‘I need to check,’ Nessa replied. Devin was unsure if he should let go of her hand. He was afraid that she would go running back toward the assassins to find Finn. ‘And I need my hand for that. I’m not going anywhere. Really. I need both hands to see where to go.’ Nessa must have felt his dilemma.
‘I know you can’t believe Finn would do this, but think about it. His mother has already tried to blackmail you into marrying him today. Sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,’ Devin said as he let go, hoping she wouldn’t bolt toward Finn’s direction. He was prepared to chase her if she did.
Nessa reached down into her boot and pulled out a gleaming dagger. It had the same unearthly glow as the cavern before, but at least her magic shielded it from the assassins. If not, they would have a nice beacon calling out their location in the semi-dark tunnels. Nessa took the blade and balanced it on her finger. She waited as it tipped left and right and began to move in a circle. The golden glow of the dagger made perfect circles as it spun, and the red stone in the hilt made a matching red line. Devin watched the spinning slow before it stopped.
‘That direction,’ Nessa said, pointing in the direction of the blade’s tip.
Devin nodded and hoped that it was meant to be read that way and not by the handle of the blade, otherwise they would be going the wrong direction.
Nessa must have felt his unease as she rolled her eyes at him. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
Sometimes, Devin wanted to add, but kept his mouth shut. Nessa was intelligent and knowledgeable in many areas, and completely lacking in others. She was a terrible judge of character, yet could skewer most she met easily in a one-on-one challenge. She was fiercely loyal, but that was also her downfall; she trusted too well. Some people shouldn’t be trusted. Finn shouldn’t be trusted, but Devin had no way to get that across to Nessa. She thought that Devin was being jealous, and maybe he was a little. But Devin also knew that there was something off with Finn. He wasn’t protecting Nessa in the cave when he should have been. Someone had to have told the assassins where to find Nessa. Devin was betting on Finn.
Devin took Nessa’s hand back in his own. He wasn’t letting her go to her own death just because she thought Finn was a good person. He was going to keep her safe, even if that meant from herself. They had to find her grandfather, and then Devin hoped, upon waking the old man, they would get some help. They were going to have a hard enough time getting to the sleeping sidhe. Devin hoped the old king was as powerful as they all said, as they would need his help on their way out.
CHAPTER 11
They continued their slow walk through the McKinny family crypt. Nessa held onto Devin’s hand as he led the way. His grip was comforting, but tight. And after each time she checked for the correct direction, he would immediately take her hand again. He was just protecting her, but it was a bit funny that he seemed to think he could just hold her there. She had fought with men twice his size before and won. She held on now, she needed him. Even if she wanted to go back, she couldn’t see the invisible assassins as well as Devin did. Nessa resigned herself to hoping Finn would be fine, and she could find him later- if they made it out alive.
Devin led the way through the crossing hallways. Nessa knew that behind each door was a specific family’s crypt where their dead love ones were stored for a final year of rest. Only direct blood descendants of family could access each crypt, and being related to many of the sidhe in the McKinny family, she could enter several of them. It would make sense to hide if they just needed to get away, but they needed to find grandfather and undo the bond. Nessa assumed that in the magic-free zones, the bond between her and Devin would break and protect him, but there was no guarantee. She could become more vulnerable and still hold his life on the line. Once grandfather was awake, no one would mess with them, and Devin could be free.
Every now and then Devin would stop, backtrack, and then lead her down another passageway. A few times Devin would stop and tell her to be quiet. She heard the light tap of feet passing, and knew another assassin had moved by. He caught each one and as they were progressing further into the tombs. Nessa held tight to Devin’s hand and took the strength he radiated. Even under a possible attack situation, where he was outnumbered by at least eight to one, he was still calm and doing exactly what they set out to do. It didn’t seem like much riled him up. His heart wasn’t even beating fast. He gave nothing away for the assassins to track. Devin was one extraordinary day human.
