“Ah, Runa. We meet again.” Hansen’s back was to me. The table which had once taken up a large portion of the center of the room was pushed to one side, small cushions resting on the stones. Even though this wasn’t Ralheim, and it wasn’t Adis standing with my back to me, it was too familiar. Panic flooded my veins, my throat felt like it was closing.
I must have appeared normal though, because when Hansen spun around, he said nothing, a book with gold lettering clutched in his hands.
He pushed the book into my grasp, and though it looked similar to the one I had read to Adis, I knew the minute the black leather-bound cover touched my skin that this was not the same at all. Something devious whispered in my ears, and shivers slid down my spine. My hands shook.
“What are you waiting for? Read!” Hansen commanded, his back once again facing me.
Though I wasn’t kneeling, or being threatened, I felt more in danger than I ever had in Adis’s presence. I needed to know. “Sir, do you know what power this book holds?”
He glanced toward a man who stood in the corner of the room, one who looked vaguely familiar—perhaps from my midnight kidnapping. The man shook his head.
Hansen’s gaze returned to mine, his head tilting ever so slightly to the left. “Does it matter?”
I peered down at the book, inspecting the outside, wishing there was something to indicate the spell which lay inside. “N-no, sir,” I stuttered, “But this book . . . something doesn’t feel right. I am afraid this may be . . . something dark.” There was a hissing sound in my ear, and I stretched my hand back out to him. “I don’t think I should read this.”
“Interesting.” He took the book back from me without question, inspecting the spine for himself. He flipped through the pages. “Nothing seems amiss as far as I can see.”
I was struggling to connect the feeling I experienced as I held the book with the one he professed in contrary, but even just looking at the book made me feel something wasn’t right about the magic trapped in its pages.
“It doesn’t matter, though.” His words caused my heart to drop into my stomach, especially as he held the book back out to me. “You will read this, as that is what you are here to do. Otherwise, you will find yourself in my dungeons and still be forced to read to me when you finally come to your senses.”
I gulped. I wasn’t scared of the dungeons. After all, I had pretty much lived in them before, when I had read for Adis. But unlike last time, I had something that incentivized me to stay on Hansen’s good side, because I doubted Leif would be able to sneak me out of the dungeon to go back to that beautiful lake. He also wouldn’t be able to visit me either.
Therefore, I made one of the hardest decisions yet, and I accepted the book back from his outstretched hand. Even though the whispers immediately started again and I felt an unnatural chill flowing through the room, I opened the book.
And I began to read.
CHAPTER 26
Icouldn’t sleep.
I couldn’t even lie still. Every time I did, the whispers began anew.
There were too many speaking all at once, and I was unable to discern one voice from another.
The only good thing was, Hansen, and the guard who had been in the room while I read, heard them too.
It had taken me only two sessions to finish reading to them, but the entire time my heart had been filled with fear and something deep in my stomach had told me to stop. But each time I tried, Hansen had just urged me on.
And when I finally finished, Hansen and the guard had immediately dropped to their knees, covering their ears. I had looked on, both sad that it took them experiencing this to understand my fear, and smug that now they had to deal with the incessant whispering.
The two of them had tried several actions and motions after I finished reading, both trying to figure out what the whispers wanted, but it was no use. There was no relief, and there seemed to be no power other than being able to hear the whispers. I was beginning to think that book had been a decoy or a trap.
Now, as I lay on the fluffy bed on my side, attempting to block the sound of the whispers with the ostentatious pillows, I hoped that when Leif came again, he would have a solution, because I couldn’t live like this.
I didn’t have to wait long.
A short time later, he was stepping through my door, the smile falling from his lips as soon as he took in my position.
“Are you all right, my heart?” He rushed over to me, pulling me to him. Though it didn’t stop the whispers, it did cause a warm fuzzy feeling to bloom in my chest that made them just a bit more bearable.
“The book he had me read . . . the whispers . . . they won’t stop.” It was a struggle just to force the words out.
Leif hung his head, telling me he knew about the book. “I had hoped he wouldn’t have you read from that one.”
I allowed the silence to hang between us, then, “Where did you find it?”
“Adis had it in his collection. I stole it before I followed you to the front lines.”
