As we crept around the corner, one of them saw us and stilled. Rumple quickly turned to the closest door and beganscraping at the edges of it. Gavriel and I did the same, acting like deranged shadows trying to get to… whatever. When they had all turned away—I wasn’t sure if they looked away since they didn’t have eyes, as such—we wandered down another hallway: the one that led to the Maker Hall’s secret passage.
It took longer than it should but eventually, all three of us slid into the narrow hallway and closed the door softly behind us. The corridor was dark, and there was no way of telling if there were shadows here. The cord inside my toga was giving off a faint glow, and I covered it with my hands.
“No, Feather, take it out. We need to see.” Gavriel’s breath tickled my ear. “We can’t open the door to the Hall if there are any shadows near that might get inside.”
“True,” I whispered back, pulling out the cord. Gavriel examined the corridor, exhaling with relief when we saw it was completely empty, of moving shadows at least.
Rumple walked up to the narrow door that led inside, frowning as he examined it. “This was very well done. I don’t know the word to enter, and so I cannot.” He sounded vaguely offended. “Mikhail’s work?” I hummed a yes. He studied it carefully, running a finger along the centermost bronze cross bar as a man would when testing a knife blade. “His skills are incredible. The detail. He wove your name into this, Feather.”
“Yes, it’s my door. Hang on.” I stepped up to it, placing my hand on the handle and pressing down as I sang the words Mikhail had taught me. It clicked open, and only creaked a little when I pushed my way into the Hall.
A little was enough. The dim light I held up was almost instantly eclipsed by shadows as a large, multi-layered beast raced down the hallway behind us. Rumple shoved Gavriel and me both inside, pulling the door shut behind him. “Lock it,” he commanded Gavriel. “And don’t tell me the word you use.” Gav nodded and went to the door, the handle of which was alreadyslowly turning. He sang quietly at the wood, reinforcing the existing lock and layering new protection over it. Rumple had covered his ears and was humming a strange, doubled note that was so dissonant, it made my molars ache.
I whirled as I heard a roar, almost like a tornado touching down, come from the main door. The massive metal panels began to shake as the beasts outside pounded on it, trying to break it down. “Can they get in?” I whispered.
“Yes,” Rumple said. “Mikhail left the original lock on that, and he and I worked together to form it. We were the only two who could use it.”
“Then shouldn’t Gavriel lock that one, too?”
Rumple mussed my hair gently with his enormous hand, then leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “Indeed. I’d ask you to do it, but I don’t want you getting more tired.”
I tried to smile, but the pain I’d been trying to ignore—especially in my nape—was getting worse by the minute, and what was more alarming, I was growing cold. I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering. “Is Sanctuary running out of power?”
“Not yet. Eat,” Rumple replied, pushing me toward the table. The food there was from the last meal I’d shared with Mikhail, Righteous, and Gavriel. It seemed like a thousand years had passed, but it had only been… I sighed. I’d lost track of the days. So much had happened.
Gavriel finished his work on the passageway door and strode to the main one, while Rumple stoked the fire. I stared around the Hall. I loved this space. It was where I had gotten to know my Growly Bear, where I’d first made love with him, first merged… “The bed!” I shouted, stumbling over to it. I threw myself down on the mattress, rubbing my cheek against the fabric. Mikhail’s sheets were the very best in Sanctuary. And they smelled a bit like him… and Righteous. I shivered, remembering how they’dboth lavished pleasure on me in this bed. “You remember, too, don’t you, sheets?” I whispered, inhaling deeply.
“I really think she might have a concussion,” Gavriel mused.
“No, she’s always been like this.”
I stuck my middle finger up at both of them, but kept my face in the sheets.
“I’ve got the naming chime,” Rumple announced.
I poked my head back up. “Let me hold it.”
Both men shouted “No!” at the same time.
“Ugh, buzzkills. I won’t hurt anything. I just like the way it hums along when I sing.”
“You know that’s because you’re renaming things,” Gavriel said, now slightly out of breath from reinforcing the main door. I could still see it shuddering from being battered, but it had the energy equivalent of a railroad tie stretching from one side to the other. “You gave me a lot of work that last time you sang around the chime.”
“But consider the result,” I argued, still rubbing myself all over the sheets. “I made a baby with Mikhail.”
Rumple, who was systematically going through the Hall and examining every single item on every table, smirked. “It still strikes me as one of the most foolish things you’ve ever done, ‘Violette.’”
I bared my teeth at him. “That was one time, in France,hundredsof years ago. And I never tried to use a cucumber like that again. You said you wouldn’t bring it up.”
He shrugged. “Couldn’t help myself. It’s one of my favorite memories.” Both of us stilled as we felt a wave of pain coming from Gavriel. Both physical and emotional pain.
Rumple rushed to Gavriel’s side, leading him to a chair. “What’s wrong?”
I jumped down and joined him in looking over Gavriel. I couldn’t see any wounds anywhere, and his energy seemed fairlyrobust, though Sanctuary was pulling at him. Sanctuaryandsomething else was draining him.
I focused on the pools of energy that swirled around my two mating marks. They were empty, but there was a new well of power forming around the birthmark on my chest. “Gavriel, have you been funneling your energy into me?” Suddenly, the way I’d been able to keep up with the guys, and the alertness I’d felt, made sense.
His face was pale, but he smiled. “Least I could do. When you were asleep earlier, your energy dipped. Needed to get you topped up so you could make it out of here.” Rumple nodded, like this made sense.
