Page 67 of Death of a Mortal

“Hey, Moe, Ott. Can you come over here for a minute?”

They both looked over at me, curious, before walking our way, each with a small towel in hand.

“Hello, girls, what can we help you with?”

“Well…” I put on my best shy look. “I have a…crush on someone, and I wondered if you knew of any private place we could meet. In secret. Surely you know of somewhere hidden, like a secret passageway or something?” I added a small smile for effect.

Nella raised her eyebrows at me. Clearly not what she had been expecting.

It was a feeble segue in, but I figured it was juicy enough to grab the ladies’ attention at least.

“A crush, huh? And who’s the lucky boy?” Ott waggled her eyebrows at me. “It wouldn’t be a certain prince you’ve been seen around with, would it?”

That was a snag I hadn’t foreseen. Her tone made me uneasy, as if it were tinged with resentment or bitterness.

“Oh, um…”

“Ohhhh, it’s someoneelse. You’re sneaking around with two people,” Moe interjected.

“No, not…not two.” This wasn’t going well. I was growing more uneasy with each passing second. I would give the lie away if I couldn’t get it together.

Nella huffed out a breath. “It’s me she’s asking for. I was just too embarrassed to ask myself. I’ve been seeing Halden, and we thought we might like some…privacy.”

The embarrassment was apparent on her face, but she had gotten us back on track. Thank the gods for her quick thinking.

“Oh, how sweet, Moe! That little cook boy in the kitchen. Ah, young love.” Ott stared off into the distance with a smile. “I remember those days. I used to sneak down into the tunnels when I was your age with…what’s his name, Moe? You remember the gardener boy we all swooned over?”

“Geoff. You stole him from me.”

Moe crossed her arms and didn’t look too pleased to be discussing this topic. But at least Ott had the decency to look ashamed.

“Come now, we were kids,” said Ott, waving a hand, trying to move the conversation along.

Which I appreciated. We were getting close to some potentially good information if Ott had been down in the tunnels. And I honestly didn’t give a damn about their love triangle from decades ago.

“As I said, we used to sneak out and make use of the secret tunnels to...well, you can imagine.”

Moe rolled her eyes.

“Secret tunnels? That sounds perfect,” I said. “Are they always empty? Are there ever any guards or fae or anyone down there?”

Ott’s face turned sour at my question. “Not usually. But, one night, while we were down there, a few fae came. That had never happened before. We tried to run when we heard them, and I made it back to the kitchen, but Geoff wasn’t so lucky…”

My heart twisted at the sadness in her voice.

“What happened to him?” Nella asked delicately.

“He was never seen again. Killed by the fae, most likely, just for being down there.” She sniffled and dabbed at the corner of her eye with the end of her apron over her uniform.

“But why were the fae down there that night?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I only heard a bit of what they were saying before I ran for my life. Said something about ‘the new prisoners,’ and they came from a part of the passageways that we’d never been to. That area felt…creepy. And dark. And too cold.”

“Could you tell us where this area was? So Nella can avoid it, obviously…”

Nella looked at me with amusement in her eyes.

“I couldn’t say exactly, but it was different than the rest of the tunnels. Most areas I saw were the same gray stone as the castle, lit up with torches here and there. But this new part was dark and made of black stone. I would be careful, darlings. No boy is worth your life.” Ott looked gravely from Nella to me.