Page 144 of The Book Reader
I look around us, taking in the dark, watching as sections of it take shape and more Reapers form around us. Each is cloaked in black with glowing red eyes. I pull on Gaelan’s hand; he looks at me; I point toward some of the other reapers, and he stares in disbelief for a second before frowning.
They shoot up into the air, one by one, before there are hundreds of them clouding the sky, all eyes trained on us.
“What are they doing?” I whisper
“I’ve never seen them act like this before,” he informs me, then turns around to get a better look at Leah, who does the same thing. For scary soul suckers, they were quick to leave us. I move closer, and a feeling washes over me; something dark knocks at my senses, making me shiver. My eyes snap to one of the Reapers, and I can almost feel his thoughts—it’s as if his awareness is tapping at my own.
They are waiting for someone.
“They don’t belong to him,” I whisper.
“Rose? What did you say?” Gaelan comes over to me and takes my hand.
“You said that Tate rules them? He’s their leader?” I ask a little louder.
“Yes,” Gaelan answers me, looking up again. “When he took over from the devil, he claimed them.”
“They don’t belong to him; they are waiting for their master to return,” I exclaim.
“My lady, Tate is the strongest daemon in the Underworld. He rules, so they belong to him.” Leah joins us, her swords away, all of us realizing that they are not going to attack us.
“I just have a feeling, I don’t know what it is, it’s telling me they are waiting.” I take another step closer, locking my eyes with one of them; it’s red to my gold. I feel it’s dark powers tickle over my senses. They are waiting for the king.
Gaelan comes over to me and pulls my hand, making me step closer to him. “Let us go, we can find out what they are waiting for later, we need to move on with our plan before we are seen,” he starts walking, Leah and I both following him. I look back and see that hundreds of red eyes are still watching as we go.
We arrive at the palace gates, and Leah was right; she had killed all the daemon guards that were here, with piles of daemon dust scattered all over the ground.
We head toward the front door, Gaelan takes out his dagger to break the lock, as he lifts it, I whisper, “apetha,”the lock clicks, and the door swings open. Gaelan turns to me with a grin, making me smirk at him. His eyes flash blue, telling me that he finds me so sexy right now.
“Later, baby,”I speak to him with my mind.
“As soon as we get back, I want you naked in my bed,” I hear his answer, and lower my head to hide the heat creeping over my cheeks.
We step into the palace, my eyes scan the mail entrance at how stunning it is, all black, marble floors so shiny I can see our reflection in it, status are planes in stands everywhere, the only hit of color is from the pieces of iron and metal that decorate the room, there are tall ceiling to floor windows with long back curtain, in front of us is a sweeping staircase leading up to the second floor, to the left is another hallway with what looks like another staircase. To the right is a row of large doors. Gaelanpoints to them, and Leah nods, moving in that direction. Gaelan pulls my hand, and we head left.
“The throne room is this way. We’ll start there,”Gaelan’s voice echoes in my head, making me smile. I nod and follow him.
When we reach the last door, Gaelan pushes it open. We walk in, and the room is again black, with floor-to-ceiling windows and black flowers everywhere. I’ve never seen so many in one place, covering the floor all over the thrones and windows. We take a few more steps in, and nothing seems out of place. “Gaelan, where will she be?” I whisper, This seems like a good place to draw her, too, trapping her so we can kill her. There is only one way in and out.
“Either in her quarters or the training grounds,” he says, retaking my hand and pulling me out of the room. Leah is waiting for us when we get outside.
“All clear that side, my lord? Shall we head upstairs?” She asks, and Gaelan shakes his head.
“The training ground first, then upstairs. I want to look over them first; they might be better because they are underground. No one will hear us down there.” Leah nods at him, and both head toward another door. I turn to look at where we came from. It seems so odd that there aren’t more guards around. For a place meant to hold the worst power the world has seen, there aren’t more guards. Maybe daemons are too scared to come here.
I turn and follow Gaelan through the door and down a set of stairs. Leah comes in behind me, watching the back for us.
The stairs are made of stone, just as black as the rest of the palace. It’s dark down here; the only light comes from torches on the walls, and there aren’t many of them. Lexus pushes against my skin, letting me know she is ready if I need her. She wanted to be fully involved, but I needed to see this place with my own eyes. When we reach the bottom of the stairs, there is a longcorridor with doors running along it as far as the eye can see. Gaelan lets go of my hand and walks a little ahead of me. My feet slowly come to a stop, and I turn on the spot. “Gaelan?”
“My lady, it’s just a little longer.” Leah moves next to me. Her words make me frown.
“Something doesn’t feel right. I’ve been here before,” I say as I move to one of the doors and push it open. Inside is a man chained to the wall, his stomach has been sliced open. His blood and guts are hanging from his body like a horrible Halloween decoration. I step into the room. “What is this place? This isn’t the training grounds, it can’t be—” I turn to Leah.
“Maybe the killing and torture are part of the training,” she says with a shrug.
“Maybe.” I walk past her and out into the corridor again. Gaelan is far ahead, looking into each room as we just did. Leah and I continue toward him, each cell as we pass has bodies and people tied to the walls, all in different states of dead and alive. Some have been tortured, others are chained to the walls waiting for their deaths. I want to go in and help them all, but we can’t this time. I know Gaelan will tell me no. We aren’t meant to be here, so that means we need to leave them,
For now.