Through all their walking and hiding, Nessa didn’t once hear Finn. Had he been killed by those men? Would they kill him even if she were the target? He wasn’t even of the McKinny family. Maybe they would let him live. She had to keep thinking that, or she would have to admit she was a bad friend. Devin may not have believed Finn was a great person, but Nessa knew why. He didn’t like Finn because he was jealous. She could feel it through the bond. That was clouding his judgment. Devin didn’t know Finn like Nessa did. If he did, he would know Finn was the best of friends and could be trusted.
Devin paused as they made their way to a dead end. They had been following the blade of her grandfather, but they had to navigate the hallways. This wasn’t a good direction because they were at a solid wall.
‘Which way?’ Devin asked again.
Nessa had checked every ten minutes to be certain that they had been going in the right direction for the past hour. Nessa took her blade out and checked again. It pointed toward the dead end. Devin shook his head and led her back out of the hallway. They may have to go that direction, but there was no way to go there through the wall. They had to find a way around.
Nessa tried to keep quiet as Devin pushed her down suddenly. The air whooshed out of her as she hit the ground, and she bit her tongue to keep from grunting. Devin was on top of her and had her pinned. Something swung overhead and clanked against the wall. The invisible assassin passed and continued to clank as he went down the hallway, swinging some weapon to allow him to check the width of the hallway while walking. Nessa didn’t even have time to catch her breath after being knocked down. Devin grabbed Nessa and pulled her up.
‘Jump,’ he ordered, and she did.
Nessa could feel the wind of something whip beneath her feet. A second assassin was passing and sweeping the floor to catch them ducking from the first. The assassins were working as a team to try to flush Devin and Nessa out of the crypt. It seemed that the assassins didn’t know Devin saw through sidhe magic. Devin pulled her out of the hallway and down to the next one. He stopped at another dead end.
‘Inside,’ Nessa pointed to a family crypt door. She knew where they were now, even after all their turns and twists through the crypt.
‘Locked,’ Devin replied. She had seen him try handles to doors periodically, looking for shortcuts.
‘This one I can enter,’ she answered before pulling open the door.
Devin followed her in and scanned the room for magically hidden sidhe. No one was inside. Nessa pulled the doorway shut. She didn’t want to turn around. She knew exactly who was laid to rest on the slab of marble in the middle of the room. He would be perfectly persevered in death to look just as he had in life. It would be a year before Rhys’ name would be added to the tombs that lined the wall. Right now his perfect blond hair would be styled, and he would look like he was just sleeping. The sidhe preserved their own in death to be able to take their time saying good-bye. Nessa knew that Rhys would be there as she had come down to the same room before to see her father after he passed. It was a strange practice to the rest of the world, but it was a comfort to them. It allowed them to take their time grieving, and say good-bye on their own terms. She never got that closure with her grandfather, as he was in the Hall of the Living, if she even knew where that was. He wasn’t on display, and one day he just vanished from her life. She thought she’d never get over it, but then again she never imagined she would be there right now trying to find him to wake him, either.
Devin came up behind he
r and slid his arms around her. He could feel exactly what she was thinking through the bond. Nessa was comforted by him, but still could not turn around.
‘I didn’t know,’ Devin replied quietly in her mind.
‘It is sidhe tradition. And only family can enter a crypt. That’s why I was able to.’ Nessa continued to look at the doorway. She refused to turn and look at her dead brother, the same brother that tried to kill Arianna, the same brother that didn’t care that he was going to kill Nessa.
‘Let’s look again for the correct direction. It was pointing to the wall outside this room, but it was more at the corner of the wall. Maybe it meant somewhere in here,’ Devin said. Something made him more hopeful, and Nessa had to agree with him.
She pulled out the knife she had hastily stuck in her boot after he tackled her only moments before. She held it up on her finger and let it spin. The gold-lined blade of her grandfather pointed behind her, toward where Rhys was lying. She didn’t turn to see exactly where it was pointing, and instead busied herself with putting the blade away. Nessa was trying to pretend she wasn’t in a ten-foot-by-ten-foot room with her dead brother, the one she killed. It wasn’t working. He was there.
