Page 71 of Claim the Twilight
He turns on his heel and goes back out the door into a plain white corridor with a door to the left and another to the right. He takes a right and stops by a door there. “Are you ready?”
“I’m assuming that’s not a regular door.”
“You assume correctly. The port beyond will take us directly to a secure room in the Lantana estate, where you will be vetted before permitted to enter the Isle proper.”
“You’re taking her prisoner?” Harald says, a hint of amusement in his tone.
Gerard blinks up at him, as if seeing him for the first time, and who knows, maybe he is. Maybe Harald can hide himself from others while being visible to me. But if Gerard is surprised, he recovers quickly.
“Not prisoner,” he says. “You will be permitted to leave one way or another.”
I don’t have time for caution here. I need answers, and they all lie within the Lantana coven. “Fine, let’s go.”
Gerard smiles thinly, opens the door, and steps aside, waiting for me to enter.
Unlike the portal from the mainland, there is no pretty glow or lights. The doorway is a pitch-black maw waiting to swallow me.
“Great.” I take a deep breath and step into the dark.
Bright light burns my eyes.I turn my head away, squeezing them shut and throwing up a hand to shield my face from the blaze. “What the fuck!”
“Drop the damn shields,” Harald demands, his tone an authoritative boom.
The world beyond my eyelids dims, and I crack open an eye, peering cautiously into the now shadowy chamber made of wooden floors, dark brick, and stone walls hung with tapestries woven with strange symbols. There are no windows, and I can’t find a door.
A tall feminine figure steps out of the gloom, skirts gliding across the floor, hands clasped together at her waist in an almost pious pose. Her dark hair is parted but rolled up on either side and pinned so it looks like she has two small mountains on her head. The style further elongates her already angular face, giving her a hawkish appearance. There’s nothing soft about this woman, and even though I stare at her for several long seconds, I’m unable to determine her age. She seems both ancient and youthful at the same time, and the combination makes my stomach hurt.
I find my voice. “Who are you?”
She smiles, closed-lipped and terse. “I was going to ask you that question.” Her gaze flicks to my left, to where Harald stands guard over me, his presence a steady beating heart of energy. “But I believe I have my answer, however impossible it may seem.”
“You know Harald?”
She arches a brow. “Isthatthe name he gave you?”
“It is,” he answers for me. “Until she recalls the name that she gave me all those centuries ago.”
What is he talking about? “Inamed you?”
“What have you told her?” the woman asks Harald.
“That she has my power and that I want it back.”
The woman nods. “I see. Have you told herwhyshe took it from you?”
“No. But I doubt it matters to her now. She is no longer that person. Sheneedsme now.”
The way he says it, with a hint of possessive pride, has my hackles raised immediately. “I need you to help me stop Loviator, and that’s all.”
The woman’s eyes narrow in Harald’s direction. “You were always a mystery. Always hiding something. But you never lied. Not once.”
“So hecanhelp me?”
“If he says that he can, then yes.”
A rush of relief rocks through me. “Do you know what Moringa did? WhatIdid to lock away Harald’s power?”
“Yes.”
