Page 33 of Forged By Heart and Claws
Aureline guard cloak. Maybe this was where so many of the Aureline guards had been.
My stomach twisted.
It was too quiet. The sort of quiet that didn’t feel like an aftermath.
It felt like a warning. Like something was still here, watching and waiting.
Unease prickled down my spine.
Vad pointed ahead. “There.” His voice was barely a whisper.
A Shadow guard lay crumpled near the hallway’s edge, his helmet gone and his throat slit. His fingers were still curled around his sword. Just beyond him, another body lay still. Another guard with the same wound and fate.
Vad's gaze shifted to something at the edge of the next door. A dark smear across the floor. A blood trail.
At the start of it lay a single small, delicate blue shoe.
Heart racing, I stepped forward and picked it up. It was a high heel, embroidered in blue and spattered with blood. The inside was lined with velvet, and the outside sparkled with crystals. A polished sapphire water serpent wrapped around the toe, and a carved fin crowned the heel.
Blood had dried in specks across the leather and sole. Nausea roiled in my stomach. The shoe’s owner had run through blood.
“That’s one of the younger Aquen princess’s slippers.” Thalen sighed. “They’re the only ones allowed to wear sapphires like that.”
I surveyed the hallway. “Is there an exit near here? Maybe she got away.” It didn’t seem likely, but in a room full of blood and terror, I clung to the small hope. Especially since the shoe was so small—it seemed that this princess was only a child.
“No.” Vad flinched and pointed to the area where the drag marks disappeared. “That’s the way to the dungeons. It looks like she tried to flee, and they caught her.”
Thalen’s nostrils flared. “I can’t think of any reason to take one of the five Aquen princesses, unless it is a hostage situation.”
“Maybe they’re capturing all of the royals so they have no rivals. No one to speak against them.” That was what had happened back in my world, and what Ryker and Ember were trying to recover from. “It’s an illusion of peace.”
A flash of red caught my eye. Two pinpricks in the dark. Almost like someone had opened their eyes.
I stiffened, but when I blinked, they were gone.
Vad’s head snapped toward me.What?
Thalen scowled, tilting his head as he listened intently.
I thought I saw something. I bit my bottom lip.Red eyes in the dark. Then they disappeared.
I nodded toward the place where that flicker of scarlet had vanished.Something feels… off.
Vad stepped inside, hand hovering at his dagger. The lamplight glistened on his dark claws. Thalen tensed beside me, tracking every shadow.
Returning, Vad shook his head. “Nothing.” But the sharp line in his jaw told a different story.
We resumed our careful progress, each step quiet.
As we rounded another corner, I glanced behind us again. My nostrils flared as I searched for any sign of danger. These halls were even creepier. The sputtering torches gave off uneven, sluggish light, as if the palace were struggling to wake up. The shadows kept shifting. Twice they seemed to move, but eachtime I looked harder, there was nothing there. Maybe I was imagining it? My fingers flexed, and I curled them against my palm.
The uncomfortable sensation the stag had awakened pulsed hard in my chest, pressing through my veins like frostbite. My wolf growled in response.
Vad stopped at a small side door tucked between faded tapestries. He pressed his ear to the wood, then eased it open with a slight creak.
The air hit me like a slap, the sharp tang of blood mixed with the electric scent of medicinal herbs. But some other scent lay underneath it. A sweetness that wasn’t right.
Whose scent was that? I scowled, trying to place it.
