Page 36 of Reigning
Those ebony eyes turn gold, rippling with memories, unblinking and wide-eyed as the sparrow projects images just as I’d asked.
Her face is blurred and unrecognizable, someone the bird doesn’t know but is following nonetheless. It soars at the woman’s side, peering over at the stranger from time to time as she hikes through the snow. Another woman flashes in at the woman’s side. This one also blurred but moving just as quickly as the first. The two of them kick up white frost with every rushing step they take. The sun sets and blooms across the horizon all over again, lighting up the two women in blinding white sun.
Attikan sunlight.
It’s the last thing the sparrow shows me. That short, mysterious clip of two unknown women hiking through this kingdom.
The golden hue of the bird’s eyes fades out into a dimness, and just as I’m about to lower him, his eyes brighten once more. The ripple effect glows through his gaze. The projection starts. The five of us wait, my attention spiking so high I’m terrified to even blink in case I miss something.
Heavy snow falls into the bird’s-eye view.
And then the lined and worn features of my only friend cuts into sight like she’s speaking directly to me. “I’m coming, Low. The weather here is incredibly insulting. But tell that bitch queen of ours I’m coming.”
A smile pulls across my lips, and I feel revived. I’m breathing in the dry air of this closed-off castle with optimism.
Because I know now who the other two people were in the sparrow’s vision.
And they’re all headed here.
Fourteen
Don’t Disturb the Dead
When I slipmy fingers around the cold metal handle of the dungeon door, a hand snatches my wrist. Rime and Chaos step right up to the demon currently manhandling me a bit too much for my shifters’ comfort.
The man’s crimson eyes look from the two shifters in front him, to Kain and then Sinister. He rounds back to Sin as if unsure he really saw another demon or not. And then finally comes to me. Slowly he releases me but doesn’t step away. A thick beard covers his face in a messy way, masking him from me for the most part.
But he doesn’t seem to be here to harm us.
“My queen instructed me to guide you to your rooms. She said the dungeon is no place for friends.”
Friends.
We’re friends now.Right.
But I need the three mages imprisoned down there so…
“Um, well, you see I left something of mine downstairs. I-I really quite like the dungeon. It’s become a home away from home if you will. I think…I think we’ll just stay there. It’s quaint. What’s another forty-eight-ish hours in a dungeon, right?” My rambling goes unnoticed.
The demon doesn’t even wait for me to finish before he shoves on by, ‘guiding me to my rooms’. I give quick glance over my shoulder to make sure he isn’t watching. Then I reach for the handle again.
It doesn’t turn. It catches on a lock.
I’m locked out of my own prison. Really?
Feels a little rude, but I guess now is not the time to comment on it.
My steps stumble against an uneven brick, and I race after the demon. I nearly run right into him when we reach the narrow stairs. From the corner of his fiery eyes, he looks back at me with an unimpressed glance I’ve seen a time or two in my life. It’s mostly quiet and I mostly stay off the heel of his shoes as we stride up to the second floor. He stops at a door right off the landing, heading down a small hall, and I’m thankful we’re not too terribly far away from the dungeon.
I never in my life thought I’d be so anxious to get back in a prison cell before.
He gestures sarcastically to the only door on this floor and then trails off like he’s too good to really serve me.
Which, I mean, he really is. I’m a nobody. I’m not even a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m like one of those flopping cocks in sheep’s clothing.
But I am at least good at pretending. And it shows because I’m no longer a prisoner of the Kingdom of Attika. I’m the queen’s most trusted friend.
Which just goes to show what a completely shitty, shitty person she is to only have a traitor as a friend.
