Page 250 of Primal Bonds

“He did. If we’re still in the castle, then we’re in the maze. We just don’t know it.”

He nodded grimly. “How in Hades can we get out of it when we can’t see where it begins or ends?”

“Or when dawn comes.”

They met each other’s eyes.

And then the illusion faded, and they were in the maze, the pearly walls towering over them. Before them was a forked intersection with three options—left, center or right.

“Gotcha,” Marjani murmured. “Or do you have us?”

Fane peered down each of the paths, looking for a landmark, but all three were blank as a sheet of paper. “I have no fucking idea where we are. The maze is impossible to navigate without Sindre’s permission.”

The adrenaline that had fueled his jog had dissipated. He leaned over, hands on his thighs, suddenly so weary he could barely keep on his feet. Beside him, Marjani slumped against a wall.

“Nothing is impossible,” she said, but she didn’t move.

Silence fell. A thick, watchful silence.

The walls on either side pressed closer, squeezing in, inch by slow inch. His nape tightened. He shook his head from side to side.

It’s not real. It’s an illusion.

Beside him, Marjani drew a jagged breath, and he knew Sindre was getting to her, too. A hot, cleansing fury swept through him. She’d been through so damn much, and now she had to survive Sindre’s mind games as well.

Mind over matter, Fane.

He had to be strong for Marjani. He touched her hand, and damn if the encroaching walls didn’t recede a little.

“We have to keep moving,” he said. “Part of Sindre’s Gift is that he can manipulate things to seem worse than they are. He tries to steal all your hope.”

Her mouth tilted wryly. “He must not know what the Darktime was like. Okay.” She let out a long breath. “Let’s do this.”

He nodded and straightened back up, and then reeled as the maze swooped around him.

“Take it easy.” Marjani grabbed his arm, twin creases between her brows. “I wish I could help, but I have no healing Gift.”

He swallowed dryly. “I’ll manage. But now would be a good time to hear that plan of yours.”

She touched his cheek, concerned, and then nodded. “Okay, here’s what I think. An illusionist can only fool a living thing. He can’t fool an inanimate object like my quartz. And I’ve been studying the maze every chance I got. I think I’ve figured out its underlying logic.”

He shook his head. “I told you, that won’t work.”

“But north, south, east and west don’t change. I can use my quartz as a compass to keep us on track.”

He nodded slowly. “It’s worth a try.”

Setting her hand over where her quartz was concealed by her hoodie, she focused for a few moments. When she opened them, she said, “We’re a little east of the north tower. Where’s the closest portal?”

He dropped his voice. “The one by the east tower—the one I took you out of the other day.”

“Okay.” She pointed toward the left fork. “East is that way.”

“Lead on.”

Chapter 35

This time Marjani took the lead, since the maze had narrowed to where they had to walk single file. The path twisted and turned, but she simply consulted her quartz at each intersection. At first there were only a few openings, but then doors and forks in the path started appearing every few yards, forcing her to keep referring to her quartz.

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