Page 134 of Reaper’s Curse

“The lock is stubborn. I don’t think we’ll be able to get it open.” He stood and squared his shoulders. “This little adventure may be a bust.”

Little adventure? This was serious stuff. An investigation into my past or a possible threat to Raven in the palace.

“Let me try,” I said.

Winter turned an icy glare on me. “What can you do that my magic can’t?”

I shrugged. “I might surprise you.” I pressed to his side, attempting to gain access to the lock. “Now move aside.”

Winter did as requested, although hesitantly and with a grumble.

I angled my body to block his view, then extracted the Killian key from my thigh pocket and inserted it into the lock. The door unlatched with ease.

I slipped the key back into my pocket before turning to face Winter.

“How did you do that?” He shoved his fists onto his hips.

“Trade secret.”

With a strong tug on the handle, the door slid open, revealing a tight stairwell carved into the stone. I listened for half a second and, hearing nothing worthy of concern, proceeded down the steps. Winter glided on his magical wind close at my back.

With each descending step, the stench of death grew more prominent. Death and filth. Scents reminiscent of my time locked in an underground cell. I shuddered but soldiered on.

“Gods.” Winter covered his nose. “What is he doing down here?”

“That’s what we’re here to figure out.” I took the last few steps with extreme caution and found the awaiting room clear…and relatively empty.

One side of the space was open and barren, with nothing more than a solo chair pushed against the wall and a door to chambers beyond. The other side of the room consisted of two large cells, one of which appeared to have been recently used. The dank smell of stale food, body odor, and waste adhered to the floor, the bedding, the bars. Clung like oil to the surrounding air molecules.

Winter stepped free of the stairwell and moved past me, headed straight for the presumably used cell.

“The first time I discovered this place,” he said, swinging the cell door open. “Valen was down here talking to someone. I heard a bare murmuring when the other spoke.”

He stepped into the cage and knelt beside the bedding, ran his fingers over the moth-eaten blanket.

“He was keeping someone in conditions like this?” His voice rattled with anger. And when he turned to face me, his eyes glowed with a winter storm. “No one deserves to be treated like this.”

I didn’t bother to vocalize my agreement. I expected it to be understood. After all, I’d been subjected to a similar treatment. Which made me wonder―

The door at the far end of the chamber flew open, and a form rushed in, a blur through the space. The cell door banged closed, locking Winter inside.

The prince hollered, but before I could move to lend aid, the thing blurring through the room was upon me. Knocking me sideways and kicking me to the ground. I slammed to a stop with my back against the bars of the cell.

A winter mist began to form on the floor—the prince’s magic. Aware that I needed to get Winter out of the cell, his abilities likely useful in the fight, I ripped the Killian key from my thigh pocket and raised it to the lock.

Something struck me, knocking the key from my hold and sending it skittering out of reach.

Dammit.

The room quickly fell to an arctic temperature. Frost coated the floor and walls. And still, the thing moved around me like a blur of color and light. An icy windstorm ignited, blowing my hair across my sight and pushing against my efforts to move.

I needed to gain my bearings.

The blur lunged at me, crashed into my chest, and laid me out flat against the hard ground. Snarling, the thing weighed upon my chest, a face pale as paper, with eyes and hair a color to match.

Or…at least one eye and half a face, white and familiar. The other side of the thing’s face had been peeled away, revealing a monster residing underneath. Grayish-white, scarred skin, exposed dragon-like teeth, and the glowing blue eye of an otherworldly reptile predator.

I sucked back a sharp breath, realization settling over my soul. My head swam from the speed with which memories returned to me.