Page 78 of Gothikana

The Devil, The Lovers, The Tower.

Mo’s voice as he told her to hold onto him.

Coming together in the car on a cliff in the rain.

Pressed together in the library.

Dealing together in the Vault.

Dream-Vad sitting on his throne, all alone, ravishing her.

Real-Vad consuming her in the woods.

And just hours ago, together in the bath.

‘Do you trust me?’ He asked the pertinent question, his voice steady, giving nothing away.

Corvina opened her eyes, staring at his hand. A sense of déjà vu washed over her again, as though she had been in this place, in this moment, in this time before.

It might be stupid. It might be destructive. It might change everything. But she trusted what he made her feel, trusted her instincts not to have led her astray, trusted the universe not to have guided her wrong.

She took his hand, glancing up at him. ‘Yes.’

His hand engulfed hers, wrapping around her smaller one with power and triumph, his other hand lowering the lantern and shrouding their faces in the dark. Something pivotal had happened in that moment, something that had changed, shifted, realigned the two of them, merging pieces of them together in a way so that one couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. With her trust, she’d given him the last of what she’d had left, her entire being this mountain of secrets that he now owned.

‘You have no idea what you’ve just done, little witch.’ He tugged her into his body, his jaw glowing in the low yellow flame. ‘There’s no going back now. I will never let you escape.’

Corvina swallowed, her free hand over his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart under her palm. ‘Just know that if you kill me, I will personally haunt you. Good luck getting your dick wet after that.’

A slash of a smile in the dark. ‘Duly noted.’

With that, he tugged her with him, taking her into the abyss.

Corvina gripped his hand, following his lead as he went through the dark, narrow tunnel carved into the mountain. The walls were jagged and rocky, the path littered with grass under their feet.

He kept the lantern low, and Corvina looked up to see why.

Bats. Hundreds of them hanging upside down in the cave-like tunnel. So this is where they stayed.

The confidence in his stride was the only thing that kept Corvina from feeling suffocated in the tunnel, knowing there would soon be anend to this. She breathed through her mouth with a vice-like grip on his hand and tried to cross the patch of bats.

After a few minutes, she looked up, relieved to see the bats gone.

‘What is this place?’ she whispered, her voice carrying even in the low volume.

‘One of the many tunnels around Verenmore.’ He spoke in the same low tone. ‘Most people don’t know about them, and those that do never really cross them.’

‘Was it on your family’s map?’ she asked, just to keep herself distracted.

‘Yes,’ he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. ‘There’s one that leads straight to the valley. I had that one sealed shut. That’s what the Slayers had used to get up and down the mountain so quickly without being seen.’

Corvina shuddered, the wetness in the air and the cold in the tunnel making her clutch her shawl. A few steps ahead, the carcass of an animal littered the side.

‘How do you even cross these alone?’ she asked, looking at the bones scattered about as they passed it.

His hand squeezed hers again. ‘I’ve never really been scared of much. Darkness, death, blood, bones, they’re all a part of life, one way or another.’

‘And ghosts?’ she asked, picking up speed with him. ‘Do you believe in them?’

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