“Delightful. But why are we going there, darling?”
“There’s an old, forgotten stairwell in one of the cells that connects to a hallway that will bring us close enough toAmadeus’s chambers that we may be able to sneak in from there. If he’s not in his chambers, we’ll check the arena.”
I hesitate. “And if he sees us coming?”
“Right now, Amadeus will be enduring a barrage of visions about an impending attack, including a dozen of my lookalikes to confuse him. He can prepare for some things he sees, but not everything. Predicting the future isn’t truly possible until it’s moments away,” she adds. “By then, the attack will be here and I’ll have this heart in his skeletal chest.”
We finally reach the bottom of the spiral stone steps, and now I can just make out a system of surprisingly ornate tunnels, thanks to the flicker of a small green torch on one wall. As we pass it, I notice the runes etched into the stone walls.
“That’s fae, isn’t it?”
“This all used to belong to the fae thousands of years ago, before Amadeus drove them out and took over. Felix used to tell me about the knowledge all?—”
Whatever she was about to say, she cuts off as Crane speaks telepathically.
The Undead have breached the Nether, and your ghosts are well ahead of them,sangfluir.That blue-haired one appeared to be leading them, but I lost track.
The Decimus clan is officially flying over the citadel,Decimus adds.Please tell me you’re somewhere safe so we can light this fucking place up.
Do it,Maven agrees.
Deep in these catacombs and inside Limbo, I hear nothing of the outside world, but something must happen because a startled voice yelps from somewhere in these dark tunnels.
“W—what’s going on up there?” a terrified man asks, his voice wavering as if he’s about to burst into tears.
My markings light up again, and a shock of pain courses over my system so quickly that I nearly black out as I collapse. Agonypulses through me, my skin burning as more of my markings vanish from my body. I can hear Maven’s worry and feel her cradling my head in her lap again, but it takes a moment for my ears to function fully again as the pain lessens once again.
It’s then that I realize I dragged us out of Limbo.
“Crypt?” my darling whispers, her cool hand brushing against my forehead.
I realize she’s so cool to the touch because I’m burning up. That can’t be good.
Nevertheless, I smile up at her. “Is it a demigoddess trait to look mouthwatering at every angle, or is that just you?”
She huffs at my attempt to brush off the fact that I just collapsed, but someone else speaks in the tunnel.
“Who’s there?” a raspy older woman’s voice asks, every bit as frightened as the old man.
Other voices mutter and whisper, terrified in this darkness. Maven holds up a hand, whispers a word I’ve never heard, and holy light swirls around her hand, illuminating this space.
More gasps sound. Wide-eyed, gaunt faces of chained-up Nether humans stare back at us in abject terror—but my interest is piqued by a quiet whimper in one of the adjoining tunnels.
“Y—you’re Maven Oakley,” one of the chained-up tributes chokes nearby, his bloodshot eyes so big and wide on his gaunt face that they look chilling. “Thetelum!You’re supposed to be dead?—”
“If you value your life and freedom, you’ll stop talking,” I warn as we get to our feet. Stepping over an old skeleton, I guide my keeper to turn down into the tunnel where I heard the whimper.
The moment Maven’s light falls upon the young woman curled in on herself in a cold stone corner, I halt.
“That’s Frost’s sister.”
Maven inhales sharply, realizing I’m right. She darts forward to crouch beside the empath, using her magic to illuminate the girl better.
Frost’s sister is wearing jeans and a jacket that are badly stained and ripped. Her butterscotch-colored hair is a mess. Like the other living people in these tunnels, her wrists and ankles are bound tightly together in rusty shackles. I can hear the poor girl quietly sobbing, but when Maven gently shakes her shoulder, she makes no reply.
“Heidi?” Maven whispers.
Something high above these catacombs explodes, and the ground around us trembles. When the people in the other hallway cry out in fear, Heidi sobs and curls in on herself more.
