“And little Brandon? The last time I saw him, he was toddling around with Mrs. Landry swatting his butt for eating dirt.” Alex laughed. It felt good to be here with him. She had missed him. It had been too long this time. It pained her to know that she was coming to burden him with her problems, but she didn’t have anyone left she could trust to help her right now. The thought caused a sudden sadness to overflow her senses. It always hovered on the edge, threatening to drown her, but she pushed it back yet again.
“This isn’t a social visit.” He stated. He’d known she wascoming, that she had no doubt. Caius Ember always had his ear to the ground, which meant that he already knew why she was there. Tears welled in her eyes. Looking away, Alex blinked furiously, barely able to get control again.
Reaching out, her father grasped her left hand, holding onto it fiercely. Rough calluses rubbed against her fingers, the sensation calming her as it did when she was a child.
“Alex. Look at me.” Her eyes shot to his. “How are you holding up?”
She knew he meant how was she doing with losing her queen. How she was doing with being kept in the dark. She didn’t know if he knew about her true relationship with Rivka or that up until a few months ago, she’d been inseparable from her queen, not for her commitment to the province but because of the depth of their love. She knew that there was no way that she could tell him all that in a pub, even in the private space they were sitting in. She wasn’t ready to discuss that part of her life.
Unable to speak the devastating words buried in her heart, she simply squeezed his hand back. With her right hand, she used shaky fingers to reach into her pocket, pulling the one thing she wished to never use. The coin had a small set of daggers engraved on one side and a thorned rose etched on the other, its ridges worn with age. Squeezing it tightly, she flattened the coin on the table and slid it over to her father.
Chapter Thirty
The Underground
Alex
Her father’s eyes widened. It’s likely he knew that she had come here in search of her lost queen, possibly licking her wounds after dealing with the takeover of Queen Vivian, but he had clearly not expected her to pull out her Coin of Cabhair. Reaching out, he swiftly covered her hand, hiding the coin from view.
“Put it away.” His tone was sharp, but not unkind. “This room is secure, but not safe.”
Alex palmed the coin, sliding it back into her pocket. Just then, the barkeep reappeared, sliding two pints of ale in front of them.
“Thank you, Barb.” Caius smiled. “We will be exiting through the back, no need to botherwith us.”
Barb’s eyes sparked with interest, but she knew better than to question him. “Yes, sir. I understand.”
Caius gave a curt nod, turning his attention back to Alex.
“Let’s finish our drinks, and then we can talk.”
Not one to drag things out, Alex picked up her ale and downed it in one long pull. If Caius was surprised, he didn’t show it. Instead, he mirrored her action and stood, holding his hand out for her. There were no doors back here that she could see, but that didn’t mean anything; she knew that her father had ways of becoming invisible.
Glancing back over his shoulder, making sure they were still alone, Caius ran his hand along a painting of a black dagger wrapped in thick razor sharp thorns, dark red blood dripping from them. A faint snicking sound came from the wall, as a lock released somewhere inside. Caius pushed, and a door swung outward, revealing a set of stairs leading down into the shadows of a tunnel. He motioned for her to enter first, before following her inside, pushing the door firmly back into place.
For a moment, they were cloaked in complete darkness, the air heavy with moisture. “Where are we going?” Alex whispered, almost hesitant to speak at all.
Caius simply strode past her, swiftly taking the stairs to the bottom, a small flame erupting from a lantern in his hand. The sudden brightness blinded her momentarily, and she wondered where he had gotten the lantern from and when he had even picked it up. Alex hurried to follow her father as he descended further into the tunnel, his long legs eating up the distance quickly, leaving her scrambling to keep pace.
It wasn’t long before the passageway opened into a large room, with several other passageways leading in different directions. There was a table and a few chairs in the center of the room, empty crates along one wall, but little else. Setting the lantern on the table, Caius pulled out a chair.
“Sit.”
It wasn’t a question. Alex sat. She knew her father well and could tell by his body language that he was expecting her to share all. And she would. She never lied to him; she couldn’t. He had a no nonsense way about him that made you reveal your most sacred secrets. Lucky for her, she trusted him implicitly.
“Where are we?” She asked, needing a moment to get her thoughts in order.
“It is a long story that I neither have the time nor the patience to share right now, but in general, I will tell you that we are in a series of ancient underground tunnels that stretch across the whole of Diathan. There are entrances spread throughout.”
She couldn’t hide her initial shock. Although, as the information settled, it made perfect sense. He always knew what was happening in the realm, seemingly before news reached the other provinces. This must be how he was able to garner information so quickly.
Her father’s voice resounded through the almost empty room, bringing her focus back to him.
“Tell me what is of such emergence that you would use your Coin of Cabhair, Alex? You know that it is reserved for life or death situations, and you may only use it once. Is your life in danger, my child?”
Alex paused. “Not my life, no, but I fear for the life of my Queen.”
Caius grunted. “Keep your coin. I will help if I can. Tell me what is going on.”
