Page 230 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
“No.” His jaw ticked in the dim light. “Which worries me.”
On instinct, I drew closer to him. His energy was like a beacon of safety, the pine scent lingering on his leathers a glimmer of life in this forsaken place.
“Why?”
It took a few seconds for him to reply. “Nothing pulses.”
I inhaled sharply.
The fallen star beat underneath the crypt, the heart of Solkar’s Reach. If its power spidered like veins throughout the realm, then its magic should have pulsed here.
If Ryker had expected it, that meant he’d seen it before.
But not now.
My dagger hissed as I drew it out. Just in case.
“The passage can’t attack us,” he muttered.
“No. But things that hide in darkness can.”
He hummed in reply. Behind us, I heard Geryll’s unmistakable gulp. The silence was getting to him, too.
I’d never wanted to see the sun again as much as I did now.
“Hear anything?” I asked.
“No.”
None of the warriors seemed to be in agony, so the voices weren’t tormenting them either. I doubted each and every one of them had the same untainted heart as the man driving the carriage.
I certainly didn’t. So why wasn’t I being tormented?
“This feels wrong,” I whispered. And I felt wrong for saying it. “Like we shouldn’t be here.”
Each word was like a curse in this place, sucked up by the darkness, never to be heard again.
Our screams would suffer the same fate.
“We are Solkar’s Reach people. If not us, then who?” Ryker said.
This barrier felt like it shouldn’t have ever been discovered, let alone used. Perhaps Solkar had been right to send its fiery star to destroy the place.
Something rotten had lived here before, of that I had no doubt.
Even my thoughts turned grimmer. Hopeless.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” the words tumbled out of my mouth. “I’m not from Solkar’s Reach.”
Instead of replying, Ryker took hold of my hand in the darkness. As soon as his fingers wrapped around mine, calm infused into me, like he was chipping away at his own peace to soothe mine.
I squeeze his palm as a thank you, reveling in the heat of his skin.
He didn’t say anything. Didn’t even blink as he did it, but the sparks in his eyes lessened.
Between these deep shadows, nobody could see this small gesture. It was only for us. Our skin, our senses, our souls.
Before I’d been brought to Solkar’s Reach, I would have shrugged the offering. Who was he to think I needed support, even as I quaked in my boots?
