by James Tate
This made me sit up slightly, despite the loss of warmth from Zan's body. "Where's the entrance?"
Lee grimaced. "Well, that's what I haven't been able to work out. It said that there was an internal staircase from within the sanctuary—here somewhere—but I haven't been able to find where that is. Or how we access it." He looked to the two of us. "Any ideas?"
Excited, I shoved the blankets off my lap and stood up to look around, and Zan reluctantly did the same.
"I'd guess there is a lever or door or something hidden in one of the walls," I pondered aloud as I headed for the nearest wall. "Rich people love hiding doorways in walls. They think it's so smart and that no one would ever think to check there, but I think almost every single aristocrat I’ve robbed has had hidden vaults or doorways in walls." I rolled my eyes at memories of my thieving days. How convenient that knowledge was to me now.
I trailed my fingertips over the wall, pushing at any part that seemed out of place, twisting and tugging on the elaborate lantern sconces, and even pushing the nose of a cat statue.
"Hey, like this?" Zan called out from the opposite side of the room. "It's not a door or anything, but it was hidden, so that has to mean it’s important, right?"
Lee and I hurried over to inspect the hidden compartment Zan had found. He was right; it definitely wasn't a door or a stairwell. It was only about half a thumb length in both height and width, but a small flap folded in when pressed.
"Curious," Lee muttered, sticking his finger inside the flap before anyone could stop him. "Ouch!"
Hissing, he yanked his finger back out and stuck it in his mouth. "There's something sharp in there," he informed us, after inspecting the tip of his finger and healing it up.
"Even curiouser," I said softly, peering at the hole. It had been hidden behind a wall panel so it was definitely intentional. "Why hide a hole with a needle in it? How could that..." I trailed off as I thought out the problem.
"You try it," Zan suggested, indicating for me to stick my finger in the hole.
"Excuse me?" I replied with a frown. "Lee just pricked himself on—Oh... I see."
Following his train of thought—and reassured by the warm tingle in my mark—I put my own finger inside the hole and felt the sharp sting of a needle pierce my flesh. If Ophelia had built this secret basement and this flap with a needle was part of it, then just maybe...
The sound of gears clicking and shifting echoed through the room, and all three of us startled at the unexpected noise.
"She keyed the entry to her blood," I observed, staring in awe as the floor behind us opened up seamlessly and revealed a narrow set of stairs leading down. "Smart lady."
"Very," Lee agreed, peering down the stairs into the darkness. "Maybe I should go first."
Zan snickered a laugh. "In case a monster has been lurking down there for twenty years, just waiting for its next meal?"
Lee gave his older brother a flat stare. "In case she set booby traps or something."
I tried not to laugh because it was unbelievably sweet that Lee was willing to risk booby traps for me. But I was almost entirely certain it was safe—not only for the fact that Ophelia had keyed the opening to her own blood, but for the reassuring tingle in my mark again.
"It's fine," I interjected before Zan could reply and spark an argument. We were all still a bit on edge and not falling comfortably into this love... square... thing. It was probably a good thing I hadn't told Ty or Lee about the fight Zan and I had had prior to the battle in Ironforge. "Lee, if you're happy to go first, then I'd appreciate that."
Lee gave Zan a triumphant smirk, then made his way slowly down the narrow staircase into the darkness. We waited a few moments, but he quickly called back up to us that it was safe to come down.
"Of course it is," Zan muttered under his breath, but he shut up when I scowled in his direction.
We were just about to follow Lee down into the basement when the front door of the sanctuary creaked open, and a broad, dark-cloaked figure slipped inside.
"Hey, you're here," Ty observed, then immediately looked at the hole in the floor that hadn't been there any other time he'd visited the sanctuary. "Uh, please tell me you're not all investigating a super secret basement without me?"
My cheeks heated, and I shot an accusing look to Zan. I would have blamed Lee, but he was down in the dark hole below us, so couldn't take responsibility. Damn him.
