Page 76 of Freed Wolfsbane

Hesitantly, I walk over, wanting to comfort him but unsure if I’m welcome. His dad was only in this situation to begin with because of me, so I wouldn’t blame Malachi if he doesn’t want anything to do with me.

When I get within an arm’s length of him, one of his hands shoots out and hauls me against his chest. He wraps his arms around me and crushes me to him. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, but I feel his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. I squeeze him as hard as I can, trying to give him what little comfort I can.

“I’m so sorry,” I breathe, feeling responsible for what happened.

At my quiet words, Malachi sucks in a breath and his shoulders still. “It’s not your fault, baby girl,” he rasps, his voice choked up. “Dad made his choice and willingly gave his life for us. So let’s go find that curse and fucking destroy it. Then we can kill every single Knight on this godforsaken island. How’s that sound?”

I let out a watery laugh at Malachi’s violent plans, which I’m honestly good with. The more stuff we have to handle, the less time I have to think about the grief that’s currently trying to choke me. Plus, I’m livid at the Knights and all the death they’ve caused. I wouldn’t mind paying them back for the lives they’ve taken.

At my nod, Malachi lets his arms drop from around me. I walk over to where Bastian and Xander are sitting on their haunches with their heads bowed. Dropping to my knees again, I sling an arm around both of their necks, my fingers digging into their surprisingly soft blond fur. Both of them lean their giant foreheads to my shoulders as we sit there for a long moment, the sadness in the air palpable.

Eventually, wolf Xander pulls away. Bastian lingers for a few seconds longer before reluctantly leaving my hug. His amber eyes are pinched in sorrow, giving his canine face a surprisingly human appearance.

Before turning away, Bastian sticks his huge tongue out to lick my face in a sloppy show of affection. I sputter as I’m covered in doggy drool. Glancing up at him in question, I see a wolfy smile on his face. Not having the heart to chastise him, I force a smile at him and shove to my feet.

“Where should we go?” Saint asks when I stand up. While he didn’t know Vale as well as the rest of us, Saint’s words are somber and his face is lined with sadness.

I shrug, not able to force any words past the lump in my throat.

“I would suggest the lower levels,”Dido whispers in my mind, her mouth set in a grim line.“Those were always the most secure parts of the castle.”

How do we get there?

“You’ll have to go to the center of the castle and descend from there. That is the only entrance to the underground sections.”Dido hesitates for a moment before telling me,“I’m sorry, Briar. Losing people you love is always a crushing experience, no matter how many times you’ve experienced it.”

Yeah, I rasp in my mind, because losing Vale hurts just as much as losing my parents. It’s a pain I never thought I’d have to feel again, yet here I am once more, thanks to the Knights.

Scrubbing my hands over my face, I pack away my grief into the most secure box in my mind and make sure to fasten it with multiple locks. Right now isn’t the time to mourn Vale. It’s the time to avenge him and make his death mean something. Later, if we make it out of this alive, I can drown in it. But, for now, I have to stuff it all away so I can function.

“Dido says we should go to the center of the castle and use the entrance there to go to the lower levels,” I relay to my mates, my voice sounding dead even to me. Malachi’s brows lower in concern. “That’s where she thinks the curse would be.”

Malachi tilts his head in confusion. “I thought the curse was supposed to be where Dido was buried and the location of her funeral pyre. I doubt she did that in the basement.”

Dido nods at Malachi’s point.“I am guessing that the curse is directly underneath where my pyre was. That is still technically in the same spot, just further underground.”

I tell Malachi what Dido said, and he shrugs. “It doesn’t hurt to check it out. Dido is the one who knows this fortress best, so I’ll trust her instincts.”

With that, Malachi turns and stalks down the long hallway, which is the only way forward from the castle entrance. I rush to follow him, with Saint, Xander, and Bastian hot on my heels. None of us talk as we wind our way through the maze of hallways, all of us lost to our thoughts.

Under any other circumstances, I’d be admiring the Carthaginian architecture that looks perfectly preserved, for the most part, with the odd damage here or there from the Knights. But I don’t have it in me to feel anything even resembling joy right now, so I just keep my gaze on Malachi’s tense back, ignoring the beauty surrounding us.

It takes probably ten minutes to trek through the castle to the center. It would’ve been faster if we knew where we were going and didn’t have to retrace our steps after hitting dead ends. But the weirdest part is that we don’t encounter a single Knight the entire time. In fact, the only sound in the castle is the quiet tapping of our shoes and the clacking of claws on the marble floor.

I’m pretty sure this just confirms that we’re walking into a trap. The Knights want us to find the curse so they can ambush us and kill us. Even though I know it’s probably a trap, I don’t really see any other option than doing what they want us to, hopefully without the whole “getting murdered” thing.

When Malachi walks through an archway with elaborate Corinthian columns into a peaceful open-air courtyard with a garden, I realize why the castle is so quiet. There’s some sort of sound-dampening spell over the whole thing that blocks out the sounds from outside.

I can see the faint shimmer of lavender magic arcing above us. It’s not the same color as the brown protection domes outside, so I wonder who cast it.

“Anna did.”Dido gives me a bittersweet smile as she remembers her sister.“She had lavender magic, which delighted her because that was her favorite color. She put up a sound barrier that could be switched on or off for me. I would imagine that it has been up since her death, with no one remembering how to remove it.”

I return her smile but don’t say anything as I slowly walk through the courtyard. I marvel at the beautiful cypress trees, stone pines, and the flowers blooming even in winter. There’s a calm reflecting pool I’m wandering to when something that looks a lot like scorch marks catches my eye.

Walking toward the corner opposite where we came in, I see that a huge area of the sandy cobblestone is black and charred. This area certainly seems large enough for a pyre, and the open-air courtyard would allow the smoke to vent without burning down the whole castle. If I had to guess, I think this is where Dido took her life.

Since I don’t see Knights or any enchanted object, Dido’s likely right that the curse is in one of the underground levels. It’s probably right under where I’m standing. It’s strange to think we’re this close to something that my family has been chasing for the past thousand years.

Before I can get too excited, I need to find the entrance Dido was talking about. As I’m searching all around the scorch marks, a bark sounds from the fountain in the very center of the courtyard.

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