Page 40 of Gilded Curses
At first, Sahira was irritated by the woman’s “so we settled for you” comment, but she couldn’t stop laughing at the woman’s final words. “No one has any control over Orin. No one.”
“Some influence then.” Alda couldn’t keep the hopeful tone from her voice.
Sahira had about as much influence as the moon over Orin, but she kept that to herself. They might stop talking to her if she said so. “What do you want him to do?”
“Find the stones and destroy them,” Clive said. “If he destroys the stones, he’ll ruin the spell, and we can finally be free.”
From what she knew of the dagadon, having them roaming the realms might not be such a good idea, but if they didn’t do something soon, she and all her friends would die. She didn’t doubt it.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t trust these beings; they had to find the stones and break the spell. If all went well, they’d also take out many of these monsters before leaving here.
“Do you know where the stones are?” she asked.
All three of them shook their heads.
“How do you expect us to do anything without some insight into where to start?”
“They can’t be in the castle,” Aurora said. “I’ve been inside every room and know every nook and cranny; they can’t be there.”
“So have I,” Alda said, “and I agree.”
“And what about hidden passages, such as the ones your ancestors created in the towns? We weren’t given any hints about their existence?” Sahira demanded. “What did they expect to happen if Orin and I didn’t know about the one in the pub?”
“I’m sure they planned to take bets on if you would continue into oblivion, stay there and die, or come up with another option,” Clive said. “There is no other way into Epoch as all the hidden rooms filter into what was once a cave. The tunnel you walked through, and the town, were all part of the cave.”
“More bets.” Sahira pinched the bridge of her nose. “Could there be hidden passages in the castle?”
Aurora bit her bottom lip as she pondered this, but the woman couldn’t be so stubborn, or stupid, as to deny the possibility. “Yes,” she finally admitted.
“Fantastic,” Sahira said. “Because we didn’t find the one that brought us here; Radagast did. Without him, we wouldn’t have known it existed. Which means there could be any number of passages in the castle that we’re supposed to wander around trying to find.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“The dark fae can hide in the shadows,” Aurora said as if Sahira were stupid.
“Yes, but if he’s wandering around in the shadows searching for hidden doors and finds them, then he might alert someone to his presence. And without a place to start the search, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“You have a place, the castle.”
It would take a miracle for Sahira to walk away without punching Aurora tonight. “That’s the fucking haystack,” she bit out through her teeth.
“He’ll have to make sure no one is around while he’s exploring.”
“Such a simple answer from a simple girl,” Sahira retorted. “Because there aren’t guards, servants, and Elites crawling all over that place.”
Aurora’s face reddened as they glowered at each other. “You made it out.”
“I made it past two guards. Who knows how many are still in that castle because they are very aware of what Orin can do.”
Clive rested his hand on Aurora’s shoulder and pulled her back a step as he spoke to Sahira. She relaxed a little but still scowled at Sahira, who chose to ignore her.
“I know it sounds daunting and impossible, but it’s the only hope we have,” Clive said.
“What if the stones aren’t in the castle?” Sahira asked. “This is a vast land. Is he supposed to search the whole thing before they toss us in the dungeon, feed us to the dogs, or send the scarogs after us?”
“He’s the only hope we have,” Alda whispered. “Your arrival is the first thing that’s changed in this realm in thousands of years. That has to mean something; you must be able to help. We can’t keep living like this.”
Neither could she, but Sahira didn’t point that out, especially since her life expectancy was probably far shorter than theirs in this place.
