The encouragement gives me strength, and being able to focus on his words instead of the curse is grounding. My thoughts slow along with my heartbeat, and I am upright once more.
It's not long before the ship is docked on Ophis Isle, and I'm finally able to see where my father grew up. It's beautiful here, and I feel something take hold of my soul, pulling me from the ship and into the city.
The docks open straight into a road that leads to homes situated along the cliff that appear to be carved into the rock towering above us or made from dried mud and stone. They are stacked one after the other, and it's difficult to tell where one structure ends and the other begins. The outer walls of each are thick and painted white. It's beautiful.
But there is not a soul to be found.
Curtains hang in some of the windows, tattered and torn, and covered in a layer of filth, but as ghostly as it feels, I know there is life here. I can sense them.
Raiden takes my hand and beckons Lavinia to follow us. “Are you ready for this part?” he asks, and I know he's worried I won't be able to handle whatever heartbreak we may face once we find the Rhiza.
If we find them. Though, I am still certain there is someone here, but I refuse to say it out loud. Afraid that somehow, I could ruin the possibility by giving voice to my gut feeling. That my words might alter the outcome, and all we will find is bodies.
“I'm ready,” I whisper.
He leads us up the steep mountain path, stopping about halfway to the top at an unassuming door hidden in the rock that I would have missed had he not been with us.
“If they made it, they will be here,” he tells us as he swings the door open, allowing Livvy to lead the way within.
She stops just inside, unaccustomed to the dark. “I love you both, but not enough to sacrifice myself by going first,” she jokes.
Raiden just grunts and takes the lead, Lavinia follows him, and I take the rear.
The never-ending passageway takes us deep into the mountain before there is any sign of life. The further we go, the less likely it seems we are going to find them. My chest aches, and my legs are screaming at me to take a break.
The torches lining the walls have all been out, up to this point. Up ahead, an orange glow sends my heart into a frenzy. Hope so powerful it almost makes me sick.
“Raiden!” I whisper-shout over Lavinia's head.
“I see it,” he answers, and we all pick up our pace.
Just after the first illuminated lantern, the tunnel curves to the left, and I think I'm going to burst from the anticipation.
“It's not much farther,” Raiden tells us, and I wonder again if he can't read my godsdamned mind.
We're just about to turn another corner when Raiden trips forward. It’s so fast that I don't register what's happened until he lets out a curse.
“Fuck!” He's been snatched up at the ankle by a snare, his large frame dangling awkwardly in a half somersault because the rope—and whatever it's attached to—isn't strong enough to lift him fully off the ground, and the tunnel isn't much taller than he is in the first place.
“It's not my fault you were being sloppy. I heard you coming from leagues away.” The voice sets my nerves on edge.
“Shreya! Get this off me. Gods fucking damnit!” Raiden yells
“It's really you! You came back?” The shock in her voice offends even me, and I brace myself for Raiden to start a fight, but he doesn't. Instead, he waits for her to cut him free, and Lavinia and I try our hardest not to laugh at the sight of him as his legs crash to the ground.
“We came back,” he says, pulling his ankle from the rope. “Of course we came back.”
Shreya regains her icy composure, but there is relief in her eyes. “Well, we will be glad to have your help.” She heads further into the tunnel, but shouts over her shoulder at us, “Reset that trap, won't you?”
I resist the urge to mock her or stick my tongue in her direction, if only because the last time I saw her, she had tried to murder me, and it seems she has bigger things to worry about now. I do not wish to provoke her into remembering how much she hates me.
“I take it we know her?” Lavinia asks as we help Raiden set the snare.
“That is the female who tried to kill me,” I explain on a whisper.
Lavinia gives me a look of understanding, but her eyes are wild with curiosity. “Right! The one whose mate you … well, you know.”
My stomach rolls. “That's the one,” I say, trying not to allow the image of Dolan's face as he realized he was going to die enter my mind.
