Page 82 of Wrath of the Fae

‘I have no strength,’ I groan. ‘So I’m going to need you to slap yourself on my behalf.’

‘How hard?’ he asks, wincing already.

‘Oh. Hard. Very fucking hard.’

‘That’s fair.’

He scrunches his eyes closed and delivers a hit so hard he falls to the floor.

‘Good. Now get me down to the wine cellar. You absolute prat.’

Tessa glares at Lucca so hard it’s almost amusing. Lucca admitted his lapse in judgment. More like in his sanity. And swore to get himself together. Tessa is not happy. Not at all. And if looks could kill, Lucca would be a puddle of blood and pulverised bones right now.

I drink coffee like it’s my life source, hoping to dim the effects of the tonic and take my time examining the room beneath the wine cellar.

I need time to think about how to safely get the others out of the First Kingdom. I need to speak to Wolf, and he isn’t here. But sitting around doing nothing but wallowing isn’t an option either.

So I’m focusing on the mystery of the Runes and how I managed to make a portal out of them.

And for some reason, that picture I saw in the Elder woman’s mind was of this place. I feel that an answer is here.

I just need to look.

‘You’re not going to try and look into the memories of those markings again, are you?’ Lucca asks.

‘My head is in enough discomfort as it is. So no. I won’t be doing that.’

I side-eye him. As does Tessa.

‘Pretty sure you two are going to kill me.’

‘It’s a possibility,’ Tessa quips.

The flames of the torches flicker as I walk around and examine the floors and walls. Feeling the stone and the symbols carved beneath my feet.

When my fingers sweep across the southern part of the wall, I stop, feeling a hum resonating from the stone. I face it and close my eyes. There’s something here. Power. As I press my palm fully against it, it vibrates. Then I see it. Just a flash of an image. Of Ivan Walker, walking through darkness, dragging my mother behind him as she screamed and struggled.

I pull away and look at Lucca, remembering something.

‘When Ivan stole my mother from the cells in the First Kingdom from under your nose, Reid and Cyrus said he managed to do it because of tunnels beneath the city.’

‘Yeah,’ Lucca replies. ‘We found one tunnel that led to the Second Kingdom. As far as I’m aware, the First Kingdom soldiers destroyed it, so Ivan couldn’t return.’

I face the wall.

‘What if there are more tunnels?’ I ask, returning my hand to the stone.

‘You feel something?’ Tessa asks.

I nod and step back.

‘We need to break the wall down.’

Lucca, keen to return to my good books, smacks a large hammer against the stone.

Tessa and I don’t help. This is the least he can do.

With the tenth or so blow, the wall falls away. Musty and stale air flows out with a cloud of dust. We all cough and swat the air, revealing a long, dark tunnel. As I approach it, the walls inside glow with the same symbols carved into the ground.

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