Page 92 of Bought to Break
The woman got up and walked over to the door; she didn’t stand within arm’s reach, though, Lana noticed. In fact, Lana saw there was a line drawn on the floor. The girl didn’t cross it.
‘Actually, I do know where it is, though I’ve never been myself. He calls it his Gallery.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It’s on the lower hall on the rotunda corridor of the East Wing.’
‘But that’s where my cell is.’ Lana frowned, wondering if the woman was trying to trick her.
She shook her head. ‘No, no; the rooms are on the upper floor. The Gallery is below where they put you.’
Lana nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘Good luck,’ the girl called. ‘If they catch you, he’ll make you hurt awfully, you know.’
Lana grimaced. ‘You have no idea.’
There wasno one in the lower hall, so she ran as quickly and quietly as she could down the corridor. She almost missed it, the unassuming door, but there it was. She turned back and tried the handle, fearing it would be locked, but the door swung open smoothly without even a creak.
She walked into a substantial room and her mouth fell open. There were rows upon rows of shelves filled with objects, both wondrous and mundane. Her room was the closest to Vineri’s Gallery, she realised, wrinkling her nose in distaste. He truly thought of her as part of his collection.
Some of the items were gold or encrusted with gems. Others looked odd and ancient, their uses long forgotten. She surveyed the vast space in awe. It seemed to go on forever.
She turned in a circle, perusing the closest shelves and hoping Vineri had just thrust it on the nearest one in haste, but it wasn’t there. In fact, the more she looked around, the more there seemed to be a meticulous and mysterious order about the place, though she didn’t understand it. Pieces were definitely grouped together, perhaps stored for their purpose, she speculated. She sighed. How was she ever to find the Vessel amidst these thousands of other artefacts?
She turned towards the door. She’d been gone too long already. But she was pulled back by some unseen force. She gasped and twisted away, but she felt herself being led, as if someone held her hand, down one of the many corridors. She walked for ages, past tall shelves of just …things. Big, small, round, square. Some of these artefacts looked interesting and otherworldly, but many were completely ordinary such as simple wooden spoons, small statues of the gods, and other trinkets she wouldn’t look twice at on a market stall.
She slowed to a gradual stop and looked around her, suddenly spying it in one of the stacks just below eye level. Picking it up carefully, she examined it, wondering if it was Gaila helping her. It looked like a stone oil lamp without a spout, black and completely smooth. It was oddly weightless. She put it under her arm like a loaf of bread as she made her way back to the entrance of the room.
She cracked the door and, making sure the landing was deserted, sprinted back down the hall, up the stairs and back to her cell. She hid the Vessel under the monster of a bed, on top of one of the large girders that made up the frame. At least she had it now, even if she couldn’t yet escape with it.
She looked at the door, still open, and wondered if she dared leave the room again. She’d be trying her luck, but it must be past midday. She was sure Viktor and Kane should have got in by now. She’d already been here a day and a night, and they’d promised it would be no longer than that. Pushing the worry to the back of her mind, she decided she’d try to get to Sorin again. If he were more lucid than yesterday, he might be able to help her think of a plan.
She poked her head out into the hall and slipped from the room again, this time going in the opposite direction, but as she rounded the corner, she bumped into someone who’s footsteps she hadn’t heard.
She looked up with a gasp into familiar eyes that made her stop dead. She turned on her heel as quickly as she could with a small cry, but it wasn’t fast enough. A rough hand tangled in her hair and dragged her back, throwing her into the stone wall with a menacing growl.
‘I knew you weren’t dead,’ Uth snarled, a nasty grin spreading over his face. He gripped her neck and squeezed, but luckily the rigid collar stopped him from crushing her throat. ‘You’re going to regret coming here, and you’ll never get your unit out alive. You aren’t going to last that long, you fucking bitch.’
‘Lana? What are you doing out of your room?’ Dugal asked from behind Uth.
Thank the gods.‘Dugal,’ she croaked, trying to look as small and distressed as she could. ‘Help me, please. The door wasn’t locked. I was just coming to find you.’
‘Find me?’ He looked sceptical.
‘Yes … to say sorry for what happened earlier. I’m very lucky to be here where I’m safe. I know that. But this man attacked me while I was on my way. Please, Dugal, tell him to release me. I’ll go straight back to my room, I promise.’ She whimpered, willing her eyes to fill with tears, which wasn’t difficult after Uth’s revelations that Viktor and Kane had been captured as well. She had no idea how they were going to get out of this.
‘Let her go,’ Dugal demanded.
Uth didn’t budge.
‘She is Vineri’s. If you harm her, he will destroy you. I promise you that. No matter his arrangement with your Commander.’
But even the threat of Vineri’s wrath wasn’t enough to deter Uth. Lana could see it in his eyes. He had probably vowed to kill her if he was ever able, and he wasn’t going to let this chance slip through his fingers.
‘She is a danger to everyone here,’ Uth ground out. ‘I’m taking her to the dungeons. If you don’t like it, go and tell your master, priest, and let’s see if he really gives a fuck. Better be quick though. I think I’ll start my interrogations with her.’
‘Don’t you harm a hair on her head, Uth!’
Uth smirked at the weaker man. ‘You going to stop me?’
The priest threw up his hands in exasperation. ‘Where is he?’
