Page 98 of The Stone Curse
A flicker of anger flared inside me. “Hey, that’s my father you’re talking about.”
He blinked sharply. “Hmmm…”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that the problem is hiding in the gargoyle ranks.”
“But why?” Curi asked. “Why would the gargoyles create this faction and do any of this?”
Ignus smiled a thin-lipped smile. “You’ll get a story time off the boss later, but for now you have a choice—trust me and join me in more hospitable chambers, or don’t and continue to languish here.” His eyes narrowed, and he wagged a finger at us. “If you’re thinking you can trick me into letting you out so you can make a break for it, think again. You won’t get far. The complex is heavily warded and filled with…you guessed it, graynites.”
I exchanged glances with the others, seeing my thoughts reflected in their eyes. After everything we’d seen and been through, it wasn’t too far-fetched to believe that Ignus was telling the truth. That this faction was the real danger and the real home of the alpha.
I needed to know more, but first, “We want to see Serath and Adaline.”
“Of course,” Ignus said. “Adaline has been of great help to us looking over Serath. We needed to make sure that the entity inhabiting his body was gone.”
Romi had called Serath Ubron. “What was it? What was inside him?”
“An infernal, but that’s all I can tell you for now,” Ignus said. “Serath is the first graynite that the faction has turned that we’ve managed to get our hands on. But he has very little recollection of what was done to him aside from the pain. He was able to carve out an anchor in his mind. A difficult feat. Very impressive.”
My stomach twisted at the memory of the last time I’d seen Serath, the dark circles around his eyes, the gaunt look on his face…drawn with pain. They’d hurt him. Tortured him while I’d been free, doing pathetic, mundane things. He’d been hurting, and I hadn’t known…not for weeks. And the shadow…there’d been a shadow by the lake…Had that been Ubron?
Ignus’s jaw hardened. “Trust me, we will make them pay.”
“Is that the curse?” Curi said. “Something takes over a sigma’s body?”
“It’s a little more complex than that,” Ignus said. “But essentially, yes. Serath has been cleared, and we removed a tracker from his neck. He’s already been debriefed and is eager to see you. I left Adaline in the guest quarters where I can take you all now, if you wish.”
This was real.
It was all fucking real.
Serath was safe. He was free of the entity. He was whole again.
“Please, take me to him.”
CHAPTER 47
Splitting up in a strange underground bunker run by graynites was probably a bad idea, but in that moment, I was ruled by my primal emotions, by the need to see my mate and hold him, my ear to his chest so I could listen to the steady beat of his heart.
Ignus instructed one of the guards, another halfblood graynite like him, to take the others to the residences where he claimed Adaline was waiting.
There was no prickle of unease, no scent of deception in his tone, but was that because I wanted to believe him?
Their hideout was an underground bunker all gray and beige walls and floors, bleak corridors that connected to create a complex maze. I had no idea how Ignus navigated this place. There were no landmarks—nothing to indicate where we were or where we were going, but he took each turn with confidence.
I lengthened my stride to keep up. “This place must be big to house graynites.”
“I suppose so.”
“How many graynites live here?”
“Enough.”
“You’re not giving much away.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I know.”
