Page 83 of Wrath of the Fae

‘You see those markings?’ I ask.

‘Yep,’ Lucca replies.

He and Tessa stand at my side and look into the pitch-black before us. As I step towards it, we hear a low snarl from within. My foot stops mid-step as Tessa and Lucca grab a wrist to keep me in place.

‘That sounded like something alive,’ Tessa whispers. ‘Tell me you heard that too.’

A roar follows, and we all step back, staring into the darkness. The roar was loud but far away.

‘Do you think it’s a Desert Demon?’ I ask, staring unblinkingly at the tunnel. ‘You said they were forced underground.’

‘They’re confined to the Seventh Kingdom,’ Tessa replies with a tremble in her words. ‘I’m pretty certain this is something else.’

The ground trembles, and we all stagger back as the roaring and growling start again. Worse, it gets closer and closer.

‘What the fuck did you just wake up?!’ Lucca yells, pulling out his sword as he shoves Tessa and me behind him.

‘I didn’t mean to!’ I insist, pulling out my dagger.

A swarm of black shoots from the tunnel. Black smoke mixed with a blinding white light. I hear the others scream as the cellar becomes full of it, whipping around us in a wild frenzy. The roar has me screaming in pain. Covering my ears does nothing. There’s no corporeal body to fight, and my ear drums feel like they’re bleeding.

Something wraps around my waist. I reach out for anything or anyone to grab, but before I can, I’m pulled away.

Tessa and Lucca call my name far in the distance as I am dragged deeper and deeper into the tunnels.

sixteen

Thehowlingandroaringend as I meet the ground. I’m curled up on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest, and it takes a few moments to gain the courage to open my eyes. The first thing I see is my hands.

They glow.

It’s not my skin but my veins. I hold up my arm and lift my sleeve. I see it there too. Sitting, I feel my wings at my back. They ripple with the same golden shimmer, pulsating from my back to their tip.

I look around for any sign of that smoke and light.

‘Where the fuck am I?’ I whisper, looking around. Another low snarl. My eyes narrow as I look around. ‘Where are you, whatever you are?’

The walls are covered in glowing, ancient rune symbols that illuminate the space.

Space… no. Palace.

The one from the drawing in the Elder woman’s mind.

The walls are as smooth as marble and decorated with intricate, beautiful carvings. Grand pillars hold up a domed ceiling a hundred meters above me. Lavish chandeliers of black stone sway overhead. Each one is the size of a house. I spot something ahead of me. My footsteps echo loudly as I approach a pool of tranquil gold and black water. In the dead centre of it is an altar. I stop at the water's edge. Atop the altar is a corpse. Its skin is like leather and covered in cobwebs. It’s a woman lying on her back with two great wings draped over the edge of the altar she rests on, dipping into the pool.

There’s a low rumble. Not from anything shaking or the rocks shifting, but from something moving. A snarl, loud enough to hurt my ears, and an exhale that blows my hair and dress behind me has me shuddering.

‘Hmmmmmmm. There you are.’The words are guttural. Demonic. And somehow, all around me.‘I have been waiting.’

‘You know me?’ I dare speak aloud, desperate to keep my voice calm. ‘Wait. I know you. Your voice.’ I look around, hoping to see it. ‘You’re the voice that has been speaking to me. That spoke to Lucca about getting me back.’

That black pool starts to shift and move, forming not water but that black smoke from before, twisting like a storm cloud filled with lightning. It slithers, creating a looming figure. I watch it rise high above my head and slowly tower over me. From the blackness, a face emerges like a great head of a snake with razor-sharp jaws and two intensely golden eyes. Its head seems to be the only solid part of it. At the neck, it forms into that black storm cloud.

The face looms over me, stopping nose to nose.

‘What are you?’ I gasp, unable to look away. ‘Where am I?’

‘Sanctuary…’ it replies in a deep growl.

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