The heavy barricade door was not going to hold up. I knew it would eventually give. All it would take was a pureblood vampire from a strong House. The rebels had purebloods among them. The chef had been a pureblood.
The sound of the door being beaten turned from thunderous thuds to groans and creaks. They were going to get in. They would run up the stairs and I would be taken. Taken if I was lucky. They might butcher me right where they found me—or worse. There were so many worse things than death.
My hand ached then, and I looked to my red and scalded skin from the rabbit stew. I hadn’t thought about it, hadn’t even noticed it at the time.
My hands shook, the kind of nervous trembling I had unfortunately became used to, like when I awoke from nightmares, sweaty and scared and crying for Selene. They had begun to fade—the nightmares—were frequent during those first few weeks after I escaped Vouna. Selene was always there, in the middle of the night. There to hold me so tight the trembling had no choice but to stop.
I clenched my fists, forcing my hands and arms still.
Now was not the time to break down. I had already done that, like a useless child in front of Rylan and Sasha. I was alone now. No one was coming to save me. I couldn’t cry and beg to go home.
I had to save myself.
I turned anxiously, looking around the room, hoping to find something—anything—that could help me.
The windows were narrow. I could squeeze through one, potentially, but the fall would kill me. The only door in the room led to the walk-in wardrobe and then to the bathroom.
The corner of the carpet under the vanity caught my attention. It was the key to the secret tunnels that Selene had shown me on the first day.
A violent screech from the door downstairs pushed me forward.
The entrance could only be opened by Ardens blood. I was not of Ardens—but I was Selene’s soul match. Tied by blood.
I had to try.
I scurried under the vanity, lifting the edge of the carpet to reveal the blood seal.
I didn’t think before I bit my thumb hard enough to draw a little blood. I barely felt the dull ache before I smeared my bloody thumb into the seal.
For a few terrible seconds, there was nothing, but then the seal glowed brightly, and a small click signalled the lock in the closet had opened.
I pushed myself out from under the vanity, then immediately crawled back under to put the carpet back down in place. If they came looking for me and smelled my blood, maybe they’d think I had simply hidden under the vanity before choosing an new hiding place.
The door downstairs creaked and groaned—I was sure that it was about to fail.
I pushed open the closet door, shoved aside our coats and pulled up the hidden hatch on the floor. The dark depths were no less frightening than when Selene first lifted the hatch for me—but the screaming door below and the shouts of those behind it were worse.
I turned around, holding my breath as I attempted to find the first rung of the ladder, feeling around precariously with my foot while trying to grip the walls of the wardrobe for support. When my foot found purchase, I careful pulled the wardrobe door closed and began my descent into the darkness, pausing as I lowered myself to move the coats about my head back into place and close the hatch.
When I closed the hatch, the glow of the blood magic sealed it closed—sealing me into the darkness.
I had no option but to continue my decent.
It was cold, and eerily quiet. I could feel dust or rubble falling against me like slight snow, but the chaos causing the disruption above was muted.
At the bottom of the ladder, I allowed myself to fall the last few feet, losing my balance upon landing and falling on my butt. I was quick to push myself up and feel around in the darkness until I found the torch and matches.
The glow of fire was comforting for only a moment. It illuminated the darkness ahead of me for only about half a dozen steps and the space felt much tighter—much more like being buried alive—than it did with Selene by my side.
I walked as quickly as I dared, refusing to slow, acutely aware that the next explosion could bring the cold stone walls around me, collapsing and then this dark place really would be my grave.
At the fork in the tunnel, I remembered to turn left. Left was towards the outside. Right was a dead end.
When I reached the end of the tunnel, I looked up towards the ladder overhead and groaned in frustration. I tried to reach it, but it was just out of reach. I would have to jump—meaning I would have put out the torch first, so that I had both hands and didn’t risk burning myself. Which was just great.
I took the large candle snub from the shelf and sighed as I put out the torch.
The darkness enveloped me instantly. I immediately wanted to relight the torch. Instead, I took a deep a breath, and one step to my right where I estimated the ladder would be right above and jumped. Blindly I reached for the bottom rung to pull myself up by.
