Page 110 of Vicious Is My Throne

46

ANARIA

The second we crossed the castle's threshold, the weight of despair and abandonment hit me full in the face.

“Those Howlers were guarding something,” Raz mused, squeezing my hand as we both gazed up at the rotted-through ceiling. “But this feels like it’s been empty for centuries.”

I strained my memories, trying to recall everything I knew about the lord who called Harehollow home. “Lord Zareth visited Ravenswood one time, but I never saw the male himself. I saw the carriage, though, an ancient coach painted black, pulled by two midnight steeds. But I can’t remember any more than that.”

We slipped down the hallway behind a curl of my starry magic, our shadows dancing along the ancient stone walls, eerie silhouettes that took on a life of their own. My grip tightened on Raz. My other hand gripped the keystone, which remained cold to the touch as if the magic had gone inert.

“Something’s wrong,” I murmured. “The stone’s magic has disappeared. Like it’s…hiding.”

“Perhaps the stone senses what I do,” Raz murmured, his dark eyes reflecting the same dread rising inside me. “Death. This place is the personification of death.”

We stopped at a crossroads where two corridors intersected, and I turned the stone in my hand, hoping for a clue of which way to go. “I can’t sense a damn thing,” I murmured, eyeing the gash on his cheek, the drying smear of blood. “We should leave, Raz. Cut our losses.”

“We’re already here.” He studied the intersection with uncharacteristic intensity before he tugged me to the left. “This way. It’s this way.”

“Wait, you can feel the stone?”

“I feel something and it’s pulling me this way.”

“That’s not necessarily a good thing.” I rubbed the keystone harder, but when I pulled it out, the stone had gone dark.

Every step reverberated through the cavernous halls, mingling with the silence that grew deeper the further we delved into the castle. I didn’t believe, as a rule, in ghosts, but if they existed, I imagined Harehollow would be where they dwelled.

We passed darkened rooms where I swore eyes watched us pass, whispers following in our wake. A chill, blood-icing terror began to take root.

There were no windows here, no light beyond my starry magic, and this deep in the heart of the castle, the air was ice-cold, darkness pressing in on us like a suffocating cloak.

“You’re still feeling something?” I asked again, hating how loud my whisper echoed here. “Are you sure, Raz?”

“I’m sure. More than ever.”

We kept going. Panic thrashed inside me. I wanted out of this place. I wanted to see the sky, to breathe fresh air.

Not be trapped down here in the dark like a worm. My darklings wrapped around my arms, writhing, as if they, too, wanted to be free of this terrible place. Finally, after a bewildering number of twists and turns, we found the end—a carved doorway flanked by two stone Howlers, their dull eyes staring down at us. Beyond them was a black stone pedestal in the center of an antechamber, crowned by a carved box illuminated by a single shaft of pale light.

Even from here I made out the symbol on the top.

A circle with an arrow.

The symbol of death.

Raz lurched forward, fingers outstretched before I dragged him back with both hands wrapped around his arm. “No, Raz. This could be a trap.” He strained against my hold, my darklings wrapping around his waist. “This is a trap. I don’t know how, but you can’t go in there.”

This whole room felt wrong. Like the house had read our minds and placed what we—what Raziel—most wanted right in front of us, ripe for the taking.

“What have you been thinking about today?” I asked, not letting him go, keeping our fingers wound tightly together. “What were you thinking when we entered this place?”

“How I wanted to burn this entire realm to the ground for what they’ve done to you. For hurting you.” His throat bobbed. “For putting those shadows in your eyes.”

I blew out a shaky breath. “What else?”

“I would hunt this Berenger and Estienne down and kill them all over again for laying their hands on you. Gods, Anaria, if you had only told me…”

“What else?” I asked urgently as he looked away, his jaw working.

---