Page 16 of Forsaken Secrets

A dozen small square rooms were arranged around a large rectangle, each with names scribbled inside. Mages who worked there, perhaps?

I'd just never heard of a mage library on the mainland.

If it were accurate, though, the entrance would be somewhere near here.

Maybe it was closer to the cliff? I strode over and looked around. Except for the small columns jutting out of the ground occasionally through the clearing, that tower and the surrounding grotto were all that remained.

"My lord, be careful!"Riarlo's voice echoed in my skull as he swooped in and gripped on to my shoulder, talons pressing into the padding there.

"Did you find anything on your hunt?"I asked, taking a few steps back until his grip relaxed.

He bobbed his head. "There has been a recent resurgence of twisted creatures according to the fleiral pack I spoke with. There were also some gremlyns and an intriguing human in the cove by the fort. I tried speaking with the vrytra, but they just spoke nonsense."

I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes as I peered at the ocean again. "What do you mean nonsense?"

"Something about their queen. But it's all jumbled in crying and moaning, so I'm not sure."

"Where did you see them?"

He flapped his four wings a few times and then dipped his head towards an area beyond the bridge that looked treacherous even from here. Stone columns peaked out from the ocean, and white crests crashed around them. Most of it was blurry from this distance, though. Perhaps if I'd brought my magnifying spectacles, I'd have been able to make them out …

"I should offer help,"I said, as I dropped my shielding and reached out. They were too far away, though.

Damn. Perhaps I could swim from one of the coves along the coast? A few seemed to have somewhat accessible beaches.

"NO, my lord."Riarlo's words stopped my thought. "Please? It's too dangerous. The entire sea floor is full of ruins. The only way out there would be to swim, and we both know you aren't the best at that."

Gods. I'd never live that one incident down, would I? "I was training! I was SUPPOSED to pretend to drown."

"That's what you say, but Jaiel agrees with me."

Damn that Jaiel. He'd even gotten to my revyn! Was no one safe from his Fae charms?

"My lord, we really should head back. The storm is worsening."

"What did I say about the ‘my lord' bit? None of that while we're here. I'm supposed to be a Reaper this time."I looked up at the clouds, then back down at the ocean, and over at the ruins, "Look. You can head home if you'd like, but I won't have another chance to explore until later this week. I'm so close to figuring this out, I can feel it."

Riarlo nudged his head against the side of mine and trilled twice, flapping his wings insistently. "I really don't think that's a good idea." His golden eyes spun agitatedly. "What would your grandmother say?"

Ahh. He was playing the grandmother card? He must actually be concerned.

I looked back over my shoulder, towards the ocean and the mist-shrouded island in the distance. "I'm an adult. It doesn't matter what she'd say." My chest ached at the thought of my home, but I pushed it away, forcing a smirk instead. "Besides, I'm positive she'd understand. She always said I was meant for more fun than a stuffy chieftainship."

"I'm not sure that's what she —"The Revyn broke off abruptly as another bolt of lightning shot overhead, quickly chased by the rumble of thunder, and the winds picked up sharply. It was getting worse. " — really. We should go, my lord."

I looked at the tower again. It was beautiful in the grey tinged storm light, stones darkening with falling rain.

But Riarlo was correct. We'd have to come back another day.

Taking a deep breath, I slipped my notebook into my pack, then considered the ocean and waves slamming against the cliff.

A sudden cracking sound had me looking to my left and stepping back from the edge as a giant piece of stone wall fell into the ocean.

What secrets were already lost to erosion like that? How many more would be lost after today's storm?

A loud rumble and a shudder in the ground beneath my feet made my heart lurch.

Fuck. I turned to run. Riarlo let go of my shoulder and leaped into the air.

"MOVE!"His scream rang inside my mind as the world around me lit up.

Then I was falling, the cliff beneath me no longer stable, my panicked cry foreign to my own ears.

I tried to reach out, to grab something, but my hands met open air.

My vision tightened to a single speck — the cliff edge moving farther away.

Then it all stopped.

Pain shot through my body like a jolt of lightning, and the world went dark.

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