"Course not, brother," Zan lied, clapping Ty on the shoulder. "Zarina and I were just standing here discussing how we should wait for you."
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing at the obvious bullshit but lost my composure when Lee called up out of the basement. "No, they weren't! They were about to bring me a light. I can't see shit down here." His words were followed by a bump and his muffled curse.
Ty glared at Zan, and I quickly made my way down the steep stairs to join Lee before I could be blamed for Zan's lie.
"Holy shit, it is dark," I commented feeling forward with my fingers so I didn't walk into anything.
Lee shifted somewhere in front of me—or I hoped it was Lee—and I made my way in that direction.
"Told you it was," he responded as my searching fingers found his sleeve and grasped on. "Actually, maybe we don't need a light after all." His hands found my waist, and with just a little bit of fumbling, his lips found my mouth.
It was a powerful thing, removing one of my senses. All of the remaining ones seemed to heighten, so when Lee kissed me in the near pitch blackness, I was totally focused on touch. The soft brush of his lips, the warmth of his tongue, the tingling, addictive shudders of arousal that rolled through me.
I let out a breathy sigh between kisses, threading my fingers up into the back of his blond hair and pulling him closer.
"Cut it out, you two," Ty barked from close behind me, and I almost jumped right out of Lee's arms. Almost. He had a firm grip on my waist and didn't seem to be inclined to let go yet.
Blinking, my eyes adjusted to the golden light cast by Ty's lantern.
"Wow. This is... a lot of stuff," I commented, looking around us and gently stepping out of Lee's embrace. All around us, shelves upon shelves were stacked with books, objects, and jewels.
A tingling wave rolled over me, and I rubbed my arms when gooseflesh formed.
"Did you guys feel that?" I asked, glancing to my three princely companions.
"Hard to miss it," Zan replied, his serious gaze scanning over the shelves. "Every single item in here seems to be holding way more magic than it should be. Or maybe it just feels that way because there are so many artifacts all together?"
"Explains where all the legendary treasures of Teich disappeared to," Lee murmured, picking up a heavy golden necklace and inspecting it. "Everyone thought the royal vault was raided by whoever killed Ophelia—by our father. But it looks like she moved them here herself."
I nodded, casting my mind back to what she'd said in that small time we'd had together inside the vision. "She was so relieved when I said the sanctuary was still standing. So she had to have started doing this before she bespelled the crown with that vision for me... which makes me wonder how long she'd known she was going to die. And why the hell she couldn't stop it."
No one had an answer to that. No one except Titus, I suspected.
Chapter 16
Hours after discovering my mother’s secret vault of treasures, I couldn't stop my mind from whirling. Jules had been moved into a new suite of rooms with Greenjoy—who'd gained a rapid promotion—so I was all alone in my room, tossing and turning in my bed.
There were so many unanswered questions surrounding my mother's murder. Why hadn't she alerted anyone if she'd known danger was coming? Why did she feel the need to hide all those artifacts and jewels? More importantly, and really the number one question plaguing my mind and driving sleep away... where the hell was Sal?
All these other gods and goddesses—Aana, Rayventh, Gewalt… whoever the fuck the red-loving
creep was—had shown up from nowhere. One of them had mentioned that some protection I'd had had worn off and that they were no longer bound.
Barmzig had said their race existed on another realm, so the fact that they were all appearing now told me they suddenly had free access to our world again.
Because of the land’s magic being so unstable? Possibly.
"Ugh!" I screamed into the emptiness of my room and punched my pillow. "This is stupid." If there was one place in this whole palace that I might get answers, it was Ophelia's hidden vault.
Giving up on sleep, I dragged a thin robe over my nightgown and slipped out of my room.
The whole palace was quiet. According to Ty, the party in the main hall had finally died down after the natural rain had fallen earlier. Something about it had sobered everyone up, and they'd drifted back to their rooms or homes as if in a trance.
As a result, there was no one around to see me creeping silently through the dark halls and out into the gardens.
