Page 85 of Bound By Darkness

“If you’re not, meet me at the gate at sunset. I want to show you something.”

Silver pooled like starlight in his eyes as I said the only word I could muster, “Okay.”

Ivan’s face beamed as he jumped up from the table, his hand giving it a quick tap before walking backward. His hand rubbed a bit of red around his neck. “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

A smile crept across my face. A night between the two of us? It might be the reward I needed after I found the answers within the library.

Wiping a mixture of sweat and soot across my forehead, I tossed another wooden beam into the slowly growing pile. It’d taken me well into the afternoon to clear a square a little over the size of me.

My arms quivering, I tossed another beam onto the stack before sitting down, my body grateful for the rest.

I’d found a few pages. A recipe for stew, a few ways to make salve, and a page about mushrooms. Nothing relevant to what I was searching for.

Laying down in the space I’d cleared, I listened to the muffled waves crashing against the distant shoreline as I replayed the prophecy the witch had spoken to me.

When two sisters, born in winter should claim the powerfrom Mother Nature.

This had to refer to my sister Yeva and I, both born on the Winter Solstice a few years from each other, but claiming the power from Mother Nature? Was this something with my casting?

To unlock Mother’s hold on all those who fold to higher beings, cruel and old.

What did it mean to unlock Mother’s hold? My mother? Maybe the witch had spoken nonsense. Maybe this wasn’t some grand prophecy, but the incoherent ramblings of a forgotten witch.

I straightened, bits of grass sticking to my hair as I brushed it away with my fingers. Whatever it meant, I needed to figure it out before the rebels or King Hywell discovered my location. I would not become a weapon of their choosing.

Kicking a pile of charred books, a metallic clang echoed back.

I froze.

Brushing my foot over the books, the sound didn’t repeat. Maybe I’d misheard the sound. Was I going delusional? Dragging my foot against the ground, I paused as the grass gave way to something hard. I kicked. The same sound repeated like metal reverberating in a well.

I sat up, my hands furiously brushing pages and chipped wood away. My fingers caught onto something solid.

A handle.

It was attached to a metal door surrounded by grass. Slightly rusted, my fingers flitted over the engravings. It was the Old Fae language.

My heart sputtered as I yanked on the handle, my teeth clenching as I heaved with every ounce of strength?—

It popped open, a puff of dust billowing from within.

Coughing, I waved the cloud away as I peered into the dimly lit hole. A ladder was built into the side covered inbusted cobwebs and layers of rust. Did the citizens of Laias even know it was here?

Peering down, the light was swallowed by darkness. It was impossible to see the depth, but it didn’t quell my racing heart.

I needed to venture down into the catacombs. Did this place contain the answers I needed? Swallowing bits of doubt and nerves, I lowered myself onto the ladder. It held. My fingers curled around metal as I began the descent?—

The door slammed shut, sealing me in layers of night.

Chapter 25

Past Salt Breezes

THALIA

“Shit!”My shoulder burned as I rammed into the makeshift metallic door.

It didn’t budge and I couldn’t see anything as night swallowed the surrounding atmosphere and remaining air in my lungs.

---