Page 71 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

Without hesitation, Kalix turns and glances up, confirming my knowledge with a nod. “She’s right.”

“So, we’ve been here before,” Ruen states, though his tone is vague and his words slow as if he’s not exactly sure how that proves my suspicions.

I sigh and plant my hands on my hips. “The Hinterlands is too vast to repeat small details like that,” I tell them as Kalix twists to face me once more. “This isn’t really the Hinterlands, but I suspect a fake labyrinth meant to appear like it.”

Ruen’s face remains scrunched as he peers between me and Kalix before finally settling firmly on me. “Why would they do that?”

“Tryphone,” I say. “Tryphone did it.”

His brows ease up. “Because he knows who you are,” he guesses.

“I suspect he does,” I reply. “Makeda is the Goddess of Knowledge, her powers earned her the place she has on the Council, but also by Tryphone’s side. If she were to fight against him and refuse him certain answers to his questions, then she’d be in much the same position as Caedmon.”

Ruen opens his mouth and though I know he has plenty more questions, likely questions for which I have no answers, whatever his next words are remain lost as a scream echoes through my head and into Kalix’s via the pathway I left open for him and his serpents to see the threads.

With a cry, I collapse to my knees, cupping my hands over my ears as the sound pierces my skull with such violence that it sends all of my senses reeling. Distantly, I hear the thump of Kalix’s knees hitting the dirt as well and his grunt. As the last vestiges of the echoing wail fades enough to allow me to think, I reach for the threads, seeking out the one I’ve been trailing this whole time. What I see horrifies me.

Crawling back to my feet and standing on shaky legs, I blink, seeing Ruen in front of me, his hands on my face. He speaks but his words don’t make it through as another of Maeryn’s shrieks slams into my mind.

“Fuck!” Kalix’s curse is sharp and I quickly reach for him, slamming the pathway closed so at least only one of us is hit by the debilitating shock of her screams.

“She’s in trouble,” I gasp out, stumbling as I push Ruen’s hands away.

“Kiera!” he calls out after me, but I’m already on the move.

There’s no precision in my movements as I rush towards the thread—finally seeing it clearer than before—closer too. My boot comes down hard on a dried-out branch and the resounding crack echoes into the rafters of the tree limbs overhead. I halt. At my back, Kalix and Ruen come to crashing stops as well.

“What’s—”

I hold up a hand, fisting it to silence Kalix’s question. He goes quiet immediately. Awareness creeps hot and silent up my spine, spanning over my shoulders and down into my arms as I take in the area we’ve entered. Reaching into my mind, I find the thread—shivering with anxiety—but there’s been no third scream.

I don’t speak. I don’t move. I don’t even breathe, waiting…

The thread in my mind dances side to side as if it’s running from something and yet, perpetually pulled back into place. What happens if the Mortal Gods trapped in their animal forms break out on their own?

The curious question hovers in my mind and just as I ease forward to peer around a particularly large pine tree, a small figure comes sprinting out of the underbrush. A flash of crimson fur is there and gone in an instant.

“It’s her!” I call back as I give chase. “Maeryn!”

The animal continues sprinting—the smaller body of a rabbit darting in and out beneath bushes and over fallen tree limbs with agile movements. “Maeryn!” I call out, chasing after her. “It’s us. We know you! We’re not going to hurt you.”

If she hears me or even understands me in her animal form, Maeryn doesn’t show it. Behind me, the booted footsteps of Kalix and Ruen veer along either side of me. “There’s a grove ahead,” Ruen says. “We can trap her there.”

Cursing beneath my breath, I turn my head, giving him a nod. Together, the three of us chase Maeryn through the trees—leading her closer and closer to the grove. Each time she tries to escape the bounds of our invisible barrier, one of us stops her. When Kalix withdraws his sword, sending her racing back towards Ruen’s side of the slowly closing trap we’re urging her towards, I shoot him a dark look.

He merely shrugs and keeps the weapon in hand as we reach the copse of trees so close together that Maeryn will have to burrow beneath their roots or climb them to get away. As good as she’s proven to be in her animal form though, the fact is—Maeryn isn’t a rabbit. She doesn’t have a rabbit’s natural instinct. So, when the three of us break through and force her into the wall of trees, she turns and backs up.

Softening my voice, I crouch down and hold the flat of my palm out. “It’s okay,” I assure her as my pulse beats faster. “It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.” I repeat the words, hoping that she can hear me beyond the animal’s mind she’s trapped in.

As I draw nearer to her trembling, twitching body, I see the spot of blood on her hind leg, and a bolt of pure rage slams intome. It takes considerable effort to keep my anger from entering my voice as I allow my knees to touch the ground a few feet away as Ruen and Kalix align themselves on either side of me.

Maeryn’s little head tilts side to side and I have to repress a grin. Even in this form, she’s a survivor. Black eyes return to me and the matching black nose between a set of long whiskers twitches again. Her movements are sharp and jerky, anxious and fearful.

“Put your fucking sword away,” I command Kalix when I notice that her eyes linger on him the longest. Even as I keep my tone light and even, the words are a warning that if Kalix scares her any more than necessary, I’ll fucking make him regret it.

His grunt and the sound of a sword sliding back into its sheath is his only response. The rabbit seems to calm slightly at the disappearance of the weapon and as I hold my hand out for her, she hesitates. “It’s okay.” I practically whisper the words, hoping she’ll trust me. I’ll say the same thing over and over again if it means she recognizes me again.

“I’ve been looking for you,” I tell her. “I’m sure Niall is worried.”

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