Page 94 of Sinful Curses
The grass and trees proved it rained here, or he assumed these things required water to survive. For all he knew, they thrived on the blood of their victims, but since the plants weren’t trying to eat him—yet—he would rule that out… until one chomped on his arm.
The sun had passed its zenith in the sky and was starting to descend when they returned to the pub. There wasn’t anything left to see in this town; they’d traversed every inch of it and discovered nothing of use.
As they set out their meager rations on the floor, he knew they had no choice but to continue past this town and see what lay ahead. They could stay for a few days and hope for some rain to refresh their water supply, but since they hadn’t encountered anything they could hunt, they’d run out of food soon.
They had enough food to get them through tonight and tomorrow, but it would be almost impossible to stretch it beyond that timeframe, especially since he knew Sahira would give the demon some of her rations. While he nibbled at his stale, rock-hard bread, he studied the defeat on the other’s faces.
It didn’t feel right to move on from here, not with those symbols and a big X with an arrow in the center markingthistown, but they’d found nothing to indicate a reason to stay. At one time, there might have been something here, and that was what the symbols were trying to show, but that time must have passed… along with whoever etched the marks into the walls.
Maybe it was time to return to Belda’s town. The idea of admitting defeat caused his teeth to grind, but defeat was better than death.
But is it? Is this realm any kind of life?
His gaze settled on Sahira, and a pang tugged at his heart. Maybe, if it was just him, he’d keep going until he dropped, but it wasn’t just him.
He couldn’t watch her slowly die in this shithole of a realm. But did they continue or return to Belda’s town?
He had no idea how they would make it back through the spiders and across the geyser field without any food, but continuing into nothing could mean certain death. The symbols, and the emptiness of these buildings, seemed to indicate this was the last town. They had no idea what lay beyond here.
When the others finished eating, Sahira rose and wiped her hands on her pants. “Excuse me.”
No one spoke as she retreated up the stairs and into the bathroom. He didn’t question why she didn’t use the bathroom down here; there were some things he was better off not knowing.
Plus, he’d probably get his head ripped off if he tried talking to her again. When she wasn’t outright ignoring him, he could feel her glaring daggers into the side of his head. She might try to kill him while he slept tonight.
He smiled at the possibility; at least she’d get close enough so he could touch her again. Though he hoped she would, he wasn’t counting on her sleeping beside him again tonight.
When she emerged from the bathroom a minute later, he frowned as she glanced over the balcony railing before slipping into the room she’d resided in at Belda’s. He’d assumed she checked the trapdoor last night but was pretty sure that’s where she headed now.
Orin finished the last of his bread and leaned back to place his palms on the floor while he crossed his long legs before him. “We can wait for rain or leave here tomorrow.”
“Do we have any other choices?” Pip asked.
“I think we’ve run out of those,” Zeth said, and Orin agreed as Elsa nodded.
CHAPTEREIGHTY-ONE
After removing her protective spell,Sahira’s fingers skimmed the floor as she searched for the seam to the trapdoor. It was so flawlessly put together that, even knowing it was there, she had difficulty locating it.
Finally, her fingers found it, and she lifted the wood away to reveal the stone steps descending to the hidden room. The rich scent of earth and the mineral aroma of stone enveloped her as she climbed down and stepped off the last stair.
With the shutters above closed, barely any light filtered into the room, but she knew it well enough to find the rock that opened the hidden door. With ease, she crossed the small space to the back wall.
The stones were cool against her fingertips as she ran them across the surface. It took her a minute, but eventually, she located the correct rock and pushed it.
With a tiny click, the door swung open to reveal the space behind the pub and the tall grass swaying in the breeze…
Except, it didn’t.
She so fully expected to see the field of grass she’d seen while surveying the town that it took her a few seconds to realize it wasn’t there. She’d stood behind this building earlier and knew grass crowded the back of the pub, but the door didn’t reveal a meadow.
Instead, it opened onto another stone staircase. The steps descended into a darkness so complete she could only see the first two.
At the top of the stairs, one on each of the rickety banisters running along the rocky walls, were two skulls of immortals.
Shit.
The empty, black eye sockets of the skulls stared at her. Their teeth-filled jaws were set in a smile that sent goose bumps across her flesh.
