Page 65 of A Kingdom of Monsters

It seemed apparent that we couldn’t simply grab every key and try them one after another. If Siobhan was right about the traps, then taking the wrong key was sure to have dire consequences.

I took a small step forward, and scanned my gaze over each statue in turn. Immediately, I saw they were not as identical as I’d initially thought. Two had more feminine looking features, while the other two seemed to be male. Three of the four had rounded human ears, while only the woman on the center left had the long pointed ears of the high Fae. Their carved stone clothing also differed slightly from one another. Each wore a long robe, but with different patterns decorating the hems. The closest statue carried a sword, while the one on the opposite end held a goblet of wine.

I bit my lip, thinking. If we were supposed to choose the right statue, there had to be some clue here somewhere. Cross had been the one to build this vault after all, and I trusted him to air on the side of the dramatic.

Turning in a small circle, I raised my flames higher to illuminate the room. My heart skipped an excited beat. Sure enough, thelooping pattern on the wall was not a decoration, as I’d initially thought. It was words, carved directly into the stone. I leaned closer to read.

Silver but not silver.

Worth twice its weight in gold.

Forged of blood and ash.

What once was poison, now lies cold.

My pulse quickening with excitement,pointed at the words. “Look!”

Scion and Bael both turned as one, tensing as if they expected to be attacked. When they saw where I was pointing however, they relaxed.

“Silver but not silver?” Scion repeated, a mocking derision in his voice. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Well, that’s kind of the point of a riddle,” Bael replied dryly. “Whatdoesit mean?”

Scion rolled his eyes. “I’m going to kill Cross the next time I see him. This is too much. Both of you, stand back.”

“Why?” I said too quickly.

“Because I want to know what happens if we pick the wrong key. We could stand here trying to solve some damn riddle, or we could just try each key until one works.”

“But if you take the wrong one it will surely set off a trap.”

“I know,” Scion replied. “But what kind of trap? The only way to know for sure how dangerous this is, is to test it.”

Hesitantly, I stepped back toward the wall. Without commenting, Bael came to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the statues.

“You could at least let me watch,” I grumbled, trying to edge out from behind him. “For all you know the floor will cave in if we pick the wrong key, and then it won’t matter if you were in front of me.”

“You're right, little monster.” Bael grinned and grabbed my hand tightly in his fingers. “There. Now if it does fall in, I can shadow walk us both out of here.”

“You’re insane,” I mumbled, but didn’t pull my hand away.

Bael’s eyes flashed, and I was sure he was thinking about all the ways he could show me even more insanity.

Once we were out of the way, Scion strode confidently toward the platform with all the statues. He reached out and snatched the obsidian key from the hand of the statue on the far right.

Immediately, another barrage of arrows flew through the air.

I let out an involuntary scream, my eyes going wide as Scion flattened himself on the ground, only narrowly avoiding the arrows.

“Alright.” He got to his feet again. “That’s good news.”

“What, that you didn’t get shot by arrows?”

“No. It’s good that there’s nothing more here than arrows. Stand back again.”

One by one, Scion grabbed each key from the stone statue. He’d take the key, then hit the ground, covering his head until the arrows passed. He repeated this four times until the ground was littered with arrows, and Scion held all the keys in his fist.

“Brilliant,” Bael said loudly. “That saves us some time.”

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