Chapter 26
Hayde guided the team through the dark corridor, illuminating their way with a piece of flint Quintz had brought from his hideout. With the light in one hand and a dagger in the other, he kept watch, ready to be surprised by any number of traps Janka had likely prepared for intruders. Eilee, Quintz, and Kinzer kept close behind him, their own weapons ready to go when they entered a wide chamber.
On the opposite side, four tunnels led deeper into the tower. Hayde led them toward the second on the left, the one they’d discussed when they’d gone over the plans together. Before they had a chance to enter, a clicking sound came from nearby, halting Hayde before the tunnel.
“Hello, dear friends.”
Hayde didn’t recognize the voice at first. It sounded female, which proved to be the case when Vera stepped out from the tunnel on the far end. She wore a black, form-fitting dress, and in black high heels, she walked toward them, her hips moving side to side, her posing as deliberate as Eilee’s, though certainly the effort more easily detected.
“Oh, Vera,” Eilee said, gripping the hilt of her sword before moving quickly toward Vera, that same determination in her expression as when she had battled Treycore in the cabin. The others followed behind her, equally ready to fight, for surely Vera was not on her own, and her unarmed state was merely a ploy.
“Really?” Vera asked. “You’re going to gang up on me when I am totally defenseless? But then again, when am I totally defenseless?” She reached out beside her and grabbed at something Hayde couldn’t see, though it was clear by how she pulled that she had taken hold of some invisible fabric, much like the mirrors used to conceal the tower. As it fell, it revealed a pod, nearly Vera’s size. Black with white veins, thick at the base and thinning as they webbed across the body.
“If you think that’s going to keep me from killing you,” Eilee said, “I’ll show you just how wrong you are.”
Vera rested her hand on her hip, as if she was awaiting Eilee’s attack, eager for it even. But as Eilee approached, the pod pulsed, the white veins expanding rapidly before the pod swelled up and erupted, yellow spores filling the air like a cloud of smoke. The spores rushed into Hayde’s eyes, blinding him.
“Fuck!” Kinzer called out beside him.
Vera laughed, a loud laugh that echoed throughout the chamber.
As Hayde’s sight returned, his eyes still burning from the spores, he saw the yellow cloud that lingered was too thick for him to see where Vera had gone to.
Hayde coughed, and as he did, noticed the others doing the same. What the fuck had that pod emitted? Would it injure them, kill them?
Hayde didn’t have time to speculate on what it would do before he felt lightheaded and his legs locked. He tumbled to the floor and watched as his companions did the same, their swords and daggers clanging against the stone floor. He tried to will his appendages to life, but it was no use.
As the debris filling the air settled, theclickof Vera’s shoes returned. She weaved her way between the fallen intruders.
“Well, well, well,” she said. “Not as smart as you thought you were. You’re all about to have a nice little sleep, and when you wake up, I’m going to give you all a taste of the sort of Hell mortals have imagined for centuries of their pathetic existence.”
She squatted down next to Eilee, who lay a few feet in front of Hayde. Vera placed the back of her hand against her face, stroking softly. “And you, my dear. We have a great deal to catch up on, and I have a very special plan just for you.”
Despite Hayde’s attempts at keeping his eyes open, they felt weighted. Heavier than he could bear.
He was slipping out of consciousness.
He almost hoped he wouldn’t wake…if only so he wouldn’t have to endure whatever torture Vera had planned for them.
***
Eilee woke to a bright white light.
Squinting as her eyes adjusted, she turned either way to find her bearings. Despite her efforts to recall what had happened to her, she couldn’t. As she saw familiar sheets around her, she knew where she was, something that was confirmed as she looked up through the open roof of her dwelling.
It was her penthouse in the Grand Temple, where she belonged. And yet, it felt wrong somehow, like she was trapped in some distant memory. Surely this had been destroyed by the Morarkes, but everything was intact, the way it had always been.
She turned to her bedside, seeing the empty space. A terrible sorrow filled her. “Trey,” pushed past her lips, and a deep sadness consumed her.
She pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Tears filled her eyes, but she fought them back. After all, tears were unsightly. They would taint her radiant face. She had to keep from crying at all costs.
A sound near the doorway caught her attention, and she looked to it quickly.
Treycore stood tall, naked, his dick hanging down between his thighs as he entered the room, his smile as bright as it had ever been.
Why did that seem like a distant memory, though, when it was right before her?
It was easy for her to forget this worry as her gaze fixated on his smile. Trey held two plates of food—breakfast, surely cooked by some of their laboring higherlings.
