Page 18 of Rules of Stone
I stare into liquid darkness beneath us. “An underground passage?”
Tye nods, swinging himself down into the abyss without ceremony. When I let myself dangle off the edge to follow him down, I discover my legs are unable to touch the ground. I clench my teeth. Tye jumped from the second story for the enjoyment of it this morning, so his easy descent tells me nothing about the floor I cannot see. The ankle I nearly twisted getting out of my window whines with fear. I draw a shaking breath, my hands aching from the strain as I try to talk myself into letting go.
Firm hands grip my calves, pulling in clear command. Tye’s spotting touch echoes through me, the relief so palpable that I let my grip slide on sheer trust. The instant I do, my body drops into the male’s waiting arms, which close around me protectively.
For a moment, I stay there, my face pressed into Tye’s shoulder, drinking in his warmth and fresh scent. The steady rise and fall of his broad, muscled chest is soothing enough to stop time itself, returning me back to a world where the male held me readily with heart and soul. It’s so familiar here, I can almost forget for a moment that everything’s changed.
Unbidden, the desire to tell Tye everything fills my lungs.You are fae, Tye. My mate. And though you remember nothing of it and think you’ve a life here, it’s all different.I bite my lip. Would I believe such a tale? No. No one sane would. Gavriel’s warning of what fae craft accusations lead to nowadays sends a chill down my neck. This disaster with the veil amulets needs actions, not words. It needs a magical tablet to be found and fixed.
Setting me on my feet, Tye steps away and pulls down on a rope. The trap door closes obediently above us. “It’s an escape tunnel,” he says, leading the way forward along the rough stone. “Not very posh, but it will get us to the other side of the wall. Keep your hand on the rock to steady your bearing.”
I obey, stepping gingerly, my immortal eyes making out no more than an occasional glimpse of a wall—a human would see not even that.
“The guards don’t monitor this?” My foot steps on what feels like a dead rat lying in the middle of the path. I inhale sharply before moving on.
“We’re passing near the main gates now, actually,” Tye whispers. “There is a place in the guardhouse where they can see any light passing through here. So long as we light no candle or lantern, the risk is minimal.” Tye’s silhouette seems to glance over his shoulder. “But minimal isn’t the same as zero, pretty lass. Are you still certain that whatever it is you want to do is worth angering our lords and masters? Speaking of that, what are we doing exactly?”
“Wearen’t doing anything.” My hand presses hard into the rock as I quicken my step enough to overtake the male. “I’ll take it from here. You need to go back to the Academy, Tye.”
Tye steps along with me. “I’ve been told I’m good company.”
“I’ve been told that getting tossed into a lake will teach me to swim—that didn’t make it true.” I stop, turning toward him. “Why are you helping me? In fact, how did you find me near that oak to begin with?”
Tye chuckles. “You had the look of someone about to make a jailbreak. As to why I came—I’m trying to impress you, of course.” He stretches. “And because it seems an entertaining way to spend the night.”
“And if we are caught?”
“Then the night will quickly become less entertaining.” He motions toward the passage. “Come along, mischief. You won’t find the exit without me.”
Fair point. Quitting arguing lest I win, I follow Tye along the uneven dips and rises until he finally blocks my path with his arm. Ordering me to stay put, the male feels along the wall until finally tugging on something I can’t see. A moment later, a rope ladder unfurls beside us. Why couldn’t the veil amulet have endowed me with this knowledge?
Sending me up ahead of him, Tye brings up the rear until we emerge into the wilderness. Fresh air fills my nose and lungs, washing away the stench of mold and dung my fae senses absorbed too clearly in the passage. Against the starlit sky, Tye’s silhouette has a soft, preternatural glow that turns his lithe movements into dance-like perfection. Now, like me, the male stands with his face tipped up, drawing gulps of crisp air. “Where to now?”
16
Lera
“That somewhat depends on where we are,” I mutter, turning about to get my bearings. The forbidding tower of the Academy’s keep, the jagged mountain range, the sloping forested ridge, all stand mocking sentinel against the night. Clear, yet telling me nothing. When I approached the Academy, the damn stone relic was rather proactive in attracting my attention, but my secret hopes that its shards might oblige me with the same courtesy are fading quickly. Which means I am going to be looking for my own tracks in the forest after all. A fool’s errand at night. My feet trip over a root I’d failed to notice, the loud crackle of dry leaves and branches as I fumble for balance a mockery in itself.
Stars.A heaviness settles on my chest, the weight of it making it hard to inhale. What the bloody hell was I thinking coming out here? Dragging Tye right along into trouble with me? Tye, who thinks he is human and me no more than a conquest. A distraction. My fingers grip my shirt hem as I turn about, the forest alive with an owl’s ghostly hoots and a wolf’s too-close howl. Just like Shade, except not. A tremor runs through me.
Everything isjust likebut not. What if this is the reality, and the soul-gripping connection I thought I had with the males was never anything but a trick of magic? If we were truly meant for each other, would they not have noted me? Felt something? Anything? The wind blows into my face, its icy fingers racing down my skin. If this is the truth of it without magic helping us, then breaking the amulets’ hold heralds nothing but pretty lies. My throat closes, my eyes stinging, though I don’t let the tears fall.
“Lass?” Tye’s hands settle on my shoulders, turning me toward him.
I swallow, suddenly unsure what to do. What to say. Five. There are supposed to be five of us. And now there aren’t. And it hurts like a knife slicing across my soul.
“Five what?” Tye asks, and I realize I’ve spoken the word aloud. “What are you searching for, Lera?”
“Tracks,” I say numbly. “I dropped something on my way. I’d hoped to find it.”
“At night?”
“I couldn’t exactly walk out during daylight, now could I?”
Tye’s answering chuckle vibrates through me, a rumble that starts in his chest and makes my bones tremble. Alone in the darkness with nothing but the sounds of the forest around us, the deep loneliness I’ve somehow held at bay before now slams into me with a bitter vengeance. Before I can draw my next breath, Tye pulls me in against his shoulder, his arms wrapping me tightly, his heart a steady beat beneath his breast. His fresh scent is a balm to my senses, his muscles surrounding me like steel wrapped in velvet.
The phantom limb of magic that I awoke with in this new fae body stirs in its shackles, unable to move.
