There were no traps, no monsters.
And when Ezer glanced back, Six just sat there preening, her beak nipping at her paws, like she hadn’t a care in the world.
‘See?’ Kinlear whispered. ‘Nothing to worry about, Raphonminder.’
But the door did not move. And Ezer felt it again, that pull towards it.
Like the door itself wasintoxicating.
‘Do you feel it, too?’ Kinlear frowned. ‘The … strange power?’
And then he frowned, as if in pain. Another cough left his lungs. The sound was wet, far worse than it had been before. He tried to grab his vial, but his hands were shaking too much.
‘Here,’ Ezer uncorked it and held it to his lips.
He drank the foul liquid like it was water in a desert.
And as Ezer recorked the vial, she realized …
It was empty.
‘How much do you have left?’ Ezer asked, her eyes meeting his.
He shrugged. ‘Enough.’
And then he let out a small chuckle.
She echoed it, like they were both drunk, indeed.
The door … what was itdoingto them?
She felt like the shadows had grown eyes now. Like the darkness was swimming around them. She placed a hand on Kinlear’s chest to steady herself.
‘We have to find a way inside,’ she said. ‘Before we pass out, or?—’
‘Orwhat?’ he said and grinned haphazardly. ‘It feels lovely. Like the sun on my face.’
The door was definitely making her head swim. Because he was warm, and she could stay here forever in the darkness, comfortable in this strange, shadowed haze.
She suddenly couldn’t rememberwhythey were here.
Or wherehereeven was.
She focused on the closest thing to her.
A prince,she thought.I am here with a prince.
She giggled.
‘I love the sound of it,’ Kinlear breathed, and he wobbled where he stood. ‘Your laugh. Your joy.’
His face was so handsome. It was so much like …
She couldn’t remember, suddenly.
She saw only Kinlear Laroux.
Something was whispering in her mind. A voice she knew, as wind tousled her curls, but it was muffled. She could barely hear it as she stared at her hand on his chest.
