Page 140 of Of Blood and Banes
“If that door was magically sealed…” Cole whispers, following me like a shadow. “Then something of value must be in here.”
But I’m having trouble focusing on anything but the pull to the farthest side of the room, where a new archway awaits for us, leading into darkness.
“Wow, look at this!” Archie attempts to whisper somewhere behind me and Cole. “Such beautiful artwork…Melaina, come see this!”
I take a step up the shallow stairs leading into the shadowed archway.
“What…what is it?” Cole’s voice is soft, a few inches behind me.
There’s an unmistakable humming—a callingof energy—like I belong here, and it’s been waiting all this time. The buzz increases beneath my boots, as if it may shake the very core of this earth and split it if I don’t make haste.
“Something’s here,” I whisper back to Cole and take a few more stairsteps. Though, I can’t quite tellwhatthat is, yet.
Cole follows me up to the last step, and before I can venture further through the dark archway, Sethan calls out, “Wait. Shouldn’t we explore this room first? It looks as if this may be the royal crypt.”
“Not yet,” I whisper, and without looking back, I step into the shadow and through the archway.
The light from the previous room dies off quickly, sinking us in darkness. I squint, waiting for my eyesight to adjust, then jerk toward a flicker of movement.
The room fades into more comprehensible details. Gargantuan marble statues are positioned along the side walls, each of their faces and figures differing in characteristics. Water slips from each statue’s eyes and collects in a pool of water covering the entire room’s floor and submerging all the marbled figures’ feet. A thick overhang of ivy crowds the ceiling and drips water down into the pool below, sparking uneven ripples. On the other side of the room, rising from the pool, is another set of stairs leading through a two-piece archway.
And beyond that?
A soft, bluish glow.
I turn to Cole. “We have to get over there.”
He dips his head and returns to call the others. I edge down the stairs, closer to the pool of water, side eyeing the colossal statues all the while. They’re mirror images of the ones back in the chapel, and at least four times the size. Despite the lack of detail in their eyes, I can’t help but feel their stone faces are staring at me,watchingme.
As I stop at the last step and stare out at the dark water rippling with the dripping overgrowth, footsteps sound behind me. Cole helps Marge down the stairs, her breath heavy and hand shaky on her wooden staff. At least she finally has the sense to accept the help—there’s no telling how many sets of stairs we took on the way down from the throne room, and I can only imagine how sore her knees are, based on my own.
She slips her arm out of Cole’s once they reach the last step with me, and she ushers me aside, fighting to keep her panting behind her tight lips.
“Holy…shit…” Archie breathes from a few steps up from where we stand.
Marge thwacks the side of his leg with her staff. “You are in the presence of something sacred!”
Archie’s cheeks flush, dipping his head in apologies and murmuring something under his breath.
“What is this place?” I’m unsure if I say it in my head or out loud.
“This must have been the main temple to the Gods,” Marge whispers and bows her head.
Everyone else follows suit, dipping low in respect, and I quickly join them. When we straighten, Marge slams her staff into the water, watching the ripples break across the black surface to the other side of the vast room.
“What are you doing?” Cole asks.
“Shh,” she warns, eyes trained on the water.
When nothing happens after a few tense moments, she turns to Cole. “The sword in this staff is made of specially cured dragonblade. If there were any dragons in the water, they would surface by now, sensing it.”
“That’s good then, right?” Archie chimes.
“Yes. Though…there’s no telling how deep it is or if we can even cross it.” She tests the depth with her staff, and it sinks lower and lower until it’s mere inches below her hand, and she pulls it completely out. “I can’t tell.”
Cole nods, shrugging his jacket off and untucking his shirt before he takes it off.
“What are you doing?” I snag his arm. This is the first time I’ve seen him shirtless since we last made love. And even though everyone in our group is now aware of our true history, I heat at the thought of them noticing my blush.
