Page 87 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure
The tremors struck at precisely two o'clock in the morning. Tamira only knew the time because of the clock on her bedside table. The bed shook beneath her and Elias, a rolling motion that made the crystal perfume bottles on her vanity clink together like wind chimes.
Elias tensed beside her, his arm tightening instinctively around her waist. "What was that?"
"Just a tremor." Tamira placed a calming hand on his chest, feeling his heart racing beneath her palm. "We get them occasionally. The island supposedly sits on a volcanic foundation."
The heartbeat under her hand sped up. "Volcanic?" His voice carried a note of alarm.
"Dormant," she assured him, though in truth she didn't know if that was accurate. The island had been their home for less than a century, and Lord Navuh controlled information as tightly as he controlled everything else. "We've had tremors for as long as I'vebeen here, which is almost a hundred years. The structure was built to withstand them."
The shaking subsided, leaving behind an eerie stillness. In the darkness, she could feel Elias's breath against her neck, still quick with adrenaline.
"We should go aboveground until we are sure this is over," he said. "Being trapped in an underground structure during an earthquake isn't a good idea."
"We're not trapped, and it's raining outside. I don't want to get wet."
He pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "Do you have an umbrella?"
"Have you ever tried to stay dry under an umbrella in a monsoon torrent?" She turned in his arms to face him, the inner light from her immortal eyes illuminating his features. "I'm surprised that a little tremor so easily rattles you. I thought shamans were supposed to be one with the earth and all that."
"Even shamans prefer when the earth stays still," he said dryly. "Especially when they're in an underground structure and there are people on all of its seven levels."
"Actually, there are eight levels, but no one lives in the lowest one." She feathered her fingers over his chest, avoiding the mysterious mark that he still wouldn't tell her about. "There are seven residential levels in the pyramid, but the mechanical systems are located in the level below. There might even be more levels that we don't know about. I'm surprised that you haven't heard the noise when you were down on Level Seven."
"I didn't notice. I probably thought that the noises were coming from elsewhere on Level Seven. It's a big space." His voice carried that careful neutrality she'd come to recognize—the tone he used when filing away information. "What else is housed below it?"
"As far as I know, all the mechanical systems. Water pumps, electrical generators, and the climate control that keeps us from roasting in this tropical heat. Also, storage, I believe, though I've never been down there. Only the maintenance crew and guards are allowed down there."
"Seems like a security risk, having all your critical systems in one place."
She laughed softly. "Everything about this place is a security risk. We have no choice but to believe that Lord Navuh wouldn't endanger us all by allowing subpar planning or construction. After all, Areana lives here and so does he, at least during the night."
"I don't know how this man finds love for his mate in his black heart."
She shrugged. "There is good and bad in everyone, and once they pass behind the veil, their good and bad deeds are weighed. Lord Navuh will need to do a lot of groveling when he gets there."
His thumb stroked along her cheekbone. "How do you do it? Live with such...acceptance?"
"What's the alternative? Rage against walls that won't break? Plot escapes that will only end in torture and death?" She turned her head to kiss his palm. "Eventually, you realize that acceptance is the only path to sanity."
"It's called learned helplessness."
The words stung, perhaps because they were true. "Is that what you think of me? That I'm helpless?"
"No." He shifted, rolling them so he hovered above her, his weight balanced on his forearms. "I think you're surviving the only way you know how. But what if the walls could break? What if escape didn't mean death?"
Sweet, naive Elias with his human lifespan and his belief that things would turn out okay in the end. "Then I'd probably be too institutionalized to leave. This is my world, Elias. It's all I've known for millennia, well, not this location specifically, but the harem structure."
"Where have you lived before?"
"Several locations. The first one was near Baalbek."
He smiled. "That's a much cooler place than this."
"Tell me about it." She pretended to wipe sweat off her forehead. "Am I imagining it, or is it more humid in here tonight?"
They had air-conditioning and dehumidifiers, and the climate control was usually perfectly balanced; however, this was the wet season, so perhaps some additional calibration was needed.
"I don't feel it." He got that mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Maybe you are just hot and bothered and need me to do something about it."
