“Let’s hope for the best,” King Sylvian says quietly, his eyes scanning the ground as he starts forward.
We step over the vines carefully, but they seem to multiply as we move deeper into the labyrinth. All are moving slightly, like snakes. They’re all a potential risk of tripping… or something worse. Memories of being bitten by a snake and nearly losing my leg surface, but I try to push them aside. These are vines. Not snakes.
“Where are they coming from?” No matter where I look, I can’t seem to see their source.
“No idea,” King Oberon replies, his tone unusually subdued. His hand hovers near his own weapon, his sharp eyes scanning every shadow.
The tension is suffocating. Every nerve in my body on edge. I glance up at the towering hedges, searching for some clue, but they’re as still and silent as ever.
Then the ground shifts beneath my feet.
At first, it’s subtle, a faint vibration underfoot, like the distant hum of thunder. I pause mid-step, frowning, the sensation so slight I wonder if I imagined it. It’s as if the ground itself is breathing, shifting and sighing just below the surface. But the others feel it too, their movements slowing as we exchange uneasy glances.
“What’s happening, Sylvian?” King Ashton asks.
Again, King Sylvian stretches his hand out. Again, disappointment appears on his face. “I don’t know. Something’s wrong. The earth isn’t responding to me.”
The trembling intensifies. My knees feel unsteady, my balance thrown just slightly off, as though the earth is pulling me in several directions at once. A low groan rises from beneath us, like the mournful creak of wood bending under too much weight.
“Is it safe?” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
King Oberon steps closer, his brows furrowed. “Stay alert,” he says, his tone sharp, but his eyes dart nervously to the ground. “Be prepared for anything.”
The vibration grows into a steady pulse, a rhythmic quaking that feels alive. It runs up through my boots and into my legs, making my teeth chatter. I press a hand to my chest, my heart thundering wildly against my ribs. It’s not just the tremors, it’s the sense that something ancient and malevolent is stirring beneath us, waking from a long slumber.
The ground groans again, louder this time, a deep, resonant sound that makes the walls of the labyrinth shudder. A faint crack splinters through the earth, zigzagging like lightning between my feet. Panic claws at my throat.
“Move!” King Oberon shouts, grabbing my arm, but it’s too late.
The ground beneath us crumbles with a sickening roar. I scream as I fall, reaching blindly for King Oberon, for anything solid, but the darkness swallows me whole.
17
Oberon
Dust fills the air,choking me. The gritty particles swirl in the confined space Alette and I have fallen into blacking out any light. And yet, even through the haze, my senses sharpen, dialing into every sound and scent that permeates the atmosphere. I can barely see through it, but I know where I need to go.
I need to reachher.
Alette’s piercing cry of panic and pain still rings in my head, echoing in a relentless loop that cuts into me sharper than knives. She’s human. Too human. And terribly fragile.
She’s also completely silent now.What if she’s hurt? What if she’s dead? What if I’m too late?The thought sends a jolt of fear through me, and a desperate need to find her hits me.
I fight back the surge of panic clawing at my chest. My heart slams against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat urging me to move as my mind flashes through all the scenarios, all the worst-case possibilities.
Stop. Just breathe. Just find her.
I can’t let my thoughts spiral out of control, especially when I’m a man who’s always in control. Alette just… she makes me feel things. Things I don’t like. Things I rationalize to be because of her importance. If I don’t find her, if something happens to her, our mission is over. Our people will be lost forever.
We need her.Ineed her.
For the mission.
My hands tremble, fingers aching with the need to do something, anything. I take a deep breath, the stale air burning my lungs. I call on the fire that burns in my veins. The familiar heat surges to life the moment I summon it and flames explode in my hand, warm and bright, casting flickering shadows that dance on the vines that surround me, cutting through the blackness. Relief flows through me. If my magic works, she has to be okay.Right?
The flames wrap around my fingers like a lover’s embrace, grounding me in a way I’ve only experienced near Alette since the curse stripped me of my power. And there, through the haze of smoke and dust, I see her.
Alette.
