Page 69 of Death of a Mortal

I ran back, now worried I’d been in the hallway too long. With a glance around I reached for the door once more and the same feelings of wrongness came back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Iwassupposed to be here, I told myself, fighting every instinct not to open the door.

My hand met the cold metal of the handle and my heart raced. With a gasp, I pushed the door open and the wrong feelings immediately ceased. I slipped in and closed the door behind me with a wave of relief.

Relief, until I saw the fireplace in the back with a roaring fire ablaze. Halden said it was an illusion but walking into a raging fire seemed like a questionable choice. I approached slowly, doubt creeping in that this was the way.

But as I got closer, I realized I felt no heat. A smile stretched across my face when I reached out a hand and felt nothing.

Illusion, indeed.

I placed a foot on the hearth and took a steadying breath. Even knowing the fire wasn’t real, my eye couldseea fire, and walking into it went against what my brain was telling me. So I closed my eyes and stepped in. Nothing but cool air.

I took a step, then two and opened my eyes. In front of me was a dimly lit staircase heading down. Behind me, the fire was still blazing.

A laugh escaped me at the brilliance and the simplicity. “Okay, Noxie, I’m in. All good up there on the outside?”

“All good out here.”

It would be nice to have someone to talk to while I was down here. And knowing I had an ally that could get to Nella if anything happened eased some of the tension I’d been feeling since I decided to take this late-night stroll through the creepiest part of the castle alone.

I descended the steps and apprehension replaced the temporary triumph. Things would be fine as long as I kept my ears open forany approaching fae, even though they would likely hear me before I heard them with their superior senses.

But I couldn’t dwell on that, couldn’t back out now. Not when I was so close.

The hallway I found myself in was lit by a row of torches along one wall. The gray stone covering the floor, walls, and ceiling gave the impression of an old cave.

It stretched on to my left and my right, with a door here and there that I quickly sketched on my makeshift map.

“Left or right, Noxie?”

“Which direction looks less like a fae could be hiding around the corner waiting to kill you?”

“Hmm, I think left.”

“Then go left.”

So to the right I went. And while it was a joke, I actually did need to be going toward cold, creepy, and black, not away.

I walked down the hallway, pausing occasionally to note a door here and there. Every slight noise sounded like footsteps, making my pulse race.

“If we all make it out of the capital alive, what would you do at the rebel camp?”Noxie asked.

“Well…I don’t know. I guess I would spend time with my mom, get some answers to the lifelong questions I’ve had. Maybe learn to fight with weapons. Sword fighting and archery sound useful. What would you do, Noxie?” I laughed.

“What’s funny? What is it?”

“Nothing, this just reminds me of a game Nella and I used to play.”

“Huh. Well, I would find myself a nice lady crow and settle down. Who knows, maybe even find my mate. Stop chasing you around on dangerous endeavors, saving your ass every other day.”

“Ha ha…”It was mildly annoying when aimed at me, but I had to admit I loved his sarcasm. “Do all animals have mates?”

I came to the end of the main hallway, a closed door sat both to my right and left. I noted them on the parchment and went throughthe one to the right. It opened into a similar hallway with lower ceilings and fewer torches.

“Most do. It’s more common for us than for fae—too many fate-altering things happen, like wars and conquests, magical accidents, and evil rulers. Those don’t affect the animals as much. Which is why it’s also increasingly uncommon now to have Familiar bonds.”

I hit another dead end. This one ended in a steep staircase heading up, but up was not the direction I needed to go, so I backtracked, trying a different door, this time finding yet another hallway, the same as the rest. How did anyone navigate down here?

What Noxie said about animal mates and Familiar bonds had me thinking.