“Thank you,” I reply.
“I have to get back, but I’ll see you for dinner tonight.”
“Thank you, again,” I touch the necklace, “it really is beautiful.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you at eight.” He turns and walks toward the door.
As soon as he’s gone, Brevan comes into the room. “Should we continue our tour?”
“No, I’d like to go back to my rooms. I’m tired,” I lie.
“Very well.” He’s silent on the walk back, though I catch him glancing at the necklace more than once.
It feels like a weight around my neck. Or maybe a collar. Something that marks me as Caiden’s belonging. My skin prickles and I clench my hands into fists to prevent myself from tearing it off my throat. With each passing day, the lines blur and I worry I’m becoming more Sabina and less myself.
I need to get out of here.
When I tell Marian I’m not feeling well, she tries to fuss over me. It’s a miracle I manage to get her and the other ladies to leave me while I rest.
As soon as they’re out of my room, I dart to my bathing chamber and close the door behind me. I pick up one of the glowing lanterns on the counter and hope that it stays lit from magic.
I can’t stay in this place much longer. They watch every move I make. I don’t know when I’ll get this chance again. It takes me a few tries to find the exact place to press on the wall, but my heart leaps when the door slides open and the passageway appears.
There’s a tiny, dark stone room that’s walled in on three sides. When I take a few steps in, I notice the hole with a ladder that goes straight down. Whoever built this castle had to have put this here intentionally. Was it meant to be a quick emergency escape route, or did it have a more nefarious purpose?
When I reach the bottom of the ladder, I’m in a dark tunnel that extends beyond the arc of light from my lantern. I hope there’s more than one route in this passageway. That it will take me somewhere besides the catacombs. If not, maybe I can find another tunnel from the City of the Dead that leads to somewhere else in the castle. There has to be a way to discover where the emperor sleeps.
It’s already cold, and I can feel every pebble and stone through the thin slippers they make me wear. The walls are crumbling dirt and rock. Some of them have signs of erosion, leaving a slanted pile on the ground. The whole thing feels incredibly unstable. Nothing like the carefully dug and reinforced City of the Dead.
On my right is an opening that’s completely caved in, rocks and dirt blocking the path. I wonder where it leads and if it would be stable enough to use if the rocks were removed.
As I go deeper, I pass two more cave-ins. So far, the route I’m traveling is the only easily accessible option.
The ground grows increasingly rocky the deeper I get but I continue forward, my determination guiding me. If this only leads me to the catacombs, at least I have a way out if I need to escape.
Ahead, there’s another tunnel to the right, only this time, it’s not caved in. I stop when I reach it and stare at both options. Continue straight ahead or turn down the new path. I don’t know which leads to the City of the Dead, but I suspect the turn is toward the castle.
I find several larger stones and put them together until I form an arrow pointing toward the direction I came from. The new tunnel has fewer rocks on the ground, but its ceiling is lower, causing me to have to duck down to continue through it.
Twice, I trip on the skirts of my dress, so I pull them up and wrap the extra fabric around my arm to get it out of the way. I’m certain there’s a slope to this path and I’m walking on a gradual decline.
The tunnel widens, and I’m faced with another option. I create a marker for myself and choose the turn on the right again.
Something crawls over the walls, and I hear the scurrying of creatures in their burrows. This tunnel is teeming with life, but I keep my light straight ahead, so I don’t have to see the animals that call this place home. It’s easier that way.
Ahead, there’s glowing light, and I slow as I approach. Are we outside the castle?
I continue cautiously until I reach the opening. I stare in awe at an overgrown garden. Above me is a glass roof and the whole thing is contained by stone walls. While everything is green and flourishing, it’s consumed the space. Vines cover the stone walkway and climb up the walls. Plants tangle together, making it difficult to find where one ends and the next begins.
I’m about to step over the greenery, onto the buried stone walkway, when I realize that everything growing in here is poisonous. This garden must have been kept by the empress in secret. But if it was hers, why was everything still green when the outdoor garden was black? Was it someone else’s garden or did the empress have power they didn’t know about? Whoever was caring for it hadn’t been here in a long time. How were all these plants still alive?
The tunnel continues across from me, but without more protection, I can’t walk through the overgrowth. Frustrated, I turn around and head back.
While I didn’t find a way out of my rooms yet, there are plants in there that might come in handy if I study the books that were left behind on my bookshelf.
I want to find out where the other tunnels lead, but I’ve been gone a while. Rather than risk anyone finding out that I have a way to leave my rooms, I return to the bathroom and close the secret entrance behind me.
Someone must be watering that garden, which means the tunnel on the other side must lead somewhere interesting. If this belonged to the empress, she had big secrets and now I’ve got another mystery to solve. What was the purpose of this garden and did anyone else know it was here?
