Chapter 25
The darkness gave way to stairs which spiraled down into the unknown. As she descended, Dawn tried to keep her thoughts off what had just happened. She tried but failed.
A Vartik king, if he was to be believed, had pursued her into this upside-down world to keep her safe from danger. On the words of an oracle, no less. He might as well have told her that he was the reincarnated soul of the ancient Territh genius, Leovardo Van Ninchy.
But he’d seemed completely sincere during the telling. His other cover story about the financier with the name he couldn’t remember had been so obviously false that she could see through it like glass. When he’d been calling himself a Vartik, however, his story hadn’t wavered at all.
Could Vartiks really exist? He’d certainly proved that he had mind control powers over her. The revelation had explained a lot. Could it also explain her overpowering attraction to him? He’d sworn that he hadn’t used his powers for that, but could she trust him?
Can he trust you?her inner voice countered.You lied to him, just like he lied to you. Maybe you refuse to give him a chance because deception has been the entire breadth of your relationship. It’s been said that a liar won’t believe anyone else. What does that mean for two liars?
“I don’t have time for this,” she muttered under her breath, the words seemingly becoming her mantra in this place. Not only was time slipping away from her here, but her words were equally true in the real world. She didn’t have time for a relationship, not like the one Z would demand.
Brian had never required much time or effort, she realized now. Or maybe she’d never paid enough attention to him to see if he had wanted more from her. But the power Z had to distract her was like nothing else in the universe. Shacking up with him would take away valuable time from her lab.
Not to mention he’s apparently the next in the line of succession. The likelihood of him wanting something more with her was about as probable as time traveling into the past to become her own grandmother.
Even if he did want her, as improbable as that was, it would never be a good idea. Already, the possibility that he was a Vartik had lit off a flurry of activity in her scientist’s brain. Experiments she could perform, papers she could write, accolades she could win all tumbled around, exciting her with the possibilities.
But his people were hidden for a reason. And he probably wanted them to stay hidden. Would she be able to resist the temptation to study the Vartik male? She had serious doubts.
Her mind made up, she stopped on the step and looked over her shoulder. He was a few steps behind her, his eyes trained on her. When she paused, so did he, looking at her expectantly.
“When this is over, we go our separate ways.”
Z looked at her, his face without expression. After a few beats, he nodded. His eyes were bright, but she chalked it up to the firelight.
She turned back and started the descent anew, wondering why she felt suddenly empty. Perhaps she’d been hoping he wouldn’t agree so easily. Perhaps she’d been girding herself for a fight. Instead, he’d nodded as if it was inconsequential to him. Even worse, as if it were a foregone conclusion.
Buck up, buttercup.So he knows it would never work out between the two of you. Maybe he never intended it to. The seduction could have been an angle he was working to complete his mission. He wants the alien female for his mission. You were just a stop along the way.
The world blurred around her, and this time, it wasn’t due to the subject’s subconscious. Dawn blinked back tears, wishing that whatever attachment she felt for the Vartik bastard would melt away when she woke from this journey.
The stairs seemed to go on forever. If the house had been in the real world, they would now be several city blocks beneath it, deep down into the bedrock.Maybe they spiral on into eternity. Anything’s possible.
Except a relationship with a Vartik king.
As she circled downward, she noticed a change in the temperature. A fog rose around her feet. It was soon climbing her legs and then reaching for her waist. When it was chest high, the stairs came to an abrupt end, and she almost stumbled, righting herself as Z came to a halt behind her.
A chill crept up her limbs. Her rational mind told her that everything around her was illusion, but that didn’t lessen the tendril of fear that started creeping into her stomach. Looking around her, she frowned, seeing only a dim expanse enveloped in fog. Holding the torch high, she crept forward.
Something brushed her arm and she leapt back before she realized that it was him. He reached out an arm to put it around her shoulder but she stepped back, shaking her head. It was better to refrain from touching him. Things tended to twist out of her control when his skin touched hers.
Z turned back to the fog and began walking forward, and Dawn was relieved to be following behind, protected by the bulk of his body. Every step she took caused another drop of fear to fill her insides until she was near overflowing. Even though she had just refused him, she was unable to help herself and grabbed his arm, pulling up close to him, hoping that he didn’t feel her trembling.
It was almost unnatural, this fear. It was as if it were an outside force pressing down on her. Her steps slowed, her heart beating so hard she wondered if Z could hear it. Tension was mounting, so great that she felt she was walking in thick mud, barely able to drag herself forward.
There’s something out there. Something waiting for me.
And it’s hungry.
Suddenly from the darkness came a glow. A pair of yellow eyes as large as lemons appeared before them. Unable to help herself, Dawn screamed, dropping her torch into the fog and burying her face in Z’s arm.
The fog cleared around them, exposing a creature covered in matted hair standing nearly ten feet tall. It roared into the torchlight, exposing nasty fangs. It had claws longer than a tiger’s. Its snout was covered in drool and what could only be blood, dripping down its front to add to the gore of its appearance.
She wanted to run, wanted to hide from this monstrous beast, but she was rooted to the spot. The creature lumbered forward, stretching out overly long hands, claws flashing. She felt Z stiffen, felt him flex as he prepared to meet the thing bent on their destruction.
And then Dawn saw her. The woman was seated in a chair that looked like it’d been carved from ebony into the shape of a large bird, like a Territhian raven. The woman’s face was sad, and her eyes turned away.
