He shrugged. “We're going to find out.”
“Keep my blade and your magic handy, then.”
“Always.” His focus tunneled in on the stone. I’d gotten used to that intensity, the way the rest of the world fell away when he homed in on something like this, but it never failed to make me pause. He contained endless force and purpose, yet he wielded it with such gentle care. After what he’d been though… He’d had a mixed relationship with his mother, but through it all, it was clear he’d loved her. How much of her recent behavior could be attributed to Prager? She appeared to be a savvy manipulator. She could’ve possessed Erisandra on and off for years, determined to do all she could to keep him from breaking the curse.
He had a right to feel devastated by this. She’d stolen more than his mother’s life; she’d taken possibly years of his mother’s affection.
When he turned the dagger’s tip toward the stone and fit it into one of the faint seams, I leaned closer. His shoulders tensed, his hands steady as he pressed down and wiggled the tip of the blade side to side, the flat stone creaking as it resisted.
“Careful,” I said.
His lips lifted in a bare flicker of dry humor. “That’s whatyousay right before you do something reckless.” He shoved the blade deeper, and the faint echo of groaning stone reverberated up through my knees. “There’s something beneath it. I can feel it?—”
A hiss seeped out from the exposed gap, curling like dragon fire in the cool air. We both froze, and Lore’s gaze shot to mine. The hilt of the dagger remained in his grip, his knuckles starkly pale and still seeping blood as he held the small gap open.
My blood trickled away from a scratch on the back of my hand and plopped through the gap in the seam, a morbid sacrifice I hoped would not draw the attention of whatever might be lurking beyond this stone.
Stillness stretched through the air until I nudged Lore’s arm with my elbow.
“If something horrible leaps out, I'll defend you.” It wasn’t quite humor. The tension in my voice made sure of that. But it was light enough to make his features loosen. “I’m not afraid of whatever might be waiting below. Look at me, a woman who used to tremble before each raid, who put on such a good front that none of her friends saw through it.” My voice broke. “Not even Kinart.”
“I saw. I did all I could to show you that you had nothing to tremble about.”
He hadn't mocked me. In fact, he'd done all he could to help me grow into the woman I was today, one almost worthy of the crown I'd been given.
And the man who knelt by my side.
“That’s the thing about walking beside someone like you, someone who can strike down monsters and darkness alike. I learned to trust the fierceness you dragged out of me.” I’d learned to trust myself.
“You are strength personified.”
“Sometimes.”
“Always. I wish you could believe in yourself the way I believe in you.” He edged the stone up a fraction more, enough that blackness opened up beneath. With a grunted groan, he wrangled the stone to the side, exposing a tunnel. A narrow, smooth, slopingthing that seemed to stretch forever down into the cold, brittle blackness. The air leaking from the gap smelled ancient, as though it had existed untouched for longer than anyone living could remember.
Lore sat back on his heels, bracing his hands against his thighs as he studied the opening. His sharp eyes probably caught every detail, while mine jumped between him and the strange passage we’d uncovered.
“Well,” I said, letting the word hang. “You first, or me?” I held up my finger, making the tip glow bright enough we both shielded our eyes. “I'll bring this along, shall I?”
A smile cracked across his face, the first real one I’d seen since we arrived in the throne room. It transformed his features, melting that edge of grief in a way that made me fall apart.
“In this, I’ll lead,” he said, the warmth in his tone enough to make my chest tighten with something besides dread. “But I’ll grant you the lead later if you’re extra sweet to me in between.”
I snorted, though it did little to wipe the heat from my cheeks. “You’re insufferable.”
“And still your favorite.”
I didn’t argue because we both knew it was true. And anyway, his grin had pulled another pang from deep inside me.Perchancethis wasn’t much to give him with all he’d lost, but a touch of brevity was all I had to offer other than myself.
He sat and lowered his legs into the black maw. His movements were careful, and he paused before releasing his grip on the edges to glance up at me. His gaze lingered, studying my face—the lines, the curves, everything he already knew better than I did myself. As though he wanted to commit everything about me to memory.
“Follow me into the darkness, Wildfire,” he said, his voicesofter now, threaded with something deeper than the teasing tone I'd come to adore.
After looking up at me one last time, he let go and slid away into the tunnel.
Vanishing.
“Hey!” I called after him, leaning over the edge to scowl into the abyss. “I’m the one with the light, remember? You should wait for meeee!”
