Page 69 of The Stolen Bride

Pace brisk, I headed down a narrow passage. Turning this way and that, I ended up back at the start. So I tried again. And again. The maze always began and ended at the same point. But no matter where else I ventured, the lantern light illuminated additional messages that peppered the walls.

There’s no way out.

I’ll join you shortly.

Are you having fun yet?

The things I’m going to do to you…

I was well and truly trapped, enshrined in a tomb, the only life besides mine scurrying into the shadows as I passed.

A series of noises reached my ears, and I frowned. Clinking chains. Moans of pain and snarls of rage.

I tracked the sounds, which led me to a path I’d not stumbled upon before. Racing through the skull lined corridors, I took another turn. It brought me into a massive cavern with a ceiling seemingly miles high. The air felt cooler, and it was easier to breathe. Decay didn’t scent this space, but a hint of rust.

Goose bumps formed on my skin. Something told menot to enter, but I heard another moan of pain and surged forward. Maybe it was Juniper, because she’d been dropped down here, too. Gravel crunched beneath my feet. At least I hoped it was gravel. I lifted the lantern to fill the cavern with light, my lips parting in both wonder and horror.

Chained throughout were nine colossal beasts I’d only seen in nightmares and movies. A dragon. Something that resembled a wolf, but a thousand times worse. Same for a bear and a lynx. An eagle lion hybrid. Some kind of giant sea monster, imprisoned underneath a leak in the rocky walls. A winged amalgamation of a panther and a scorpion with the quills of a porcupine. Another winged creature, but with a horn and skin of stone. And a huge, coiled adder with humanoid features and fangs the size of my pinkies. Each animal possessed glowing eyes of a different color.

The bottom dropped out of my stomach, like recognizing like. “The primordials,” I rasped, pressing a hand to my chest. The original kings were exactly as my mom described them in her bedtime stories, only now they were frozen in their animal forms.

“Magnificent, aren’t they?”

The unfamiliar voice startled me, and I jolted. A woman strode from behind the dragon. A creature she stroked and kissed, as if it were a beloved child. The dragon jerked from her touch, steam rising from its nostrils.

Her identity wrenched a gasp from my deepest depths. Valkara, freed from her bounds and without wounds. “How did you get free? Is the fight over?”

She motioned to the prisoners, ignoring my question. “This is what happens when an original slays a firebrand. The beast embraces hatred and takes over.”

Forget them–for now. “Where’s Juniper?”

“She remains with Deco. Lucky girl, she gets to enjoy the show. I decided to speak with you alone.”

Suspicions sharpened to razor points, becoming certainties. “You’re working with the shifter king,” I stated in a flat tone. Knew it! She’d never been in danger. Had lured Viktor here under false pretenses.

“I am. But only until I acquire Viktor. He’s proved most stubborn. But in the end he’ll do it. He’ll slay you and turn.”

The casual statement knocked the air from my lungs. “The prophesy…you didn’t foresee me killing him at all. Youwantedhim to killmeso that he would finally shift.”

“Yes, and I thought I’d covered all my bases. If you betrayed him, boom. He would’ve welcomed evil into his heart and killed you. That’s the first thing every shifter with a firebrand does, after all. If you didn’t turn him, but fell in love with him, you would sacrifice yourself when I convince you it’s the only way to save him.”

Find, destroy, happy.

The words Viktor had repeated like a broken record since our meeting filled my head. I’d known their sinister meaning already, but this proved they’d been Plan A, B and C from the beginning.

Find me.

Destroy me.

And finally be happy.

She’d played chess while the rest of us played checkers.

All grace and gloating, she strolled closer. When she stopped outside of the strike zone, she smiled. “Do you know why King Malachi asked such a terrible thing of you? Why he promised you an introduction to your parents?”

“Let me guess. You convinced him it needed to be done for the greater good.” Just as she’d tricked Viktor.

“Actually, he did it foraccess tohisfirebrand.”

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