Page 21 of A Cage of Magic and Darkness

With a frown, I reach in and lift the key. Pinching it between my thumb and forefinger, I hold it in the air and turn it one way and then the other. What is it for? Why has the king gone to such trouble to hide it here?

I swear it vibrates in my grip. The iron isn’t cold, as I’d expected, but is warm, as though heated from within.

Come…

A whisper, but I don’t hear it via my ears. It’s coming from all around me. Or even inside me.

This way…

I find myself powerless to resist.

11

TAELYN

Awarethat I’ve left Balthorne guarding the front, I slip out of the rear door of the office—the one the staff use to enter if they need to stoke the fire or bring meals to the king. I hurry down the rear passageway, candlelight guiding me. I’m following something, but I don’t know quite what or to where. I know only it’s important.

Hurry…the voice whispers from somewhere inside my head.It’s time.

Following some kind of instinct inside of me, I keep going. I leave the staff corridor and cross the main hall to take me to the steps that lead down, into the dungeon.

The head of the King’s Guard, Cirrus, steps out in front of me, breaking my reverie.

“Princess Taelyn, where are you going?”

I frown and stare down at the large key in my palm. “I-I’m not entirely sure.”

He sees the item in my hand, and his eyes widen in shock. He covers his reaction quickly with a smooth smile,but not quickly enough for me to fail to register it. He recognizes this key.

“I will take that for you.”

To my surprise, he reaches out to swipe it from me. I move just in time, closing my fingers around it, and then placing my hand behind my back.

“A princess has no business with ugly things like that,” he says.

“Ugly things like what? It’s just a key.”

Something is clearly troubling him. “It’s old and rusted.”

“What is it for?” I ask.

“I have no idea.”

His gaze shifts up to the left, and I know he’s lying.

“Cirrus, you are head of the King’s Guard, and since there is no longer a king, you are now sworn to me.”

“I will swear to protect you, Princess Taelyn, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”

“Protect me from a key.” I give a small laugh that contains no humor. “I think I have far bigger things to worry about.”

He chews at his lower lip. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

I remain baffled. “I still don’t understand. Does this key have something to do with the rot?”

It’s the only thing I can think of that could possibly cause me harm. We’ve lived in peace here for the past ten years. The rot took my home, and my real father, back in Torremora. It gradually ate away at our lands, taking our crops and animals, until our subjects began to starve. How can you fight something you can’t see? No one knows thecause of it. Rumor is that it’s caused by black magic, a curse put on our lands, but no one knows why or by whom.

“No, Princess, it doesn’t. It’s something that could be far more dangerous.”

---