his breath for a second before it was rushing out again. I took another breath, and he followed my example until slowly, his muscles began to relax.

A male voice, Bernard, spoke in response. “We’ve scoured these ruins too many times to count, and we’ve always come up with the same result. Nothing to show for our efforts.”

Titania snapped at him, “I don’t want to hear that now. I need that book. It’s the key to everything. Without it, that little wretch will succeed. I need to stop her if we’re going to open the gate. It’s the only way we’ll ascend and become gods, finally displacing that whining bitch, Avalonia.”

“Fine. I’ll look aga…” Bernard’s words trailed off. Shit, we hadn’t shut the door to the locked room.

“What!?” Titania snapped, her impatience already eating at her.

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