One of them, a broad-shouldered man with a hard stare, stepped toward the mechanism and reached for it.
Artemis’s head snapped up as if to stop him, but I grabbed her hand to quiet her. As callous as it was, the more men Hadrian lost, the higher our chance of survival. And if it was them or Artemis… I’d choose Artemis every damn time.
His hand closed around a lever etched with Atlantean markings.
The chamber responded.
The water’s glow brightened until the channel looked like a ring of light. The stone rings began to rotate, slowly at first, then faster, gears grinding with a sound that vibrated through my teeth.
The floor under the man’s boots shifted.
Sliding.
A section of stone moved sideways like a puzzle piece being rearranged. The man stumbled, caught himself, then realized too late that the floor beneath him had become a moving platform headed toward a narrow opening in the wall.
He tried to jump back.
The platform moved faster, delivering him into the opening with perfect efficiency. Stone sealed behind him.
Another man lunged forward to help andstepped onto a different tile. The mechanism rotated again, and the floor moved under him too.
Two openings now. Two sealed doors. Two disappearances in seconds.
Hadrian shouted a command that meant nothing to the temple.
I held Artemis tighter, pulling her fully behind me. My mind raced through the pattern. The mechanism reacted to force.
Artemis spoke without looking at me. “It’s filtering.”
"What?" I asked.
“It’s filtering who’s allowed to reach it. Whatever this place is…it’s sentient.”
Hadrian’s footsteps approached, slower now. He had stopped treating this as a simple obstacle. He was watching, waiting, letting others trigger consequences first.
Artemis’s gaze stayed on the mechanism, but her thought reached me, controlled and steady. “Arthur. This place responds to intent.”
I swallowed hard.
Hadrian’s voice came from behind us, amused again, but edged now. “Keep going.”
My arm brushed Artemis’s side through her coat. That small contact steadied me. She was mine to protect, even if I had no right to claim her. If she was taken, I was going with her.
“Stay with me,”I sent.
Her answer came back like a hand closing around mine. “I’m here.”
I stepped forward into the chamber, eyes on the floor, mind on the symbols, body angled to shield her.
And whatever waited deeper in Atlantis, I promised myself one thing with absolute clarity.
Hadrian would not take her from me.
If the temple demanded a price, it would not be her.
23
ARTEMIS