At some stage in the evening, the weather had taken a bitter turn, and I was trembling with cold as I hurried down the stone path toward the sanctuary. By the time I’d slipped inside, my toes were so freezing they hurt, and my nipples were harder than granite through the flimsy gauze of my sleepwear.
To my surprise, several lanterns were glowing inside, despite the fact that we'd turned them all off when we left before bed.
"Lee?" I called out, recognizing the blond head bent over the small table. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
At the sound of my voice, he looked up and smiled with genuine warmth.
"I slept all afternoon, remember?" he replied, beckoning me closer to him. "I thought I'd do some reading on this third trial, see what I could find that might help you."
He indicated to the book he'd been hunched over, and as I drifted closer I could see it was old—way older than anything I'd seen available in the palace library when we'd been there with Zan.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, leaning over his shoulder to peer at the book. "I thought there were no records of the third trial."
"I stole it from my father’s room," Lee admitted, and even with the dim lighting, I could see him blush. "He relocated every text that so much as mentioned magic there not long after we moved into the palace. At the time, we didn't think much of it. We assumed he was just doing his best to take the place of a great and powerful queen." He grimaced. "Obviously we didn't quite understand the lengths he was going to for that task. Anyway, I saw an opportunity tonight, so I grabbed this." He tapped a finger against the book.
"And? Anything useful?"
Lee sighed, wrapping an arm around my waist and tugging me down to sit in his lap. "No. Sorry, love." He looked genuinely disappointed. "I was really hoping I could find something. Help in some way."
"Are you kidding me?" I asked, shocked. I shifted in his lap so that my knees were on either side of his waist, his face clasped between my hands. "Lee, you've done so damn much lately I'm amazed you're still functioning, let alone trying to do more."
He gave a weak smile, but I could tell he didn't believe it. "It's just... this week, with everything riding on this trial and the Golden Ball. Ty has been making contact with his military friends in other kingdoms, building support. Sagen secured you the backing of her homeland. Zan… well, Zan acts like he has nothing going on except shadowing you, but he's been sending out personal invitations to several other kingdoms to ensure they attend the Golden Ball. I'm just really regretting spending all my time in the garden growing flowers while my brothers were forging important political alliances in preparation for the day that one of them succeeded Father."
My heart ached for my gentle-souled prince. "Lee, you're too hard on yourself. If you hadn't spent all that time growing flowers, then you probably wouldn't be so strong in your healing magic."
His brow dipped as he acknowledged the truth to this. "I guess."
"And those two—and Sagen—have enough friends in high places between them. If we make it to the ball, we'll be fine. Hell, we'll be fine without any support at all, now that we've discovered Ophelia's stash." I gave him a smile, encouraging him to look on the bright side.
"Makes you wonder how she got killed in the first place, doesn't it?" He voiced one of the many thoughts that had been keeping me awake.
I nodded, thinking about all the magic stored in the room below us and how Ophelia had been killed by an ordinary, mortal blade. Had she just been too drained?
"I hope we can find out somehow," I admitted, feeling sorrow for the mother I had no memory of. "Even if it means pinning your father to a board and carving answers from his flesh."
Lee's brows shot up. "That was dark."
"Sorry." I immediately felt bad for saying that.
Lee shook his head. "No apologies needed. If it comes to it, I'll gladly help you. But who knows what answers we might find in the vault? Personally, I'm hoping for a very convenient journal."
I laughed, but he was right. That would answer a lot of our questions.
"So what can I do now?" he asked, reaching up to stroke my hair back from my face. "I feel useless, and I can’t sit around hoping someone gets hurt just so I have something to do."
"Uh, yeah, please don't." I gave a small laugh. "I think we've all taken our fair share of injuries to last us a while. And Ty still has that thing..." I indicated to my chest, where Ty still carried the remains of Taipanus's vile magical dagger. Except that gesture drew Lee's attention to my significant lack of clothes and just how much the change in weather was affecting me.
