Page 35 of The Demon Crown

Stepping out of the warm circle of his arms, she flexed her wrist once before continuing to the edge that had been revealed. There were stairs descending into the darkness, crumbling and old and missing whole portions. She hoped it was solid enough. The fire trailed down the outline of the stairs, sluggishly following the oil tracks that seemed much thicker than the others. Perhaps older, or affected more like the water on the walls.

Hopefully, that fire continued deep into the underbelly of this place. Otherwise, she’d have to find a makeshift torch since she’d left her other one behind.

Sighing, she picked her way down the stairs. One by one. Testing each step to make sure it would hold her weight. And the entire time she felt a massive shadow lurking behind her, watching her with troubled eyes and an expression that said he wasn’t happy they were still moving.

But he didn’t argue.

He didn’t ask about all the other times she’d almost died.

Varya didn’t know if that made her more nervous or less. His silence was almost worse than his endless chattering.

The bottom of the stairs came too quick, but at least now they faced only a wide circular door made of the same material as the trees in the other room. This one had a massive symbol on it, one that she didn’t recognize. It looked a bit like a snake eating its own tail, with leaves woven all around it.

“Now what?” she muttered, trying to look closer into the design. “Is the snake a clue?”

“No.” Greed pointed above them. “There’s a pattern.”

Ah. All along the walls were more tiled creatures. Butterflies, snakes, mice, cats, owls, so many creatures, it made her head hurt to look at them. “And what are we supposed to do with these?”

She had no idea. But it was a challenge, and she loved those. Varya set her bag on the ground by her feet and turned her attention to the creatures. “Is the pattern what eats what? The snake is eating its own tail, though, so that wouldn’t make sense. What will happen if we touch things out of order?”

Greed rolled his eyes. “I am tired of this game. Do you want your treasure or not?”

“Of course I want the treasure, but I also want to keep this cave intact. What if they rigged this so the entire thing comes down on our heads if we get the wrong pattern?” Glaring at the demon, who clearly did not care about his life at all, she turned her attention back to the pattern. “We don’t even know if this is the treasure room.”

“It is.”

“Oh, and you’re so certain of that?”

“I was here, woman!” He threw his hands up in the air as if she frustrated him to no end. “I was here when this place was built and then countless times after. They would greet people at the front, where we came in. They tested to see the truth of people’s ambitions in the second room. And then once they had passed those tests, they were brought here to leave all their valuable items before they entered the city. This is the treasure room, and the pattern is not that difficult. By all the seven kingdoms, I amtiredof this.”

She blinked and suddenly he had a fistful of knives. Where had he been keeping those? One moment he was just standing there and the next, those knives flew out of his hands. One hit the wall above the butterfly, the next the owl, a third over what looked like a toad, and then the snake.

The door behind her grumbled and groaned. Years of sand and rust made it difficult for the mechanism to open it, but there was more than enough room for the two of them to slip through.

Blinking in shock, she eyed him and asked, “What the hell was that?”

“The combination you were looking for.”

“How did you know it?”

He gestured toward the floor, which was little more than chunks of earth and dirt. “There used to be a mural on the ground here. One for each of the four clans that lived inside the walls. Depending on the order you chose, that would be the room that was revealed. You wanted treasure. This is the treasure room.”

“How is that possible?”

“Magic,” he grinned. “And also there is a set of four rooms on top of each other. They all can be lifted and moved by a pulley system hidden on the outside of those rooms. I remember thinking it was rather genius at the time.”

She agreed it was genius. And she hated how impressed she was because it made her want to see him in a different light, and she didn’t want that.

“Come on then, I guess,” she grumbled as she picked her way over fallen stones to the small gap in the door.

“I’m following your lead, treasure.”

She shoved her bag through first and then slid through the opening, which wasn’t all that tight for her. But the door was at least six feet thick and she thought it would be a tight squeeze for the massive man following her. He really did dwarf her entire body. Every time he touched her, it reminded Varya just how small she was compared to him.

Not that she’d ever met a person who wouldn’t look small next to the redheaded giant that wouldn’t leave her alone.

She might have even told him to wait outside the room if what was inside the treasure room hadn’t made her breath catch. There was so much gold in this room. Beyond anything that she’d have ever guessed. It was...

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