Page 66 of Court of Treachery

She did not like how he smiled with dark glee at that, but she could not reply, for his power clutched her wholly once more. It strangled the breath from her chest and smothered her senses. The world fell to darkness and Harper knew no more.

57

HARPER

When Harper next awoke, the world did not exist. There was no air, no light—nothing but darkness and a chill that seeped into her bones. Disorientated, she blinked furiously, but the darkness did not abate. Rising panic engulfed her and Harper clutched at it, forcing it down. She moved her hand, which remained invisible before her, her mind faltering with the strange feeling of disconnection from her limbs without light to orient her.

Ground. There was ground beneath her. Her palms skimmed it. Hard. Rocky. Sooner than she had expected, the stone rose. Harper followed it up, until it was out of reach of where she sat. A ragged sob broke from her when she realised that she was entirely entombed within hand-hewn rock, judging from the angles that scarred the surface. The space was only just large enough for her to stand.

No light permeated it. Only a small, hairline crack signalled a possible door, also made of stone, that did not yield when she threw the weight of her body or magic at it. No air moved in thespace either, but the cold somehow found a way in. It flowed through the very stone, freezing her where she stood. Her bones ached with it, her cloak and boots no protection, and she could hardly feel her fingers. She pressed her hands against the door once more and heaved with all her might, to no avail.

Time stretched endlessly beyond measure in the tomb of stone, only marked by Harper’s failing legs when she became too tired to stand any longer. She reluctantly huddled on the floor once more, leaning against a rough surface of rock that dug into her back. She had already determined there was not even enough room to lay down. Any sleep she had—if any came at all, for nerves still charged through her and she did not feel like she could afford to close her eyes and rest—would be taken uncomfortably hunched up against the stone.

As she sat with her senses open, faint shouting permeated the stone. Their direction was impossible to discern. Was it her companions? The prospect of that made her chest tighten. The timbre sounded so familiar—enough for her to take a chance. Harper sucked in a lungful of stale air and bellowed until her throat hurt. After a few moments, others answered—one, then two, then three—albeit muffled. Definitely familiar. Relief blossomed warmly. Knowing they were alive gave her courage in the darkness as she sat alone. A light against the ever-present embers of terror writhing in the pit of her belly. What was to become of them all?

An indeterminate length of time later, light flared, and the hairline crack of a door illuminated before her. Harper staggered to her feet, heart leaping at the faint hope—and then fear—of what approached before the urge to escape the claustrophobic space surged over her common sense at whatever awaited her outside. She pressed her hands and face to the slim crack, trying to force herself through the gap but the stone remained inexorably sealed.Harper scrambled backwards as the burninglight of a torch flooded in, teasing her with the tenuous promise of freedom as the door inched open.

A familiar voice spoke through the gap, one that made her legs want to fold with the sheer relief that the illusion of safety greeted her, not more danger. “I told you not to come. Why did you not listen?” Dimitrius’s words were quiet, with an edge of desperation that cut straight to her core.

Her throat closed around all the words that longed to erupt. The last time they had seen each other, it was days—but it felt like years ago. The way Dimitrius had pressed her against that tree and taken every ounce of passion from her, turning it back on her in a way she had never felt before… The way that they had communicated with so much more than words. She heard that passion now in his voice, and she was not sure whether she hated herself or him more for it. How could she not have come? He knew as well as she that she could not abandon the right thing to do, no matter how hard or dangerous. No matter that it had landed them all in harm’s way.

“Where are my friends?” she asked quickly, as the door opened fully, and light bloomed. She could not bear to look at him and closed her eyes against the brightness blinding her. “Are they well?” Asking that was easier than scratching at the rawness inside her which longed to ask deep questions she suspected she would find no happy answers to.

“They’re here. Unharmed.”

A sigh of relief gushed past her lips, and she pressed her fingers against the cold stone, so relieved for a second that dizziness pressed in from all sides and she forgot to breathe. Suddenly, his hands were at her elbows, steadying her, and her breath failed for an entirely different reason as that beautiful lively scent of his banished the stench of death from the air.

“You should have fled. For goodness’ sake, you should have fled.” His tone held a bite of frustration, but she could not tellto whom it was directed. Her or himself. It made her indignant either way.

She sucked in air once more, if only to spit it out at him. “I make my own choices. I told you I could not.”

To her surprise, Dimitrius chuckled, though he shook his head—and she hated how that rich sound made something pleasant twist in the pit of her stomach. She could not see his face, so deep were the shadows cast over him. His presence engulfed her in the small space. “I don’t know whether to admire you or shake you. You ought to be trembling with fear, yet you still have defiance burning within you. Are you brave or foolish, I wonder?” His hands still circled her arms. She shook him free. She could not think clearly with him touching her.

“You’re callingmefoolish?” Harper’s eyebrows rose. “This, coming from the moron who decided it would be a great idea to resurrect a dead, evil elf?”

“He wasn’t dead, and I didn’t know he was evil,” protested Dimitrius. “Not then. I?—”

“Oh, I’m not going through this again. You’re afoolfor doing it, but we are where we are. I don’t much care, as long as we get out. Where is this place?” She peered past him now her eyes had adjusted to peer at a dimly lit stone hewn hallway.

“You’re in the mines. These are some of the old stores for the blasting powder they used to expand the cave systems. Don’t worry. Saradon has kept this area free from goblins. They won’t come here.”

At his words, Harper shuddered. “Good.” The darkness was made worse by thoughts of goblins creeping toward her. Goblins with their pointed teeth, sharp claws, and cruel intentions. “What’s going to happen to us?”

She hated the way that her voice carried an edge of fear, but if he detected it, Dimitrius did not remark upon it. He did not answer at all, in fact, which only made her feel all the moredesperate, unable to quell the seething worry that chased under her skin as he looked at her with such stricken fear in his gaze that she could bear it no longer. If he fell apart too, there would be no hope. No matter her feelings for him—and whatever he felt for her—her friends’ survival, and her own, depended on him. And she would fight for them with whatever resources she had. Right now, that included him.

“We would never be in this predicament but for you,” she growled at him. “You and your grand schemes. Our safety rests in your hands, and I don’t know whether to cry or scream at that!”

“I told you to leave! I made it expressly clear that you ought to. Do not blame me for your own folly in coming here, Harper.”

Hurt stung her, but she cut off his next words. “But for you, none of this would be happening.”

“As you have made quite clear,” he snapped, stepping forward into her space. She did not yield but stared mutinously up at him, setting her jaw in a furious scowl and willing her quickening pulse to settle. “Skies above, you will not be biddable even to save yourself and it infuriates me so! I cannot change it now, whichIhave made quite clear. In any case, there is no time to dally. He has summoned you.”

The anger drained from her, fear surging in its place.

“Will you run?”

She looked at him, but he was unreadable. Did he truly care? She dismissed the thought—he was there, pleading with her, wasn’t he? And yet, he planned to deliver her like a beast for slaughter to Saradon all the same. It made a lump form in her throat that she did not have the strength to unpick. “Do I have a choice?” she whispered.

---