As my uncle’s lover, he’s as close to family as one can be.
I salute, darting into the halls to the left while the three males go right.
Twisting through the halls, I make it to the dungeon door with little fuss. There are no guards stationed inside, which tells me most are outside the walls or on the top, patrolling. That gives us an advantage.
Taking the steep stairs, the scent of decay and refuse hits me likea physical slap. The dungeon is pitiful, with leaking, crumbling ceilings, and holes in the floors. There are no lights down here, just a simple torch or two, most cells black inside.
The most unsettling part is the quiet. I expected one or two guards, the rattling of prisoners in chains, perhaps a few calls for help. My magic flares along my back, submerging me into the shadows to further hide, but there is nothing to hidefrom.
Is Griffin running a lax operation or are there no prisoners to guard?
Hunched close to the wall, I inspect the cells as I go, seeing all of them empty. Further back, almost to the end, is one cell in particular. The bars are old, made of iron and rusted from neglect. But something compels me to stop, to stare into the blackness and wait.
My beast purrs in my chest as if it can sense something hiding in the dark.
Inhaling, I smell the old blood, the stained urine, and the death that clings to the wall. There’s moss and mud and the scent of rodents in the shadowed alcoves. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Something shifts in the darkness and then, in the far back, I see a pale hand.
I watch the hand move, shaking with effort as it tugs a blanket closer, barely more than a scrape of fabric. The chill down here is wet, grotesque and that cover is not enough to fight off sickness.
Whoever this is, has been here for some time. There are no footprints, no signs the doors have been opened. They’re left to rot in this prison. Left to die.
“I knew you’d come,” he grunts.
“Knew I’d come?”Unlikely. No one would think I’d come back to Griffin’s castle willingly.
The man pulls himself off the ground.
I wince, looking up at him. He’s tall, lean, skin so thin it’s stretched over his bones. His thick black hair is long, hanging in limp dirty strands. He’s more ghoul than Human, swaying to my side as if his feet forgot howto walk.
Given the condition of his accommodations, I’m surprised he’s alive. What did this man do to get such treatment?
He leans against the bars, long limbs hanging over the edges. He has welts and blisters from the rats who share his cell. What a miserable existence.
“Setitold me you’d come.”
Chapter
Thirty-One
KADEN
“Seti?” I snort, gripping my sword as my ears listen for disturbances behind me. Nothing so far. “I don’t plan on being acquainted with him for some time yet.”
He squints at me, dark eyes narrowing.
“You don’t have her with you.”
My heart freezes, body tense. The beast hums, not dangerous, but thoughtful.Odd.
“Havewho?” I growl, even though in my gut I know who he’s referring to. The anxiety that’s been weighting on me like a ballast, my dread at being too far from home. All of it revolve around her.
My future queen, my future wife.My mate.
He rolls his eyes and the action strikes me. Something about it is…familiar.
“You left her in that castle without protection.” He sneers, almost angry. Atme. “You left her therealone.”
