Page 232 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
We were not alone in this sacred passage.
Someone was hunting us–and I hadn’t been the only one to notice.
Taps against the rock, so low, I barely heard them, began to beat behind and in front of me the vibrations drumming through my shoulder blades.
Signals.
Orders.
A language I didn’t know
The warriors had hidden in the gaps along the tunnel and were communicating in a code I had no hope of understanding. They were talking through the stone.
A stab of fear slashed through me. Solkar’s Reach might have welcomed me in its embrace, but it hadn’t revealed all its secrets.
In this, I was still an outsider.
And it might cost me my life. Or worse–I might blunder their coded plan and get someone else injured.
Suddenly, I was transported back to the maze.
An unseen attacker.
The maze.
The olive tree and my father’s blood.
The mist devouring everything in its wake.
I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting against the memories.
I was no longer in Sanctua Sirena, on the family grounds I’d run through as a child until I could navigate through them with my eyes closed.
I was trapped under the earth, in a foreign place which seemed designed to suffocate any life foolish enough to enter it.
But I was still being hunted.
My eyes flew open.
No.
I was The Huntress.
I was the one who hunted.
The creeping steps echoed closer, but they sounded wrong. They should have been soft, engulfed by the layer of black dust which still hadn’t settled fully on the floor. Instead, they scraped against stone.
Ryker stopped tapping.
I didn’t need to understand the code to know all the warriors were readying for an attack. I strung my bow tighter, poised to shoot.
I listened for the warriors’ breaths. Felt for Ryker’s energy.
I chanced another look at his eyes.
He must have realized my predicament. Even in the darkness, I saw him nod–or felt him, I no longer knew.
I could taste the suspense on the tip of my tongue, a spring ready to snap.
