Reaver stopped in front of a door. “Pigs are very intelligent, emotional creatures.”
“Oh, my gods,” I muttered as he opened the heavy iron door, letting out a rush of cool, musty air. “I don’t want to think about that or the fact that anyone is leaving me gifts. They don’t need to do that, and they especially don’t need to leave me coin. Can we find out who has left that and return it to them?”
“Unlikely,” Reaver said, descending the gas lamplit stairwell.
Casteel sighed and let go of my hand. “Are yousureyou like him?”
“Yes.” Reaver’s voice echoed from around the bend in the stairs. “She is sure.”
I grinned and trailed my fingers along smooth walls the color of cracked pepper.
“Careful,” Reaver warned. “The last step is steep.”
I felt Casteel’s hand on my lower back. The slight weight was comforting. Reaching the last step, I saw that Reaver hadn’t been joking. There was about a foot difference between the step and the floor. I hopped down.
Casteel simplysteppeddown behind me.
He winked, and my silly heart fluttered as I scanned the underground hall. The ceiling wasn’t as high as the area beneath Wayfair, and the pillars were made of iron instead of sandstone, but it reminded me of the silent, cold halls I’d wandered as a child.
Casteel fell into step beside me as the shorter hall widened out. We continued through the bowels of the citadel as I poked at a fang with my tongue. I thought about what needed to be—or should be—done. “When we return, we need to meet with the generals.”
He let out a noncommittal sound. “I’m sure Tawny would like to see you.”
My heart dropped, nearly causing me to trip. I pressed my hand to my stomach, realizing that my reaction wasn’t a one-off thing. Though what I felt didn’t make sense. It almost reminded me of when I was summoned to Teerman’s office. The dread I felt wasn’t that level of bad, but it still coated every thought of Tawny.
Casteel had fallen silent, but I felt his gaze on me.
I cleared my throat. “Do you know what this part of Ironspire was used for, Reaver?”
“The halls lead to personal quarters,” he answered. “It is likely where the Knights and generals stayed.”
It made sense. Down here, there was no fear of being exposed to the sun. But had they known what was entombed down here?
We fell silent as Reaver led us forward, my thoughts consumed with all that needed to be decided and dealt with. I could feel the stress building inside me. Less than a year ago, I would’ve laughed hysterically if someone had said I’d be in a position where I needed to decide such things. Honestly, I sort of wanted to laugh hystericallynow.
The hall narrowed ahead and was barely lit. The moment we crossed it, the feeling of a dozen unseen eyes watching settled over me. Tiny bumps rose all over my skin as I scanned the walls, spying carved marks similar to those I had seen outside the chamber my father had been kept in.
For some reason, an image of Leopold formed in my mind—hair a rich, reddish brown and eyes as green as emeralds.
“Wards,” Casteel murmured, noticing what I looked at. “It would be really good for us to learn who gave Isbeth this information. I doubt Malec could’ve educated her on them so well that she could implement something like this hundreds of years later.”
I blinked away the ghostly image of Leo as Reaver said, “We’re here.”
Casteel took my hand as the hall opened into a chamber dug from the earth instead of made from iron. The smell of rich, damp soil was strong.
Together, we stepped into the space lit by two torches jutting from the walls on either side of the opening. The flames cast a flickering, orange glow over the packed dirt. My lipsparted. Bones of various shapes and sizes lay scattered across the earthen floor, the white of them dulled with age, and their once-sharp edges worn smooth. Fragments of tattered clothing, stained and threadbare, clung to some.
Casteel inhaled sharply. “Fuck.”
I turned to find Reaver. He stood, his arms loose at his sides and shoulders curved inward. A visible tremor swept through him. My gaze followed his, and I…
I took a step back as shock and disbelief flooded me.
When I saw Nektas slumbering in his stone form, he had been massive and still managed to look proud and formidable.
That was not what I saw now.
I wasn’t even surewhatI was looking at.