‘I think we found our entrance,’ Devin said, pulling her out of unsuccessfully trying to block her brother from her mind.
Keeping her head in his chest, Devin ushered her past her brother’s body. Leaving her where she stood, with her eyes shut, he moved behind her again, now blocking her from the view of Rhys and the doorway behind them. Nessa wanted to know what he meant, but still could not force herself to open her eyes. Devin loosened his grip around her and gently turned her in his arms, shielding her in the process. He was tall enough that she could not see over his shoulders as he blocked her sight as she turned. Devin pointed at the wall. There was nothing there at all, just a solid cave wall.
‘I think you might have hit your head back there,’ Nessa commented, but she didn’t turn back to look at him as she talked. She might accidentally see Rhys.
‘Look again,’ Devin pointed again, this time to each side of the wall.
Columns lined the wall and it was no different than the others. The whole tomb had columns about every five feet. That was a common design Nessa had seen in most of the tomb rooms. Nothing special. Between those columns would be where the final resting place for her family would be carved out. Inside would be the dust remains of everyone in her family. The back wall was already filled with holes and resting relatives. In fact, not even two columns over was an empty hole. Nessa was sure that this was for her brother. Nessa looked back at the two columns Devin was pointing at, fancy carved pillars and nothing made them a doorway.
‘Lions,’ Devin said, and Nessa saw immediately what he meant.
All the columns were different but at the same time similar. They contained elaborate etchings from base to top. While grossly exaggerated, Devin was correct. Elongated lions made up the bottom two feet of the carvings of those two particular columns. Nessa looked to the other columns in her view and noticed they didn’t having lions. It was only the ones in front of them. Additionally, those two columns were the only ones in the room that didn’t have resting places carved into the wall. Devin had found it. The two columns in front of them were more than likely the doorway into where they needed to go.
‘And a hidden magic-free zone,’ Nessa replied. ‘What should we do?’
‘While I appreciate your magic keeping us safe, I have lived a magic-free life and am still alive. Time to go meet some assassins on fair ground for a change,’ Devin replied with no hesitation at all.
Nessa heard the scraping of metal as Devin pulled free his blades. If it was magic-free, he was correct, they would have to rely on training. Nessa was unsure of what they would find behind the doorway. Would the assassins attack right away? She took the large sword from her back and matched Devin’s stance.
Devin was radiating strength and happiness. He lived for battle, and Nessa couldn’t blame him. She knew herself what a rush it was to fight, but she had never had something in her life to truly fight for before. She felt a bit hesitant. Crossing that barrier could mean fighting without her sidhe spells, and she was unsure how strong she was without them. She needed to be strong to keep Devin safe. This battle would mean much more now that she felt the need to protect Devin. She was no longer alone.
Devin walked through the space between the columns slowly first and paused protectively, not giving enough room for Nessa to enter. He scanned the large room before stepping further forward. Nessa came in right behind him, when he finally gave her room. Across the room were five raised marble platforms made of a white swirled color that made them distinctly stand out in the dark cavern. The cave had no lights lit in it, but there was a dim light coming off the slabs that illuminated the whole cavern. Only one of the five slabs had a body placed on it. The body lay on the middle slab, with no protection from the cave or anyone that entered. Devin was shocked to find Nessa’s grandfather out in the open. No wonder they needed assassins to protect the sidhe sleeping. They were, for the most part, exposed to anything done by anyone who could enter. With the crypt being locked for family only, it was limited to family entering, but Devin already saw how family meant little more than nothing to the sidhe. Rhys had killed his own father to get to power, and didn’t even try to stop the spell that he knew would kill his only sister.
