“Do not move from here,” he says sternly. “I will not be gone long.”
Arax flips his cloak over his shoulder, turning in the other direction with the two Blades flanking his sides.
Do not move.
An easy instruction to follow when you are in the middle of nowhere. But when I turn towards the halls, I notice a third option that I swear was not there a second ago. A set of steps leading straight up, right in front of me, veiled by the same translucent shimmer as the queen and Archdruid.
I raise my brow and narrow my eyes suspiciously. I may hear voices and see smoky apparitions, but have I truly gonecompletely mad? A soft humming reaches my ears, drifting from the top of the stairs. It is the kindest sound I have heard since I arrived. I place my bare foot on the first step, my toes twitching against the cold stone. Leaning forward, I peer up, hopeful to see what is up there without having to get any closer. But all I see are more steps.
I glance over my shoulder in search of Arax, but he has vanished without a trace. My head slowly turns back to make sense of the stairs one last time, but I already decided what I was going to do the moment I set eyes on them.
I begin to climb.Cautiously at first, but when I see no end in sight, my impatience stirs and my pace quickens. Soon I’m jumping two steps at a time, my mysterious fatigue overpowered by my rampant curiosity.
The hum carries on the air, but no matter how many stairs I climb, I am no closer to its source. My legs burn, and the weight of my dress pulls down my shoulders until each extra step becomes a horrible chore. What a fool I was to think this was a good idea. I drop my chin, ready to call this a waste of time, and descend before Arax returns. But abruptly, the humming stops. I look up, only to find myself face to face with a door that was not there before, so close that my nose brushes against the wood.
A hard lump lodges in my throat and my chest fills with a shuddering breath as I reach for the handle. It turns with a click, and the door groans open. The room is starkly empty, without a single piece of furniture and only a blanket of dust across the bare floor. My shoulders slump and I swallow the lump in my throat.
All that climbing for nothing.
But as I turn to leave, I glimpse something in the corner of my eye. I turn, but even with the clarity of both my eyes, it is still just a shadow, a glimmer, a ripple in the emptiness.
My curiosity pulls me forward, but when I place a single foot on the threshold, I am tossed backwards, my back colliding with the wall before I slump with a thud on the steps.
“You shouldn’t be here!”the voice cries.“Why did you come here? Why!”
I squint up, my eyes half-shut, one hand cradling my lower back as a dull ache pulses through me. The room is still empty. Just me, staring at nothing. Then, out of nowhere, a hand and only a hand, emerges from the nothingness—gnarled fingers stretching toward me in midair. My breath catches in my throat, and I bite back a scream, scrambling up the wall until I’m standing, heart pounding in my chest.
“Run!”the voice wails.“Run!”
I linger long enough to note the band of tattoos around its wrist; circles and half circles and crescents in a sequence before I grit my teeth and brace myself for the long descent. But when I turn, I am already at the bottom of the stairs without taking a single step. My heart comes to a hard stop in my chest as I swing around towards the door and the wailing voice that seeps into my skin, but there is no door. There are no stairs. Only the two long, boring halls where Arax had told me to stay put.
My head wavers in disbelief. Impossible. I saw it. I felt the steps beneath my feet.
“Princess,” Arax says.
I swing around, my breaths sharp in my chest as I struggle to find reason in what just happened.
“The stairs,” I mutter, chewing on my lip. “The voice.”
Arax squints at me curiously. “I do not understand.”
He is not alone. None of this makes sense. It’s this place. This dreadful place is toying with me.
Arax’s voice drops low and soft. “Come, Princess Amara. Let me return you to your chambers.”
For a moment, I hear Keeper Tovar’s concern in his tone, and it is the safest I have felt in a while. I do not argue with him, and rather than have him walk behind me, I stay at his side. I feel safer there.
Chapter 7
Arax returns me to my chambers, and there is some reassurance, knowing he is right outside. Whether I imagined it or not, whatever that thing is in that empty room, I am relieved to know it will meet Arax and his sword before it reaches me.
I spend the rest of the day behind the closed doors, having suddenly lost interest in exploring Baev’kalath. But alone with my thoughts provides no solace. I cannot speak with the Souls and this forsaken weakness is spreading. It’s making me tired and irritable if I wasn’t already. A rumble in my stomach reminds me I haven’t eaten all day. It seems like a simple enough thing to remedy.
I roll off the bed, leaving an imprint of myself in the mattress, but I barely take two steps before the doors open and Solena and the maids enter.
“A bath, Princess,” she says. “Then we can dress you for dinner.”
I groan my disdain. “I told you. I do not need help to dress, and certainly not to bathe.”
