Page 96 of Quarter Labyrinth

“Found you,” he whispered.

I split away from my hiding place to run for my life. Dimitri reached for me but I slipped away, his fist catching the sleeve of my tunic to tear it off. My breath burned in my chest, my bare feet striking the cold, uneven pavers with each frantic step. Panic clawed at the edges of my tight throat. Dimitri was near. Too near. I veered to the left, into a narrower passage lined with jagged stone, and kept running.

“Ren,” his voice carried through the maze, unhurried and taunting. “Do you really think you can hide from me?”

I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. But my fear was a wild, living thing now, thrumming in my veins and threatening to undo me. He was toying with me, savoring the hunt, and I hated him for it.

Was this how I chose to die? With a weapon in my back?

I turned. If he were to kill me, let me look him in the eye while he did it. My hand brushed against the dagger at my side—and I steeled myself.

“Fine,” I challenged him. “If you want me, Dimitri, you’ll have to bleed for it.”

From down the corridor, he grinned. Then he gave chase.

Walls of ivy sprang up to block him from me. Twisting like snakes in his path, made of tight cords and thick leaves. He tore through them, but more appeared.

I owed Delilah my life.

Dimitri cursed as he tore through more vines.

I didn’t stay to see how long they’d hold. I took off again, this time with a real hope of escaping. Somewhere behind me,Dimitri’s voice echoed—a low, smooth tone that dripped with menace.

“Run, Ren. Run while you can. We’ll see if my wolves can get you.”

Wolves howled.

FORTY-FOUR

The winter air bit at my skin as I sprinted through the labyrinth. Snow crunched beneath my boots, the sound betraying me. My breath plumed in frantic bursts. It misted before me as I ran. The wolves were closing in—I could hear their growls and snapping jaws echoing off the icy stone walls.

The labyrinth was a cruel trap in winter. The passages grew narrower and more treacherous. I slipped on a patch of ice, catching myself just in time on the frozen edge of the wall. My hands burned from the cold, and it made my fingers numb. There was no time topause. No time to feel.

A chilling howl split the night, and my heart leapt in my chest. It came from the right—but I thought they were on my left?

They weren’t just hunting me. They were cornering me.

“Wretched labyrinth,” I hissed, shoving myself forward. My muscles screamed in protest, exhausted from hours of running during the day, but I forced them to obey. The wolves didn’t tire. They didn’t falter. And the snow only seemed to embolden them, their dark forms blending into the shifting shadows of the labyrinth.

The moon hung low and distant in the sky, its light weak against the oppressive dark. I was running north, not east, but right now, I didn’t care. I clung to what little I could see, my eyes darting between paths as I tried to navigate the maze. My mind was too clouded with fear to focus.

A sudden snarl erupted behind me—closer now. Too close. My pulse surged as I darted left, skidding on the icy ground and nearly colliding with the wall. The wolves were right on my heels. I could feel them gaining, their hot breath curling through the frigid air.

My hand flew to the hilt of my dagger. I didn’t want to fight them—not here, not now—but I might not have a choice. If I survived, it’d be by the skin of my teeth. And Dimitri… Dimitri would send more.

Another howl rose, this one sharper, angrier. It cut through the wind like a blade, and I realized with a jolt of terror that the pack had split again. They were ahead now, waiting to block my path.

“No.” My voice trembled. “Not like this.”

I turned down a narrow corridor with walls glittering with frost like jagged teeth. The path was suffocatingly tight, but it gave me an advantage—the wolves couldn’t swarm me here.

Which was good, because they were here.

The first of the pack lunged into the passage, its claws scraping against the frozen ground as it bounded toward me. I whirled, my dagger flashing in the moonlight.

The blade struck true, slicing across the wolf’s muzzle. It yelped, recoiling, but another was already charging. I didn’t wait. I spun and bolted down the passage, my boots slipping but finding just enough purchase to keep me upright.

My lungs burned, my vision blurred, but I kept running, kept weaving through the labyrinth. Snowflakes fell heavier now, clinging to my lashes and cloaking the ground in an ever-thickening blanket. The wolves’ growls echoed through the twisting walls, a cruel reminder that they were still hunting me, still closing in.

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