Page 105 of Polestar
Magnusslidthepanelaside, peering down into the meeting room.
Relief flooded his chest on seeing she was here and safe, rather than on a ship bound for Gods knew where to be sold.
Ana sat, spine erect, shoulders set, glaring at the room’s three other occupants.
She turned to address Ulla, which allowed Magnus to see her entire beautiful face.
Her bruised face and throat.
Rage ripped through him, expressing itself in a roar that shook the ancient stones beneath his splayed palms and fingers.
He fought the instinct to shift as he ran down the passage seeking the next exit point.
Reason quickly returned, overriding his animal brain, reminding him that he was in a castle full of Barentian guards that believed he should be in a prison cell awaiting his execution.
And he’d just alerted all of them with his very loud announcement.
Why is Ana here?
Ulla had told him that she was with the traffickers.
Having reached the next exit point, he paused to think.
She’s being held captive.Here.With a bruised face.
Was there any other purpose than to draw him out?
To make a show of his execution?It would settle things for the succession after his father died, which might not be long.
Gods protect Elias.
His hand drifted over his heart as he made the plea, fingers grazing the stone beneath his shirt.The key.He’d hidden the book in the passage’s darkness.
Instinct had bid him remove the sacred objects from his father’s room for safekeeping.They couldn’t be taken by anyone that couldn’t be trusted with them.
Only a king and his shaman had the right to these artifacts.
He would ensure that Elias received them, or that no one would.
He removed the object from his shirt, and likewise hid it as he had the book.
The sounds of guards running and shouting orders met his ears as he waited.
As soon as they saw him, they would converge on him.
When they do, I just have to make sure I’m nowhere near a passage access point so that they won’t discover the tunnels.
The secret tunnels led to the sacred gate for which he’d just hidden the key and spell book.The gate that his family had been charged with protecting for millennia.
I can’t let that end here.
Kane was convincedThe Consortiumwanted access to it.She was in a race to discover all the gates around the world to ensure their safety beforeThe Consortiumfound them.Before the portals awakened from their slumber.
I can’t worry about that right now.
Ana was being held captive, and they still had a mission to complete.People to save—if he hadn’t blown it already.
Could he convince the Barentian guards the king was spelled, as was their trusted chief officer?
