The Priestess turned her head slowly. “Careful.”
I stepped forward and glanced at the woman before turning to look at my grandmother.
“Why? Because I’m getting close to something true?”
“Because truth without context makes fools feel righteous,” she said as she cocked her head slightly and gave a withering look to the woman.
“You’re sounding a little biblical,” I muttered, which made her gaze snap to mine.
“You think it’s okay that she tried to poison me merely because she didn’t agree with me?”
I took a slow breath, letting the anger settle into something colder. I couldn’t free them yet. I couldn’t burn the place down. I couldn’t give her the reaction she wanted, even though everything in me begged for it. But maybe if they heard that theywere helping to feed the compound and possibly more, they’d be able to control the fear a little more.
“What do you truly want?” I asked, ignoring her question like she’d done to me countless times.
The Priestess’ eyes narrowed slightly, and for the first time since entering the dungeons, I saw surprise.
It was quick, barely there, but I saw it.
“You know what I want.”
“No, I know what yousayyou want. Power. Control. Revenge. To be obeyed. To prove Stonewick wrong.” I looked around the cells, at Legner, at the woman with the shadowed face, at the cells between with various creatures huddled in the corners. “But that’s all decoration. What do you actually want?”
The dungeon went quiet in a way that felt dangerous.
If I didn’t know better, even the faint drips of water from somewhere deeper in the walls seemed to pause. But that wasn’t possible, was it? The place couldn’t be that living…
The Priestess watched me carefully and walked over to Legner’s cell.
“Such confidence,” she murmured. “You ask as if you’re entitled to answers. But you haven’t earned them yet.”
“I’m your granddaughter, remember? You wanted to get to know me,” I pointed out, turning her words around from our negotiation. “I’d like to get to know you.”
Her lips curved. “And already you test boundaries with me. Do you think that’s wise?”
I laughed and shook my head, feeling my confidence grow. “I’ve never in my life claimed to be wise.”
Something in her gaze sharpened at that, but this time, it didn’t feel like interest in me. It felt like something older. She turned away from the Legner’s cell and walked slowly down the corridor, and I followed. I didn’t want to turn my back on the prisoners, but I couldn’t let her get too far ahead.
Legner’s gaze found mine one last time as I passed his cell. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
I saw the message plainly.
Remember us.
And I would.
The Priestess stopped in the center of the corridor before the steps, where the floor dipped into a circular drain carved with the same rootlike symbols I’d seen upstairs, the triangle with a shadow. The mark glowed faintly beneath the stone, almost hidden until the light caught it.
She looked down at it as if it were something sacred.
“To answer your question, I want what should have always been.” She ran her fingers along the stone walls and started forward.
I hadn’t expected her to answer. “And what is that?”
The Priestess stopped again, lifted her gaze to mine, and for a moment, the cruel amusement faded. What remained was far more unsettling.
Belief.
