“After most of the fort was destroyed in a demon attack,” she continued, “the decision was made to make this room disappear. Mryddin and loyalist Chens were called in to push the entire building deep underground. Mryddin then constructed a tunnel none but the king or his heirs could find or open.”
“Was the shield a part of all that?”
“It would certainly explain why it is so much smaller than the shields in use at that time,” Luc commented.
I looked around the room again. “There’s no indication of a tunnel entrance now.”
“No,” Mo said. “But it would explain why Mryddin insisted Aldred build a castle on this spot.”
“His original castle wasn’t here?”
“It was in Winchester,” Luc said.
Which was why it was also the ancient seat of the Blackbirds—as the witch king’s guardians, they basically had to be where the king was.
“Do you know if Aldred used this map at all?” I asked.
“He could have, but Mryddin was his advisor, not me.” A smile twisted Mo’s lips. “I was relatively young in mage terms at the time, and neither man liked taking direction or advice from any woman, let alone a young one.”
“More fool them,” Luc commented. “But if Aldred did make use of this map, it’s all the more unfathomable it was then locked away and forgotten.”
“All magic has its costs,” Mo said. “Perhaps it was decided the cost of this room was too great.”
“Then why keep the map active?” I asked. “That makes no sense.”
“As I have said many times, Mryddin’s actions often made little sense to us mere mortals.”
I gave her the look. “You’re hardly a mere mortal.”
“Well, no, but I am certainly closer to it than he ever was. I mean, he is half incubus.”
“I daresay the answers to all our questions will be in these scrolls somewhere,” Luc said. “They seem to have kept a studious record of things.”
“Perhaps if we all took a pile …” I stopped as an odd sort of awareness vibrated across my skin and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Something stirred …
I swallowed heavily and looked around. “Did you feel that?”
Mo’s gaze sharpened. “Feel what?”
“That vibration …”
“Define vibration,” Mo said. “Magical or physical?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I swept my gaze across the walls. Nothing appeared to have changed, but the vibration caressing my skin was strong enough now that my whole body tingled. Then a flicker of movement caught my attention.
I walked across to the southern end of the room. “Mo, where’s Lindum?”
“That’s Lincoln—why?”
“Because the rune there is now flashing.” Though the nearby demon or dark elf drawings weren’t glowing in any way.
She hurried across. “I’m not liking the look of that, and I certainly don’t like the fact that you felt the magic activate.”
“It really isn’t that surprising, given both the shield and the two damn doors reacted to me.” I pointed at the flashing rune. “Do you think it’s worth flying over there to uncover what, exactly, is happening?”
“I think we’ll have to.” She eyed me critically. “You up to that? Or do you want a boost?”
I held up a hand. “I’m fine. Tired, but fine.”
“Which definitely should not be the case, given the forces you tapped up there.”
I frowned. “You sensed that?”
“I’m a mage. I sense many things.”
“If I were you, I’d be saying something along the lines of ‘and yet you have so very little sense’ right about now.”
She laughed and lightly pushed me toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll stay here and keep going through the scrolls,” Luc said. “It’s not like I can come with you anyway.”
I frowned at him. “We can’t leave the chapel door open, and I’d rather not lock you in here just in case something happens to me.”
“I’ll follow you up and conceal the open door,” he said. “No one will be able to tell the difference between the real wall and the fake. But I would nevertheless appreciate you coming back in one piece. We still need—”
“To have sex?” I cut in hopefully.
“Eventually, yes, but that’s not where I was going.”
“That makes me sad.”
“It makes me even sadder,” Mo said, her expression sorrowful. “Have I not mentioned my need for grandchildren?”
“Multiple times,” he said dryly. “And you already have two, dear woman, so there is no rush. But I was referring to the need to shadow Elysian in the gray.”
Mo patted my arm. “Better luck another day, my dear. Come along.”
I rolled my eyes and followed her back up the circular stairs. Once we were through the top door and back in the old chapel, I grabbed Luc’s shirt, hauled him close, and then kissed him. Because I wanted to. Because I needed to.
He slipped his arm around my waist, then pulled me hard into the steel of his body. Our kiss was fire and passion, need and desire, an affirmation and a promise. It made me hunger not just for him, but for time itself.
Time to get to know him better.
Time to explore all that could lie between us.
That time, however, was not now.
I sighed regretfully and stepped back. He cupped my cheek with one hand and brushed a thumb across my lips. It felt like he was branding me. “Come back in one piece.”
“Oh, after a kiss like that, you can bet I will. The sad fact is, you’re stuck with me now.”
Warmth and caring spun through his eyes. “I can think of worse fates.”
“Such a romantic thing to say,” Mo said, voice dry. “Can we move on now?”
I grinned and motioned her on. She shifted shape but didn’t head out the door, instead arrowing through the vent.
I shifted and followed, tucking my wings in close as I went through the vent. I nevertheless felt the scrape of stone along my body before I was free and climbing skyward again. The night sky had cleared while we’d been underground, and the breeze chased our tails, making flying faster and easier. It nevertheless took us too long to get to our destination and, as we arrowed down, I couldn’t help but wonder if there’d be anything left to discover.
As it turned out, there was.
Bodies.
Seven of them, in fact.
We rode the wind for several minutes, circling the area and looking for demon activity or traps. A series of lakes stretched out below us, with heavily treed land bridges linking the six larger islands together. The bodies lay on one of the unlinked islands. Its shoreline was ringed with thick stands of trees, and a small clearing lay in the middle. In the center of that was a rock-topped mound I presumed was the gate. There was no sign of magic or movement anywhere on the island.
If this wasn’t a trap, why were the bodies there?
Granted, demons considered human flesh a delicacy, but major hunts were rare these days. If these bodies were the result of such a hunt, why not immediately take them through the gate? Discovery might be unlikely thanks to the fact the island was only reachable by boat, but it was nevertheless odd behavior for them.