Page 159 of Of Nine So Bold

Well, it waswrong.

Except they’d happily kill us too.

Should that matter?

I raked a hand through my hair. It shouldn’t. Itdidn’t. Gods help me, we’d all had this same debate weeks ago when we saved Gwyneira from the snow. We’d spared her because, as Niko pointed out, we couldn’t be like the Aneirans who would have killed us on the spot if our positions were reversed.

The same should go for this situation.

Right?

“I don’t know what’s going through that brain of yours,” Clay said quietly as we continued past another curve of the tunnel. “But your face looks like your brain’s twisting itself into a knot. There’s no bright side here. There’s just saving her, like you said. That’s what matters. We do what we can to stop the temple from collapsing, no matter what happens here.”

Gods, why’d I have to be the optimist of the two of us? “I know what I said, but that doesn’t mean we just give up. There has to be something I can do to help you fix?—”

Norbert turned, bringing us all to a stop as a collapsed section of tunnel came into view ahead. “What’re you whispering about back there, runts?”

“Leave ‘em be,” Brock grunted dismissively, not even bothering to look our way as he approached the pile of rock that brought the tunnel to an end. “They’re just stalling.”

I cast an insistent look at Clay.

My brother met it with a wry expression. “They’re not going to listen.”

“But—”

“But nothing.”

I couldn’t accept that. “There’s a problem with the tunnel.”

Norbert snorted derisively.

“See, what’d I tell you?” Brock commented to our cousin. “Just stalling.”

Clay scoffed. With heavy sarcasm, he echoed, “See, what’d I tell you?” to me quietly, as if proving his point.

Ignoring my twin, I strode toward the larger giants, though I fastened my attention mostly on Ignatius. “The magic here trapped the water in such a way that it eroded the stone. If we aren’t careful, it could bring the whole temple down into a sinkhole.”

For a heartbeat, the giants froze, and though it’d been years since I was last surrounded by their type of Erenlian, I could still read the flicker of alarm and—yes—fear that flashed through the eyes of several of them. They’d just gotten free and now this?

But they didn’t do what I hoped. Instead of facing the problem and finding a positive solution, they did the opposite. The henchmen scoffed their fears away and rolled their eyes. Norbert muttered about idiot dwarves delaying the inevitable.

Brock just stared at us.

I couldn’t believe this. “We need to do something!”

A couple of the giantslaughed.

I looked at Ignatius again. His gaze was locked on me with an intent expression I swore Byron must have learned from the monks of the Order, because my friend definitely gave us that same look when he was weighing everything we’d said against the library of information in his head.

Norbert made a derisive sound. “Give me a break. Just admit my father is the king and get it over with. Dragging your feet won’t make your little buddy up there any less of a pathetic dwarf trying to steal what doesn’t belong to him.”

Ignatius spoke up before my brother could open his mouth and, most likely, tell our cousin to go to hell. “Your affinity is to water, is it?”

“His.” I nodded back toward Clay.

“Oh, please.” Norbert slapped his hand to the wall. “This tunnel isn’t going to?—”

A shuddering groan went through the stone around us. Dust rained from the ceiling and walls.

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