Alora stood frozen, her heart racing like a drumbeat of war.
She was going to lose her mind in this mountain.
Or worse?—
Her life.
The bedchamber was quiet, save for the firewood crackling in the hearth and the kitten purring on her lap. It darted out as soon as the Harbingers left.
Alora’s mind spun with Calla’s revelation.
Why did she smell like demon food? What did that mean exactly?
The thought reminded her of last night and the way Rune inhaled her scent as if it was the source of his addiction. Alora shuddered the pushed the memory away.
Calla and Deimos had vanished into smoke shortly after breakfast, both looking more sluggish than before. That must mean their kind slept during the day. Hadeon guarded her door,but the wall was solid now and he couldn’t enter without her permission.
She studied the room for any shadows but found none. Rune must be preoccupied with something else. Which meant no one was watching her.
“I can’t stay here, Nexus,” she whispered.
The kitten blinked up at her from the end of the bed, tail twitching. As if he knew. As if he was waiting.
“That’s your name,” she smiled at the little void, scratching his head. His purring grew louder. “Now how did you come in here? Do you know the way out?”
Nexus gave her a small meow, then hopped to the floor with a decisive flick of his tail and padded to the wall. A moment later, the stone groaned softly, and a new doorway shifted open. A tunnel, narrow and glowing faintly with moss-light, curved into the dark.
Alora stared at it a moment, then grinned up at the ceiling. “We’re going to be great friends.”
Nexus mewed again, more insistent, and scampered inside. She followed.
The path wound upward, the walls warm beneath her fingertips, adjusting to her steps. She passed strange symbols etched in silver. They pulsed once, then stilled and the tunnel opened into un unexpected discovery.
The air was cool and fresh, scented with damp stone. Before her stretched a small cavern, and sunlight streamed down through a gap in the mountain ceiling, spilling golden light across a small cascade that landed into a pool of water lined in moss and ivy.
Birds chirped faintly from somewhere above. For the first time since entering this realm of shadows and secrets... she could breathe.
But this wasn’t an escape route. The mountain was accommodating her need for sunlight.
“Thank you,” Alora whispered to the air.
The walls softly vibrated.
Oh, how she missed the forest outside of the Midlands. Missed her cottage with a garden of briar roses and oak trees. If only she could have a little piece of that here, then maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible.
A small sapling sprouted up beside the pond, its leaves rustling without wind. It grew, slowly but visibly, stretching toward her with delicate silver-veined petals curling open like it understood.
She smiled. “What else can you do?”
A low hum answered, deep in the stone. The earth to her right shifted, gently, and a small stone bench pushed itself from the wall, its surface lined with moss and tiny wildflowers. Bushes of wild briar roses grew next.
Then came a flicker.
Tiny orbs of light blinked into being overhead, soft, warm, like sunlight caught in droplets. They hovered around her for a breath, then burst like dandelions into a shimmer of silver mist that dusted her shoulders.
Alora laughed under her breath, eyes wide. “Ever the braggart, aren’t you?”
Then along the bare earth, a variety of berry bushes grew, that absolutely hadn’t been there a moment ago.
