By the time I returned to my room, furious, my fingers and toes had gone completely numb, and my teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.
Even though Torin had disappeared without a trace, he’d sent guards to escort me back to my room, which somehow annoyed me even more.
I found Shalini sitting cross-legged on her bed, hunched over a book. On the table next to her was a bottle of wine and two empty glasses. Soaked through with snow, I felt a sudden pang of jealousy for her quiet, warm evening.
She looked up as I came in. “You look freezing. How did training go?”
“Torin is a twat.”
She immediately grabbed the empty wine glass and began pouring. “Is he? What happened?”
“Well, we trained.” I pulled off my damp cloak and draped it over a chair. “Then we kissed. And then he told me he doesn’t actually like me.”
She stared at me, nearly spilling the wine. “What the hell, Torin? I mean, even for a fuckboy, couldn’t he just keep that bit to himself?”
I plucked the wine off the table and went to stand by the fireplace to warm up. “I think he’s horrified at himself for having the hots for a common fae.”
She shook her head. “Surely he’s not that shallow, is he?”
I shrugged. “Well, I can’t think of anything else.” I gave her a wry smile. “Given how often we end up kissing, it seems he likes how I look.” I shrugged. “And surely my charming fucking personality isn’t putting him off. But it really doesn’t matter, Shalini. I went in here knowing that love was bullshit, so I don’t feel a thing. Torin is hardly any different from Andrew, is he? I’m here for the money. That’s all.”
A thorny tendril of accusation wove through my thoughts—Liar. Because that kiss had been mind-blowing enough to make me forget all about Andrew and my pledge to never love again. To even forget about the fifty million…
But did I really need to admit that out loud? My ego had taken enough damage lately.
“You are genuinely charming to anyone with sense.” She cocked her head. “By the way, Aeron isn’t quite as chaste as he’s supposed to be anymore.”
“You’re kidding.” The warmth washed over me from the fireplace, drying my clothes a little, and the fire crackled behind me. I returned her smile. “Well, at least one of us found a nice guy.”
She slid her empty wine glass onto the table. “That’s not the only thing I found.”
I rubbed my hands together, feeling the blood pumping again. “What else?”
“You know how we searched the room for secret passages, and we didn’t find any?” She swung her legs off the bed and walked over to one of the bookshelves. “Well, we do have a secret passage. And it’s a fucking classic.”
“What do you mean, a classic?”
“Watch this.” She tugged at a stone gargoyle on a shelf, and it clicked. The bookshelf swung inward with a creak, a few books tumbling to the floor.
Okay. The bookshelf passage was a classic, and I don’t know why we hadn’t tried it before. “Where do you think it goes?” I whispered.
She glanced back at the door to the hall. “The assassin came in from the main entrance, yeah?”
“Maybe he didn’t know about the secret passage.” Stepping closer, I could see the outlines of ancient cast-iron hinges. “How did you find this?” I breathed.
“Just looking for another gothic romance. Already finished Mysteries of Udolpho.” She took a tentative step inside, then paused to look back at me, her eyes wide. “Should we get Aeron?”
I hesitated. “I don’t really want the two of us added to the suspect list. Right now, we’re in the clear. Maybe we should just…close it?”
“You know we’re going in there, Ava. Don’t even pretend to argue.” She flicked on her cell phone’s flashlight and stepped deeper into the tunnel.
“Hang on one second, Shalini.” I darted back into the room and grabbed my rapier.
Inside the passage, the beam of the flashlight illuminated the dark stone walls and the low ceiling. I gripped the hilt of my rapier and sniffed the air. Damp stone, a bit of moss, the scent of the rose-scented soap Shalini and I had both been using—
In the human world, I didn’t use this primal skill, hunting by scent. But here, it came naturally, a forgotten sense.
Shalini cast her light over the stone. “Ava, you wanted to know about monsters. The ones that might have killed your parents?”
“Did you find anything?” We were both whispering, but somehow, our voices sounded loud, echoing. “Torin has been talking about monsters. Dragons, and something called sluagh.”
“But those are the ones people talk about, right? In one of the fae history books, there were creatures with horns and wings. Half fae, half beasts—like the tapestry. The book said they could be a myth. But it sounds like Torin has seen them, right? Supposedly, they’re evil, bloodthirsty creatures. The ancient, dark side of the fae, before they became more civilized.”
“He seems certain they killed his parents. And I think he said they once ruled this land, before the Seelie took over and built this castle.” My heart pounded, my mouth going dry. “What are they called?”
She turned, eyes gleaming in the dark. “The Unseelie.”
The name sent cold dread thrumming over my skin. “I’ve heard of them. I didn’t know they were real.”
She shrugged. “In Faerie, it seems like monsters are real.”
I sighed. “That’s certainly true. Torin says that with magic leaving the kingdom, dark magic is filling the void.”
“I’m worried about the fencing tournament. Are you really ready for this, Ava? Because these princesses are not fucking around.” She turned back to me. “What if Moria is secretly an Unseelie, and she’s going to rip you to ribbons?”
“I’ll be fine,” I said as reassuringly as I could. “I’ve practiced so much with Torin.” But who could say, really?
As we walked deeper into the tunnel, my mind flicked back to the first night we’d been given the room. Aeron had suggested that it had been unused for years, and he didn’t want me asking about it. Why would that be?
I had this feeling, this sense, that this passage was important. Who had lived in here before?
I had to hunch to keep my head from hitting the ceiling, and I slipped ahead of Shalini to hold the rapier straight out in front of me. Shalini stayed close behind, her breath shallow with excitement.
After another twenty feet, the passage opened slightly. Shalini flashed the phone light around, showing two stairwells before us—one going up, and one going down.
“Up,” said Shalini.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Down is going to be a forgotten dungeon or something, and I don’t want to find any bodies.”
She gave me a gentle nudge, and I moved forward with my sword drawn.
We crept up the stairs until they stopped at a blank wall of solid rock.
“Why would a stairwell lead to nothing?” I asked.
“There must be another door.” Shalini shone her light over the stone. “There!” She pointed to a small, raised bump. “That looks like a button. See? I’m good at finding these things now.”
Carefully, I pressed the spot, and it clicked. What had looked like a stone wall began to swing outward.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
“I am.” I allowed the door to open only slightly and peered through the crack to see another corridor. “A hallway.” Slowly I pushed the door further open. In here, the floor was dusty, and cobwebs hung from a gilt-framed painting across from us, a portrait of a fae with jet black hair that glittered with jewels.
The stone passage was rough-hewn and grew narrower, as if built in a time when the fae were smaller. The hall led to yet another stairwell—cramped and winding up and up. I ventured slowly up the stairs with Shalini at my heels. The light from the phone barely illuminated the steps in front of me. They twisted round and round until I began to feel dizzy and claustrophobic, the dark walls seeming to close in on me.
We kept climbing, my thighs beginning to burn.
Just when I was tempted to pause and rest, we reached another door, this one made of wood, warped by time. I twisted a dusty doorknob, half expecting the door to be locked, but it turned easily, opening with a dull squeak.
I stared at a hidden tower room, and at the moonlight that streamed over a bed.