"Zarina, love," he murmured, his gaze low as he trailed his fingers from my hair down my chest and brushed them ever so teasingly over my erect nipples. "Did you forget to put clothes on before leaving your room?"
I bit my lip, fighting back a girly grin. "What do you mean? These are clothes."
Lee arched a brow at me in such a mock serious way that I almost laughed. "These are not clothes."
"Are too," I replied with a smug smile, "They're bed clothes."
"Ah, and herein lies the issue," he pointed out, "because I see no beds in this room."
I gasped dramatically, looking around us. "You're right. Probably best to just... take them off?"
Lee nodded, his eyes wide with seriousness. "Absolutely. I see no other sensible course of action here."
Laughing, I sat up on my knees just long enough to hitch my nightgown up, then tugged the whole thing over my head and tossed it aside. Underneath I was totally naked, so when I sat back down on Lee's lap, there was nothing between us except his own clothing.
Palming my breasts with his hands, he groaned a pained sound. "How are you so perfect?"
I shook my head, shivering with desire as he toyed with my nipples. "Far from it."
"Mmm," he replied with a hum, lowering his face to take one of my hard peaks in his mouth and sucking until I was panting with need. "I guess you're just perfect for me, then," he whispered. The look in his eyes as he gazed up at me was open and vulnerable, pure adoration and desire. It was intoxicating, and I could scarcely get enough.
"Gods, Lee," I murmured, cupping his face with my hands and kissing him desperately. "One of us is wearing too many clothes, my prince," I informed him when we parted, our heavy breaths mingling. "I'll give you a hint. It's not me."
Smiling at my sass, he lifted me with strong hands on my waist and placed me down gently on the couch so he could stand up and strip.
Lying there with my back against a pillow and the soft velvet caressing my naked body, I couldn't help but feel like the luckiest damn girl in the world. The soft lantern light highlighted all of his smooth muscles, and when his pants came off, I was damn near salivating with excitement.
"Come here," I invited him, holding my hand out when he hesitated a moment. "We started something last week in that barn that I'd really, really love to finish."
A sly smile slid over his lips as he came closer. Planting a knee on the couch, h
e encouraged me to lie back further as he leaned in for a kiss. "That barn, and my moronic brother’s impeccable timing, has replayed through my mind a hundred thousand times since then." His words were husky and deep, dripping with need.
I shifted my ass down a bit further, making space on the perfectly sized couch so that Lee could join me. And when I called it perfectly sized, I meant perfectly sized so that he had no other option but to hover above me, all of his warm skin just inches from mine.
"Then I suggest we pick up exactly where we left off," I whispered, trailing my hands all over his body. My desire to touch him was like a junkie craving her drug of choice. Utterly insatiable.
Lee held his weight aloft but peppered kisses on my lips, my neck, my chest... "And where did we leave off, Zarina my love?"
I hitched a leg up around his hips, pulling him closer while I reached down and took hold of his erection. In an easy shift, I brought him to my aching center and situated us just right.
"I believe we were right here," I replied in a breathy sigh. "If Ty hadn't burst in and interrupted..."
Lee let out a groan, pushing forward with his hips and sinking into my depths. It was a slow yet purposeful move that saw him fully sheathed inside me, pushing a small whimper of ecstasy from my throat.
"If he hadn't interrupted," Lee whispered, sounding hoarse, "this could have happened."
I was incapable of any more coherent response than a long moan as he withdrew halfway and pushed back in again, then repeated the movement several more times as he worked the line of my neck with hot, open-mouthed kisses.
"Luckily we found the time to make up for it then," I finally managed to say, then hooked my ankles behind him and flipped us both over using a conveniently repurposed combat move. "Oh fuck yes," I gasped as the new position—me on top—saw his hard length hit me in just the right place.
It was apparently Lee's turn to end up speechless as I rode him, his hands alternating between playing with my bouncing tits and grasping my waist to slow or increase the pace at which I was grinding up and down.
