We approached the hillside together, our hands still linked. Up close, I could see the vines weren’t naturally occurring. They’d been deliberately cultivated, woven together in a pattern that suggested magical camouflage rather than organic growth.
Dominic released one of my hands to push aside the vegetation. His magic rippled through the air, and the vinestwitched before shifting aside slowly, revealing an entrance carved into the hillside itself.
Dominic eased open the rough wooden door, revealing stone steps descending into darkness.
“Should we go in alone?” I asked, even as every strategic instinct screamed that having others with us or at least telling someone where we were going would be wise.
“This is my court,” Dominic said. “I’m going to see whatever’s down there.” He tightened his grip on my hand. “But you can wait here with Sasha if you want.”
“Nope. I’m going with you.”
After releasing our hands, we descended, him taking the lead. Savory swooped in behind us, soaring down, down into the dark.
Magical lights flickered to life as we moved down the narrow stone steps, responding to our presence. Cool underground air raised goosebumps on my arms. The space had been deliberately carved rather than naturally formed.
“Do you smell cardamom?” I asked.
He paused, frowning. “No. Do you?”
I sniffed again, but the scent was gone. “No. I thought I did, but I must be mistaken.”
The steps opened into a chamber much larger than I’d expected. Someone had gone to considerable effort to excavate and maintain this space. The walls showed tool marks, and the dirt floor had been smoothed and leveled.
Ritual circles had been carved into the floor, and crystals had been arranged in a precise pattern.
Dominic stooped down and hovered his palm over one, closing his eyes. He sucked in a breath and straightened, his gaze meeting mine. “They’re…suppressing magic.”
Dampening crystals,Savory said, and I shared this with Dominic, who nodded.
A workbench against one wall held tools I didn’t recognize, along with notebooks. Charts hung on the walls, tracking fluctuations in the court over what appeared to be months.
Personal belongings scattered throughout suggested whoever used this space came here often and stayed for extended periods of time.
I went over to the workbench, carefully examining the notebooks without touching them, building a picture of the person’s methods and motivations.
“Sasha.” Dominic’s voice held a note of shock. “Look at these charts.”
I joined him at the wall where dates and measurements had been sketched, creating a complex web of data. The tracking went back over a year.
“This isn’t about our alliance,” I said. “This started before Grandmother reached out.”
“But intensified after.” Dominic traced one of the lines on the chart. “See? The dampening increased right here, around the time Mother received your grandmother’s first letter.”
The scale of this operation stole my breath. Someone had been draining the court’s emotional magic for much too long. Our partnership hadn’t caused the problem. If anything, we’d been fighting against something much older and more entrenched.
“We need to be careful,” I said, unease prickling down my spine. “Whoever built this room could come back at any time.”
Dominic nodded, but neither of us moved to leave. There were too many clues to examine and too much information to process.
We worked quickly, moving through the chamber anddocumenting everything we found. Dominic sketched the ritual circles in my small pocket journal. After, I added the layout of the crystals, replicating their arrangement and the patterns carved into each one.
Dominic’s hand steadied me when I leaned too far forward to examine something on the upper wall. My fingers brushed his when we both reached for the same notebook.
Each touch sent awareness sparking through me, heightened by the magical connection we’d forged during our tracing. I could feel his energy zipping beneath his skin, responding to mine in a way that had nothing to do with investigation and everything to do with desire.
“Look at this.” Dominic held up a dusty journal, his voice pulling me back to the task at hand. “I found this in a box underneath the counter. The entries appear to be ancient, and they describe a ritual for purifying emotions.”
I moved closer to read, the right side of my chest pressing against his back. His warmth seeped through my gown, and I had to force myself to focus on the words rather than the solid strength of his body.
