“You don’t know her,” I repeated.
A sliver of a smile slid onto her lips. “I knew her before she decided fear suited her personality.” The Priestess set down her cup with a delicate clink. “And there we are.”
“I’m not here for family therapy.”
“No. You’re here because you traded yourself for people you love.” She leaned back slightly. “A noble act, if somewhat predictable.”
“You keep saying that like predictability is always weakness.” My brows lifted as I looked around the room. There was something so cold and dark about it. I couldn’t imagine wanting to wander the wings of this compound day in and day out as she had.
“Predictability usually is worse than most things.”
“Then you’ve obviously never raised a daughter. Stability is important.”
The words struck something. I could see a glint of annoyance dash through her gaze.
For the first time since Keegan disappeared through the passage with Celeste, I felt something other than fear.
A sliver of curiosity.
Dangerous, maybe.
Useful, definitely.
The Priestess stood. “You’ll have rooms here that you can make your own.”
“I’m not staying long enough to need decorating advice.”
“You’ll stay until our conversation ends.”
I cocked my head slightly. “And when does that happen?”
“When you understand the truth and what’s truly at stake, Maeve.”
I stared at her. “Understand what?”
She crossed the room toward another door, and it opened before she touched it. Beyond it stretched another corridor, this one lined with windows looking out over the dark hills surrounding Shadowick.
“That your inheritance is larger than Stonewick has allowed you to believe.”
My shadow mark pulsed again, this time in rhythm with something deep beneath the floor.
The foundation chamber.
The pit.
The shadows.
Or maybe Shadowick itself.
I thought of Celeste walking through the gate with Keegan.
I would get back to them, but if I wanted to stop the Priestess once and for all, I needed more than courage and anger.
I needed answers, so I followed her into the corridor, and behind me, the room sealed itself with a sound far too gentle for a prison.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The air in the stone corridor thickened as a chill skated over my skin.
