Page 30 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

And as she took his hand, a whoosh of relief hurled from her lungs when she saw her friends sitting and leaning against half-dried-out evergreens at the edge of the cliff. Heard the bickering voices of Jade and Aiden, and a deep guttural laugh from Thalon goading them on.

Alora couldn’t help but smile.

In front of them, the endless staircase transformed into flat bedrock. A glassy wall of navy-amethyst stone waited with a carved golden door resembling those of grand temples and places of worship. Its door, golden and glimmering in the Autumn sun, was canopied by a carved triangle peak housing a night sky.

Moon—the second Celestial ruler of night—was the focus, beside a star so lovely it could have been mistaken as an equal to Moon’s right. And to the left, Moon’s glow fought against whorls of Darkness.

The clouds gathered around the sky-high gray peaks and threatened a distant snowfall. By speculation alone, they didn’t have much time before the sky yielded harsh conditions and trapped them inside for hours—possibly days.

Aiden’s hair rustled in the stiff wind as he spoke to Jade. “You know, this place is almost as cold as your heart. Give ita few hours. The blistering cold will be a perfect match.” His cheeks swelled tauntingly to his eyes, causing wrinkles in the corners.

Jade cocked her head and sarcastically smiled; mischief set in her glowing green eyes.

One second, Aiden stood at the cliff’s edge grinning like a youngling who was watching a sibling receive a scolding for a scheme they concocted. The next, Jade turned to Thalon, who nodded his approval.

She spiraled into a crouch, boot colliding with Aiden’s feet.

Aiden shrieked as he fell, reaching for Jade, who outstretched her hand and clung onto the collar of his shirt before he tumbled over the ledge. With a reptilian grin, Jade leaned forward and whispered something. Her palm smacked into his chest, releasing him from her grip.

He flew backward, screaming out of sight.

Panic wracked Alora at the same time Thalon pushed from the evergreen, laughing hysterically as an impressive spiraling thunderstorm and incredible strikes of lightning formed in front of him.

But it was Garrik’s heavy sigh that stopped them from moving.

Instead of shadowing himself over the ledge, he irritably shook his head at the sky like this had happened before, and with a twist of his wrist, Smokeshadows appeared. They misted away—ten feet high—before dropping a screaming Aiden, with arms and legs flailing, on his feet.

Aiden stopped screaming once he realized he was on solid ground and whipped his head to Jade, screeching, “You! Threw me off amountain!”

Jade crossed her arms, leathers groaning as she grinned something utterly wicked. “No, I pushed you.”

“The most deadly warriors in all of Elysian, huh?” Alora raised her eyebrow.

Garrik only shook his head. “Can’t take them anywhere.”

The door awaited.

Garrik was the first to move toward it. Shadows whorled around his next step, engulfing him in cloud and ash. The tendrils parted as he walked from it, now adorned in battle leathers as those enchanting eyes pondered over the details etched into stone.

But it was Aiden who touched the door first, pausing as a surge of air blasted out of the crack and disturbed their clothing and hair. Aiden’s face turned ashy, peering into the darkness. The distant rhythmic drip of water carried with an eerie echo deep inside.

Aiden stepped away, mouth twisted as his ashy skin paled a shade lighter. His gaze swept between the door and the group before his eyes met Jade. Unease clung to his face—a youngling afraid of a monster in the dark.

He straightened as he swallowed and removed his tricorn hat, bringing it to his heart. Aiden bowed at his waist and gestured his hand to the door with a smile at Jade. “Ladies first.”

Jade rolled her eyes, knocked her shoulder into his as she stepped forward, and said, “You’re an idiot,” and disappeared into the darkness.

Down and down and down, deep within the labyrinth of Fourtress, they went. White starlight bathed the eroding stone walls, casting a glow that flickered like a Stars Eternal beacon in a place as hopeless as Firekeeper’s pits of doom.

Alora couldn’t help the shake of her hand, though she willed every bit of courage to scorch through her veins. Couldn't helpthe shiver across her flesh as that hovering orb of starlight drifted before them, guiding their every inch into the belly of this tomb.

She’d never seen Thalon so rigid. Owning a face of ancient wrath as he shoved lethal awareness and caution into his every step.

In fact, they all held their bodies the same. Ready for anything.

Parchment scrunched beside her as Jade glided her finger along a map. Their only hope of escaping.

Aiden wiped his face and grumbled when a droplet of stars-knows-what fell from the damp walls of the tunnel. Alora had ignored her fair share of them, too. Ignored the tight air, the musty smell of something utterly rotten and decaying. Ignored the vermin that scurried at their feet—animals she knew would feast on their bodies should they not make it out.

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