Page 53 of Freed Wolfsbane

Her brows scrunch in confusion.“Where are we?”

I laugh, the sound more unhinged than I would like, because that’s an excellent question.I have no idea. I tripped and fell into this strange bronze room. It might be the Temple of Janus.

Dido purses her lips and shakes her head.“I am sorry, but I do not know. I am not familiar with much of Rome and have never been to the Temple of Janus.”

It makes sense that the Phoenician queen doesn’t know much about Rome or their religion. I would probably avoid learning much about the culture of a man who killed me out of spite too.

That’s okay. I just figured I’d ask.

“If you need help shifting or fighting your way out, let me know,”Dido tells me before she fades away. I snort at her offer to help me fight my way out of things. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but it is helpful to have a badass goddess who can make me fight like I actually know a thing or two.

Sighing, I decide to inspect the giant bronze man. Circling the statue, I see no obvious keyholes. I begin to search the rest of the room, which only takes a minute because there’s nothing else in here. Not even an altar or a chair or a fountain. There’s not a thing besides me and the statue.

Blowing out a rough breath, I walk back to the two-faced guy. Since I couldn’t find anything by looking at him, I start running my hands over the base of the statue. While my grimy little paws rubbing all over it is probably horrible for a multi-thousand-year-old statue, I’m all out of ideas.

I’ve almost made it around the entire inscription when my fingers drop into a small divot with what feels like a hole in it. I bend down and squint at the metal, trying to see what I just felt. Hidden between two letters is a small vertical line that looks a lot like a keyhole.

Fishing the key out of my pocket, I take a deep breath and insert it into the metal. Nothing happens for a second, and I deflate. Then the metal starts screeching, the sound echoing in the empty room.

I reach up to cover my ears at the sound that’s worse than nails on a chalkboard. As I watch, the base of the statue separates just enough that someone’s hand can fit into it. Prying my hands away from my ears and hoping the god-awful sound stopped, I wonder why I’m always having to stick my fingers in strange hidey-holes I find in historic places.

Hesitantly reaching my hand in the dark chasm, I pat around until I brush against what feels like a scrap of paper. My fingers close around the sheet, and I pull it out. I don’t have a chance to even look at it before the world goes black around me as I fall through space.

CHAPTER26

BRIAR

“Ow,” I mutter as my knees collide with something hard.

I debate keeping my eyes closed because I don’t think I want to know where I was transported this time. Unfortunately, I can’t sit here all day hiding from the problems that seem to find me despite trying my hardest to avoid them, so I blink my eyes open.

It takes me a moment to realize that I’m back in the Forum. Only, it’s nighttime instead of late afternoon like when I left. I could’ve sworn I was only in the all-bronze room for ten minutes at the most, but time must’ve moved differently there.

I smile at having successfully found my way back. It drops when I see an enraged Malachi storming over to me with Xander, Bastian, and Saint in tow.

Ah, fuck. I’m in so much trouble.

Scrambling to my feet, I stuff the paper I found in my jeans pocket and don’t make a move to meet them halfway. I just fidget nervously as I wait for Malachi to lay into me.

When he reaches me, he doesn’t say anything for a long moment. His navy eyes remind me of a hurricane at night as they run over every inch of me. “Are you hurt?” he asks in a rough voice. I mutely shake my head, not quite knowing whether he’s mad at me or not. “Good. Let’s go.”

His response doesn’t clue me in on what’s going on in his head. If I had to guess, he’s waiting until we get somewhere more private to yell at me about wandering off.

He turns and walks away. I don’t take more than a step before I’m swept up into Bastian’s arms. “Fuck, pretty girl. We were so goddamned worried about you. Don’t ever disappear into thin air again.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumble into his shirt. “I really didn’t mean to.”

Xander steps up behind me and hugs me. “What exactly happened?”

The hysterical giggle finally makes its way out of my mouth, because I would also like to know the answer. “I have no clue. I was looking at the basilica when I saw shimmery doors. I went over to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and called for Malachi. Then I tripped and landed in another dimension.”

Saint walks to the side of me and cups my face in his hand, his thumb stroking over my cheek. “Jesus, little shadow. You sure have the wildest things happen to you.”

I huff out a laugh. “Tell me about it. So, what happened here while I was gone? Because for me it was only ten minutes.”

Bastian lets me slide down his body. As soon as I’m on my feet, he grabs my hand in his, like he’s worried I’ll disappear again if he’s not holding on to me. Saint takes my other hand this time, and Xander grumbles under his breath. It pulls a small smile from me.

“We spent about half an hour looking all over the forum for you,” Bastian tells me. He swings our hands as we walk and tries to seem upbeat for me. “When that didn’t work, your mage called up Rhys and figured out the best tracking spell to try. The tracking spell said you were in the Forum, so we’ve been taking turns watching the area where you disappeared and hunting through the ruins. If morning came and you weren’t back, we were going to call in reinforcements.”

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