Page 19 of Hopeless Kingdom
“In or out, gentlemen. We can’t linger out here,” I tell them as my gaze searches manically for an unseen threat.
Ryder’s hand grips the doorknob and he slowly turns it.
With ease, the door pushes open. The three men look at one another with pure hesitancy in their tense frames.
The door to the tower surrounding the Hopeless realm is carelessly unlocked.
This is bad.
This is a set up.
“You ever feel like everything we’re doing is just one big shit show that someone else is directing?” I ask as my hand grips around the hilt of the knife at Darrio’s side. Without asking, I pull it from his leather belt.
The three of them glance back at me but don’t reply.
Darrio pushes at the side of the door and walks like a predator into a den. I can’t see around his large shoulders but bright light is shining past him. The golden color highlights his body as if he truly is a descendant of an angel.
A descendant of the God of War would be more accurate.
Ryder follows closely behind him and Daxdyn presses his warm hand to the small of my back. He seems to hover at my side, as if he’s more concerned about me than anything that might be in this tower.
The hard handle of the knife presses into my palm as my fingers tighten around it.
My eyes squint from the harsh lighting, and it takes me a minute to really assess my surroundings.
A curved room spirals up into sky and the morning light filters into the wide opening at the top. Six spotlights shine down on the brick floor and what rests at the center has my fullest attention.
Every scar on my arm burns, tingling to life. I stare wide-eyed at the inky pool of water that swirls in a perfect circle at Ryder’s feet.
He stares down at it, his head hung low. His shoulders sag a little as well.
All three of them seem to have their strength falling from them as the look down at the black iron bars that are firmly drilled into the cement. The bars cross over the swirling waters. It’s like a well that’s been covered up with prison bars.
“That’s it?”
That’s the entrance to the Hopeless City?
Ryder nods but he doesn’t look away from the imprisoned well. He kneels, his boots teetering against the bars. He shoves his hand through and it barely fits into the small square opening. His fingers cut through the waters and the black angles that scar his arm darken.
The mark of the Hopeless flares to life on contact with the water.
“They’ve closed it off from us? They knew we’d try to escape. They were just waiting for us to find this.” Daxdyn’s empty voice crawls through the room and I, too, feel my strength slip away from me.
There really isn’t any hope left in this world.
There certainly isn’t any for us.
***
“Did you know it’s rude to come late to a celebration held in your honor?” Tristan’s question holds pure condescending snark.
The four of us stand on the outskirts of a jostling room of people. Their flowing gowns dot the room in vibrant colors of red, green, blue, black and white. Each color is more lavish than the last.
And here I stand with torn jeans and fresh mud clinging to my scuffed boots.
Darrio led us here as quickly as possible.
We can’t leave. There’s nowhere for us to go.Ryder had told me, his warm hand tugged on mine, trying to lure me back into the castle we had just fled from.
