“Did Victoria ever receive a briefing on what lies below?” Shea asked, her gaze locked on her mother.
Lainey’s head lifted, her face horrified and suspicious. “How do you know about that?”
Shea lifted a shoulder. “You didn’t always remember to check to make sure I wasn’t hiding in your office when I was a child. I got curious about some of the things I heard and followed you.”
Laine’s expression turned censorious.
“Did she know, mother?” Shea asked, her voice serious. Now wasn’t the time for recriminations. There was more to this. Shea knew it, and she had the sinking suspicion that the “more” was about to bite them in the ass.
“What is she talking about?” one of the younger members of the council asked, his face confused.
Shea noted most council members looked oblivious at her question. Only two others refused to meet her gaze when she glanced around the room.
Shea lifted an eyebrow at her mother, not surprised when Lainey turned her head away and then shut her eyes, defeat in the slump of her shoulder. “Yes.”
That’s what Shea had thought. She’d really hoped she was wrong.
“You need to show us,” Shea told her.
Shea didn’t wait, already heading for the door. She had a feeling they were too late.
*
Shea steadied herself on the cool wall, her feet threatening to slip out from under her. This far down, the Keep wasn’t watertight, making the footing treacherous.
“How much further down can this place go?” Gawain asked behind her.
It had been so many years since she’d been down here, that she wasn’t sure. The memory of a child wasn’t always the most reliable thing in the world. She remembered impressions more than anything else, brief flashes that weren’t very informative. Her child’s mind remembered this trip as taking eons, and she’d almost given up before her mother had reached it. The only thing that had kept her from quitting was the fact that her mother had confiscated her favorite toy and she’d hoped this place was where her mother had hidden it.
“I don’t know. Mother, you want to take this one?” Shea asked, holding the candle so she could see Lainey’s face.
Her mother gave her a displeased look. It had been made obvious to all that Lainey hadn’t wanted to come on this little journey. Despite her desire for cooperation with the Trateri, there were some things so ingrained in her that she’d balked when it came to revealing one of the most dangerous weapons in their arsenal—especially given the large number of Trateri who insisted on following them down.
“Since you insist on exposing all that we have fought to protect, I think it fitting that you be the one who leads,” Lainey said in an unhappy voice.
Shea fought against a growl. Of all the times for her mother’s stubbornness to rear its ugly head.
“I don’t,” Fallon said with a bite to his words. “We don’t have the luxury of time, lady. Lead on or my men will tear this place down one stone at a time. Beasts won’t be your only concern then.”
Her mother met his gaze with a stubborn one of her own. Shea’s father leaned forward and said something. Lainey’s shoulders slumped and she nodded.
“Very well,” she said, stepping past Shea.
Her mother took the candle and held it high above them until it almost touched the ceiling. Not really a difficult feat since the passages had narrowed and shortened considerably during the descent.
What they stood in now was little more than a weathered and worn passage someone had dug out eons ago. Shea couldn’t even distinguish the stone blocks anymore, which meant this was either a natural formation or carved directly into the cliff’s rock.
A shadow played along the ceiling, and Shea almost missed it, the faintest trace of a white arrow pointing to the left.
“Very clever,” Shea said, coming to stand at her mother’s shoulder.
Her mother gave her a small smile. “No one ever thinks to look up.”
Shea had to admit that was true. She could kick herself for missing the obvious. Hadn’t she had similar thoughts about others on more than one occasion?
Her mother moved forward, pausing every now and then to expose another arrow. Before long they stood in a massive cavern the likes of which reminded Shea of the passage they’d taken to come out above Bearan’s Fault. It was on a much smaller scale, but it had that same majestic feel.
The candle illuminated a pair of doors, their top a sharp arch with runes from an ancient language carved into it.
