Page 53 of Vow of Magic
Every single one of them bowed. Edna placed the wooden utensil on the counter and straightened up. “How can I help you, Your Highness?”
“Good morning, Edna, breakfast was delicious as always.” I gave her a bright smile and made eye contact with each of the young girls pressed against the cabinets. “Would you mind leading us down to the wine cellar?”
She frowned. “Why would you want to go down there?”
One of the young girls gasped at the woman’s audacity. I merely smiled. “We think there could be something down there that we have been looking for.”
Edna ran her hands down the front of her apron. “There isn’t anything down there besides wine and spirits, but you’re welcome to it, as you are with everything in your castle.”
“Thank you, Edna,” I said as she yanked open the door to the wine cellar. It was significantly colder down there than the restof the castle and I knew immediately that the hidden jewels of the last Mage Queen were not down there. As Edna stated, the only thing down there was dusty barrels and bottles.
When we were back in the entryway of the castle, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. We hadn’t found dungeons, but every castle had dungeons, right? Maybe the coffers were somewhere near them.
“Dungeons?” I asked Alric cryptically.
He shook his head. “I haven’t been able to find any.”
This magical castle was going to be the death of me, I already knew it. The entertaining room that held the prophecy was gone and couldn’t be located again. New rooms were lining the entryway since we’d arrived. What was I missing?
“Do you think the castle might respond to your magic?”
“Like it did before when you pressed your hand or whatever to the door and it opened. Maybe you could do the same to the walls and they’ll move to your bidding.” I stared at him wide-eyed and he held his hands up. “I’m completely grasping at straws here.”
I stared at the wall beside the stairs and nibbled on my bottom lip. Maybe he was right. Would the castle move to do my bidding?
I pressed my hand against the banister and closed my eyes as I imagined dungeons. Beneath my feet, the castle groaned and trembled. A tingle shot up my arm and I gasped as I stumbled away. My eyes shot open as the stairs began to move before our eyes.
“I’ll be damned,” Alric swore. “It was just a guess.”
The floor fell away as the stairs moved and more reappeared below it. The ones below were not as nice as the ones above. I scrunched my nose and looked at Alric out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was completely unhinged. I was having a similarreaction but internally. I didn’t know about all of this now. Maybe I shouldn’t have started with the dungeons.
My hands trembled as I peered down at them with skepticism. Had I really done that?
“Do you think anything is down there?” I didn’t want to know. I mean… I did want to know but maybe it could wait a few more days. There were more pressing matters to attend to, but here we were. My curiosity got the best of me.
“Do you want to stay here as a lookout?” I asked Alric, unsure of how to proceed.
He snorted. “You think I’m going to let you go down there alone? No chance. Also, why would you need a lookout? This is your castle.”
“But what if someone tries to follow us?”
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “I’ll be right back.”
Alric hopped over the gaping hole in the floor and rushed up the stairs two at a time. A few minutes later he was dragging a very confused Reva down the stairs. She wasn’t dressed for battle like usual and her hair was a mess. Did she sleep in when she didn’t have to attend to me? Or did she go back to take a nap after her training?
She stared down at the hole in the floor without an expression. “This is a new development.”
“Isn’t it great?” Alric’s voice didn’t sound like he was very impressed with what we were about to do. I didn’t know how much I wanted to do what needed to be done.
Reva shook her head as she pouted. “On all the days you decide to go on dangerous adventuring, you choose this one. I would have liked an opportunity to come.”
“We need you to make sure no one follows us down there,” I peered down at the hole again.
She rolled her lips before they flattened into a thin line. “Great, I’m the lookout.”
Alric patted her shoulder before he jumped over the gaping hole that led to the dungeons. “You ready?”
“No, but let’s go.”
