More empty chambers. More hallways. More unease.
Even though the afternoon sun was shining brightly, the castle seemed to be getting darker.
“The library is our last room to check.” Jayson consulted the blueprints on his phone before looking up at the enormous double doors in front of them. These, unlike the others they’d encountered in the castle, were shut. “Let’s get this over with.”
He shoved the doors open, a flurry of dust raining upon them. Nikhail coughed, covering his mouth as he took in the space. The library, if that’s what it could still be called, was worse off than the rest of the castle. There were no squirrels here, no cloths covering the furniture.
There was nothing at all.
“Where are all the books?” Isobel asked quietly, running her hand down an empty shelf. It came away coated in white.
“The Sunwalking Queen insisted they be taken to abbeys and universities for safekeeping before they went to sleep.” Nikhail strode to a table caked in over an inch of dust. “Apparently, she couldn’t stand the thought of her books decaying and the knowledge they contained being lost to time.”
Considering the castle’s current state, the queen’s decision had been a wise one. This was not a place for anything of value, least of all literature.
The air seemed to get cooler, and Nikhail shuddered. Gods, he wanted to get out of here.
It seemed like the others were of the same frame of mind. They moved through the library on silent feet, exchanging very few words as they navigated through the stacks.
Nikhail’s magic strummed in his veins, a constant presence that was growing louder. More than any other part of thecastle, there was something unsettling about this space. He wasn’t sure what it was, because based on the layers of dust, no one had been here for many years.
Or at least, that’s what he thought, until they reached the other end of the library. They came to a stop at the back wall, where instead of a smooth expanse, a door was cut into the stone.
And it was open.
CHAPTER 24
The Darkest Night
“We have to check it.” Jayson stared into the open doorway, his voice resigned but brooking no room for discussion.
Isobel cursed under her breath, and Nikhail understood where she was coming from. He didn’t like this one bit. His skin crawled, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and a warning thrum filled his veins.
Be careful,the wind muttered.
That wouldn’t be a problem. Nikhail had felt jumpy ever since they walked into the library.
Jayson walked through the door first, armed with a flashlight in one hand and his gun in the other. Isobel followed, and after sending a text to Commander Root, letting him know what they found, Nikhail took up the rear. He crossed the threshold from the library into the stone passage, and old magic swept over his skin. He shivered, recognizing the kiss of ancient wards.
It’s probably nothing,Nikhail reasoned with himself as he sent his magic in front of their group to silence their footsteps.The wards are probably a remnant of the past, left by the vampires before they departed.
In theory, it made sense that this place would be warded. In reality, it felt like a bad omen. Nikhail shuddered, his stomach churning.
The passage was darker than the rest of the castle, and the air was thick. Foreboding, even. The passage wasn’t in the same condition as the rest of the castle.
Crumbling stones, cracked mortar, and jagged rocks jutted out, doing their best to trip them. There was little room to move, and Nikhail’s shoulders brushed against the walls.
Down, down, down they went. The air thickened until every step felt like trudging through mud. Nikhail kept his senses extended, listening to the wind, but no sound reached his ears. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Off.
The passage never widened, and the air chilled as they continued their descent. Twice, they stopped to send updates to the rest of the team. Both times, no one spoke.
The darkness seemed all-consuming, thick and heavy and utterly unnatural. Every minute felt longer than the last. Nikhail traced a groove in the wall, his fingers finding another above it. A short while later, there was a third gouge below the other two.
His fingers fit almost perfectly in them, almost as if they’d been created by someone running in terror.
The longer they spent in the tunnels, the more questions he had about this place. Who had built it, and what was its intended purpose? It didn’t seem like one that had been used to transport goods, nor did it appear to be a servant’s passage. It was old—perhaps even older than the King of Darkness.
Time seemed to play games with them in the murky blackness.They couldn’t have been in the passage for all that long since they were still in the castle, but it felt like hours had passed before a glimmer of violet light appeared ahead of them.