Brushing his foot over what looked like a carpet on the hearth, he dislodged built-up dirt and dust, leaving what appeared to be a metal grille in the floor.
I moved forward to look in, but he pushed me back. “Stay there. Clive will kill me if I let you fall in.”
“I’m not a moron,” I said. Did he think I was just going to toddle into a shaft to Hell? Jeez.
An eyebrow lift was all the response I got to the moron question. Jerk.
He rattled the grille a moment but then stood up and reached under the mantel. “There’s a worn spot in the corner. I felt it a moment ago, but the board was on top of the grate.”
We both stared down while Vlad touched the smooth spot. The grate clicked and swung into the shaft.
“Oh,” Vlad said. “I know what this is.” He stepped up to the hole and looked down.
I did the same, shining my light into it. “Damn. That looks deep. Does this go to a dungeon?”
Vlad nodded. “I’d guess the prince had the chute created to dispose of his enemies deep underground, into thermal baths. That’s why the smell is so strong in here.” He nodded as though he approved of the tactic. “Cruel and effective.” Vlad looked up and smiled. “I left my enemies’ bodies to rot on display.” He looked back down the hole. “I suppose he preferred hiding his.”
“Quit being creepy.” I knelt, bracing one hand on the edge, and looked down. I heard that sloshing sound again, like I’d heard in the tub room. “Hey,” I said, looking back up at Vlad, “is the slow heartbeat louder now?”
He dropped beside me, his brows furrowed. “What did he imprison down there?”
I leaned out farther. “And how is it still alive hundreds of years later?” Two eyes shined back at me in the dark and I about had a heart attack.
“It’s Léna again,” Vlad said.
“Well, if she thinks I’m just going to jump down the Hell shaft on her say-so, she’s lost it.” Just leaning over this thing was making me light-headed. I stood and considered the problem.
“Do you know where we can find a rope?” I asked.
“No,” Clive growled, making me jump. “You are not lowering yourself into an ancient dungeon with a dying immortal.”
“Where did you come from?” I demanded, anger covering my moment of panic, having someone sneak up behind me again. “And I wasn’t going to go down.” I pointed at Vlad. “I was going to hold the rope so he could go down. I’m sick of you people acting like I’m stupid! I don’t get all these injuries because I’m dumb. I’m trying to help.”
My eyes filled with tears and then I was pissed off at myself. Blinking, I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Léna is still here, still trapped in this hellhole that killed her because her father wanted his evil hidden from the world. She led me to Aliz, so we could return her to her family. And she wants us to help whoever is down there. Trying to help others doesn’t make you stupid!”
Vlad moved away while I shouted, but Clive moved in, wrapping his arms around me.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Of course you’re not stupid. You almost died yesterday, so I’m on edge. I woke to find you gone. When I followed your scent through a hidden door, I found the pool of blood from your most recent near death, and now here you are, face still blackened, leaning over a sulfurous pit.”
“I know,” I said, “but someone’s down there. Has been for hundreds of years. We need to get her out.”
He leaned back and brushed light fingers over my bruised face. “Her?”
“It’s a hunch,” I said. “Maybe it is a blue whale, like you said, but Léna showed me the prince and Cordelia for a reason. And when the servant brought in Cordelia from her punishment, she was wet. Sopping wet.”
I ran my hands up and down his sides. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s nothing down there, but if that poor fae woman has been imprisoned for centuries in pitch-black hot water, we have to help her.”
“And we will,” Clive said, “but not by following her down a bloody long drop into who knows what.”
“I believe that’s why she asked about the rope,” Vlad said.
Clive nodded. “Point taken. Besides going down there”—he gestured to the hole in the floor—“do we have any other ideas?”
“The tub room,” I said at the same time Vlad said, “Basement.”
We started to move out and then I caught Clive’s arm. “Wait a minute. We need to cover the hole so no one falls in.” I leaned over it again. “We’re coming!”
Clive picked up one side of the board and slid it back. Before it covered the hole, though, he shouted something as well. After he dropped the board in place and brushed off his hands, he wrapped an arm around me. “I translated for you.”
