Page 23 of Sinful Curses
“I’d say it’s a very good possibility, but if we start looking for them, Zeth and Elsa will learn about the one above. Besides, given how well hidden that one is, we could search for years and might never find them. Or they don’t exist, and there’s only the one.”
“Yeah,” Sahira murmured.
“If there are other doors and rooms, then they’re probably as useful as the one above. I wouldn’t worry about them having some secret way out of here.”
Though the possibility niggled at the back of his mind. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time to search for something that might not exist.
“What if something else in this town has found one and is hiding there?” she asked.
“Then we’ll kill them when they emerge.”
Sahira pondered this as her gaze fell back to the parchment. “I’m curious as to why the symbol is different.”
“We all are, but I doubt we’ll uncover the answers here unless we find something that can give them.”
“Do we want that?”
That was a good question. Resting her fingers on the parchment, Sahira pulled it away from him.
Her attention shifted back to the drawing. There might be answers somewhere in this realm, but there weren’t any answers on that parchment, and finding them may prove impossible.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
They savedtheir exploration of the library for last, and when they arrived, Sahira wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it be full of books like the library in Belda’s town or empty?
The other buildings had all been identical to the ones in the last town, except they weren’t as full of supplies and had no animals. They did find some grain in the granary, but it was mostly a pile of mold and dust.
Orin walked beside her as they crossed the street toward the library. Despite her dislike of him, she leaned slightly toward him while they moved.
She didn’t realize she was doing it until their arms brushed and a little electrical thrill ran through her. Stepping to the side, she moved away from him, but it took a few seconds for that to happen.
Orin didn’t look at her, but the corner of his mouth quirked toward a smile before slipping away again. Sahira kept her attention straight ahead as she tried not to look at him, but she could feel the pull of his body.
He was like the moon, and she was the waves, helpless to resist his magnetic pull. It would be so easy to give in to the temptation of him again.
She could lose herself in his arms and forget all about this mess for a little bit. And he could make her forget, he’d done so before, but she couldn’t come away from a second encounter without hating herself afterward.
She hadn’t exactly been proud of herself after she screwed him the first time, but she could live with it. Everyone made mistakes.
After his parade of women following their night together and how badly it cut into her heart, even though she’d prepared herself for it, she couldn’t give in to him again. If she did, she’d only be setting herself up for more hurt and humiliation.
Together, they ascended the steps to the library’s front door, and Orin opened it. A cloud of dust rained down on them, and the hinges creaked as they swung open.
Sahira waved the dust particles away from her face and blinked away the stuff coating her lashes. Despite the extra layer of grime on the floors, walls, and ceiling, everything in the entryway looked the same as the building in Belda’s town… except for the symbol above the archway to the library itself.
Like in the other buildings they’d explored, this symbol differed from those in Belda’s town. It was the same as the one in the pub and the other structures.
That different symbol was starting to piss her off more than being unable to open a portal or use her vampire ability to transport. She still didn’t understand how this realm kept them from doing those things, but it had to be something to do with physics or…
“Oh my, Hecate,” she breathed.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
“What is it?”Orin demanded.
She ignored him as she crept toward the symbol to study the shaded area on top, the arrows, the figure eight… or not a figure eight. They’d also speculated it could be an infinity symbol.
Time was infinite yet still measured by immortals and mortals alike. And one of the first ways of measuring time was with an hourglass.
