Page 106 of The Rebel Seer

“Follow the signs back to the temple.” Lee stands beside his brother and then moves so they are back to back. Like they’ve done this before. The trouble is we’re at a crossroads where three different tunnels meet.

It would be super nice to have some big-ass power right now. I want to throw up a shield around us but I’m still just me, and the power bubbling inside me doesn’t cover the living world. My hands are useless as my adrenaline rushes to the surface.

“Who’s there?” Lee takes a couple of steps forward, into the tunnel to our left. He tilts his head to speak to Rhys. “This tunnel leads back to the palace. It’s how we get into the servant quarters.”

“Is it a friendly?” Rhys asks, not taking his eyes off the tunnel in front of him.

“I don’t know,” Lee admits. “Who is there? Identify yourself or we’re going to have a problem.”

A light appears in the darkness, small at first but getting bigger.

“Shy, run,” Rhys says.

I can’t leave him. “What if it’s coming for you?”

“Run, baby,” he pleads.

But the light is already there, and it has one target. Me.

The ball of light hits my chest and, in a blink, I’m transported.

Cold winds whip around me, and I am alone at the bottom of the mountain that hums for me. Hums? More like screams. What was a mere whisper in those woods is now a roar.

The dead are here, and they are restless. They want. They need. They will do anything to get out of here.

I put my hands to my ears in a useless attempt to stop the screaming.

“Well, I rather thought this place might bring you low.”

I look up and my horror is complete.

Myrddin Emrys stands in front of me and he has Devinshea Quinn wrapped in bindings. He’s covered in blood, and I feel horror splash across me as I realize why.

His hands are gone.

Myrddin cut off his hands.

The screaming pulses through me, and I faint dead away.

Chapter Thirty

Sasha

Sasha held Ostara’s hand as he rushed through the too-tight tunnels and into the king’s viewing room. He expected to see Devinshea there, tied back up after a long night of healing.

Instead he saw Neil where Dev had been. He wasn’t tied to the post, however. He was upright, his head slumped forward, his body covered in blood and a long silver spear sticking out of his torso. The spear held him to the post. The shackles where Dev had been hung were empty, dangling over Neil’s still form.

There was blood everywhere.

Ostara gasped and started to rush for the door they found yesterday.

He held her back, fear flooding his system with adrenaline. “We don’t know who else is in there.”

“He needs help,” she insisted.

“And we will give it to him, but we can’t help him if we’re immediately attacked.” Neil’s body was moving slightly, breath entering and exiting his body. He was a tough kill, and whoever had tried hadn’t finished the job.

Sasha noticed the altar someone had placed in the middle of the dungeon. Myrddin had been hard at work, and he hadn’t waited until dark. What made him lose his patience?

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