Page 49 of Claimed By Blood

Without waiting for us to discuss it, he sticks one hand onto the wall and crawls out into the blackness.

“If he breaks his fool neck…” I mutter.

Silas coughs. “Don’t worry. He scaled the Bloody Tower like this just for a chance to see you, I’m sure he can manage a little spelunking.”

Frost… did that? Our bond tightens a fraction before I even realise what’s happened.

“Ugh, I hate that word,”Mia complains, her voice echoing from my earpiece for the first time.

“What about moist?”Finn teases.

I can almost hear Silas’s grin. “No word is worse than smegma.”

“What even is—”Mia echoes my thoughts before she cuts off.“You know what? If it sounds that bad, I don’t even want to know.”

She’s probably being wise, but I make a mental note to add whatever smegma is to my list of things to research. Hopefully, I don’t regret it later…

“How long does he expect us to wait while he shows off for Evie?” Morwen demands, ignoring their banter as she pushes her way to my side. “I’m going down.”

Her hair streams behind her as she drops down, following Frost.

“According to Frost, it’s a cistern,”Finn relays.“No word from Morwen, though…”

“Shit.” Vane scrubs a hand through his hair. “Trap. I knew it. Tell Frost to get his ass back up here.”

“You are not abandoning my girlfriend down there.”Mia’s screech is so shrill I have to fight the urge to snatch the earpiece from my head.“If it’s a trap, you damn well better go down there and back her up.”

Vane and Silas share a look that tells me they’re debating whether or not to actually do as she says. I’m not sure what silent big brother communication passes between them, but they sigh in unison.

“Can we convince you to stay up here?” Silas asks, hopefully.

Alone in the small, stinky tunnel? “No chance.”

“I’ll go first,” Vane says, shoving to the front with an exasperated eye roll. “Evie, follow me. Silas, you protect our backs.”

Unlike Frost and Morwen, he waits for both of us to nod before stepping off the edge. Without letting myself think too much about it, I suck in a breath and follow after him.

The fall seems to take forever. I manage to land on my feet, thanks to centuries of practice, but my landing sends shockwaves through my legs.

The cistern is vast. A rounded underground cavern supported and broken up by hundreds of stone arches travelling in every direction. It seems older than the sewers above, and I wonderwhenthis was built and by whom.

How long has Samuel been here?

Thankfully, the ground down here is dry. The scent of sewage hasn’t permeated this far down, and as I inhale a lungful of surprisingly fresh air, I realise the space is lit as well. An old electric lamp is buzzing on the pillar to my left, and in front of me Vane is looking around at the half a dozen tunnels which seem to lead away from the round chamber we’ve landed in.

Thud.

That must be Silas, landing at our backs.

The younger brother comes to stand at my side just as Vane says. “We’re not alone.”

Silas tries to move in front of me, but he’s gone before he can take a step. My squeak of surprise isn’t fast enough to warn Vane, who turns to see what’s happening, and is grabbed just as suddenly from behind. A black sack covers his head a second before he’s dragged away into one of the tunnels.

So that’s where the others went.

“Evelyn, what’s happening?”Gideon demands, but his voice is distorted by static until it’s almost inaudible.

Finn is talking too, but I can’t make out much.“…their trackers are offline…. They’re too far—”

---