Devin cautiously walked away from the wall and out into the open room. The cave was at least a hundred yards across and the slabs were clear across the room. There was nothing in front of them in the large cavern beyond the marble beds. Devin didn’t see a single person, not even an assassin. With their backs to the wall, they were partially protected if you expected no one else to enter the crypt. Nessa’s only other family that could enter were up above in the palace, at her trial without her. Devin didn’t worry about that entrance. He was more concerned about the other doors leading into the other rooms. He saw the column marking at least a half dozen more doors around the cave. He was unsure how anyone entered those ways.
‘Stay close,’ Devin told Nessa, allowing her to pass him and walk forward.
Devin watched from behind as she walked, noting all the possible ways in and out of the room. There were close to half a dozen, but he couldn’t see beyond the marble beds. Their glow was too strong to see the wall behind them. There could be more ways in. Devin glanced back at the direction they were walking and found that the five marble slabs would make a good ambush point if someone were hiding in the shadows. He touched Nessa’s shoulder as they got closer, and she stopped. He stepped past her and cautiously walked around the elaborate beds, swords drawn. There was nothing behind the beds either. No extra people and no assassins. They were completely alone in the room. Devin gave one last glance around and stopped. He noticed the fuzz of magic in one of the corners of the room over near where they entered.
‘Try something simple and discreet,’ Devin told Nessa. The lions had stripped her magic and made them visible, but Devin was unsure when she could use her magic again.
Nessa looked up at him and shook her head no. She had tried something to no avail. Devin motioned for her to approach her grandfather while he watched the room. He was sure he saw magic. In fact, it looked like someone was using an invisible spell, but if Nessa could not use her magic then who was the person Devin saw? It couldn’t be someone following them. It had to be someone new.
Devin looked back and saw the shape had moved, but had not moved closer. They were using some sort of magic, even if Nessa could not. Devin wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw another one. They had to be the assassins, but why were assassins in the room, but not attacking? The only reason he could hope was that they were on Nessa’s side, not that they were just waiting. She’d need them, especially after he left.
Nessa walked over to her grandfather. The old man was draped in a white, translucent cloth that Devin hadn’t seen from across the room. Devin had a hard time guess
ing the old sidhe’s age as the cloth hid the little details like wrinkles. He was dressed as ornately as a king would have been, and long white hair cascaded down onto his pillow beneath his head. The kingly sidhe didn’t move as if to breathe, but was perfectly still. Nessa’s hand hovered over her grandfather, but she didn’t touch him. Devin had no doubts that this was the only sidhe she cared this much for.
‘Can you read it?’ Devin asked of the strange writing on side of the platform, pulling Nessa out of her stare at the old man.
Nessa bent down and ran her hand along the words. She had had eyes only for her grandfather and had not noticed the writing before. The words glowed a bit brighter at her touch, and it was easier for Devin to see that it wasn’t a language he understood. Devin waited for her to read the two lines. Nessa nodded before looking at her grandfather.
‘Bring me life, then, bring me blood of day and night.’ Nessa looked at it again. She shook her head. ‘That’s all it says.’
‘Simple instructions, or a riddle?’ Devin asked, wary of the sidhe that were still watching.
The sidhe were tricky people. They were deceptive in every aspect of their lives, yet Nessa was not. She wasn’t the normal sidhe. If the message was left for her, it might just be easy instructions, yet Devin knew nothing about the sidhe king to know if he left the note as a riddle or not.
Nessa shrugged. ‘If we give it a try, we’ll know if it’s simple or not.’
Devin questioned her with his eyes. Nothing in the night world was ever simple. It was likely to make them think it would be easy. If it were a trap, simple might not work. Nessa didn’t seem to care, or maybe she just had more faith that her grandfather would be ready for her.
Nessa reached up to her grandfather and hesitated to touch him. She touched the soft translucent fabric, but not him, and she paused again. She was staring hard at the old man. Devin didn’t intrude in her mind to know what she was thinking, but he could sense the love, confusion, and sadness she felt at seeing her grandfather laying there. Devin moved around the marble bed and took the other side of the soft fabric. He waited for her to look up before he nodded to her. Together they folded the fabric back gracefully to expose the old king.