Page 13 of Heart of the Cursed
Chapter 6
Pain shot through Arun’s head as it made contact with the concrete floor, and he was positive he heard his bones crack from the impact.
Arun groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. If he tried to get up too fast, he was going to throw up.
Wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake?
His head spun as nausea threatened to empty the contents of his stomach. If he hadn’t been beforehand, he was certainly glad now that neither Taredd nor Dain had come with him.
If they had witnessed his complete and utter fuck up, he would never hear the end of it. It was a rookie mistake to be taken by surprise like that, and he was far from a rookie.
Arun had known before he entered the underground compound that she had magic, so he should have been prepared for her to use it against him. It’s what he would have done in her position, especially since she seemed to be on her own.
He was stunned by the amount of power she possessed. That one blast had sent him flying a good fifty feet back down the corridor. Arun was positive she had been holding back, as well. Whether intentionally or not, he didn’t know. But there was definitely untapped power inside her, just waiting to come to the surface.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to be around when that happened. Especially if she was aiming it at him again.
Arun gingerly touched the back of his head as he glared at the spot where he’d last seen her. She was fast, he’d give her that, but he was faster. She may have caught him off guard and escaped, but sooner or later, he was going to catch up with her.
Next time, he would be prepared for her attack. She certainly wasn’t going to get the better of him twice.
As soon as the dizziness and nausea let up enough for him to move, he climbed to his feet and retraced his steps, hoping to find where she had come from.
Before he’d even set foot inside the underground compound, Arun knew he was in the right place. He could feel the magic around the entrance to the compound. It was the same magic he had felt when he heard her voice inside his mind.
Arun wasn’t sure if the spell was supposed to keep people out, or to warn her of intruders. Either way, he had broken the spell easily enough.
The underground compound hadn’t been the easiest place to find, but the tracks he’d found by the beehives had helped point him in the right direction. After that, all it took was a bit of rummaging around in the undergrowth to find the entrance.
From the outside, it just looked like a small hill with a rocky base where the entrance was hidden. He’d walked the perimeter to make sure there wasn’t another way out, but other than the one metal door, there was nothing. If he’d known about the other entrance, he would have placed his own spell on the door, preventing her from running off.
Inside, however, it was like a maze. As soon as he entered the compound, he knew she was in there and exactly where to find her. The mix of her scent and magic was like a beacon, leading him straight to her.
Arun was amazed at how big the underground compound was inside. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting when he’d entered the place, but it certainly wasn’t what he found.
Corridor after corridor, stretched on in all directions. Each one was lined with doors. Some with two or three doors, some with as many as ten.
Arun hadn’t stopped to look inside any of the rooms in his search for her. He’d known she wasn’t in any of them. But now, he took his time, opening all the doors to look inside as he searched the compound.
Most of the rooms hadn’t been used in decades, if not longer. The furniture in those rooms were covered by large white sheets. Occasionally, he came across a room that she was occupying.
Arun made sure to search the rooms she had been using for clues as to who she was and what she was doing. But for some strange reason, when it came to her bedroom, it felt wrong.
He’d never had a problem with searching through people’s bedrooms before. It hadn’t made a difference whether they were male or female. But when it came time to look through her belongings, he felt like he needed to ask her permission first.
Arun reminded himself that he was doing it to help her. If he didn’t know what she was doing, then how was he supposed to do that? So, he needed to search her belongings.
It shouldn’t matter who she was, but the more time he spent looking around her belongings, the more intrigued he became.
Every room he looked inside had piles of books. Some were small, some were large, but each room had two or more piles of books. Even her bedroom wasn’t exempt from the piles of books. If anything, there was more in there than in any other room, except for the library, which was overflowing with books.
Arun tried not to pay too much attention to her private items when searching through her bedroom, like her lingerie draw, but it was difficult. Especially since he kept imagining her in nothing but them.
She had consumed his thoughts since he first heard her voice in his mind. Now that he’d seen her in real life, he was even more enthralled with her. In fact, she had nearly gotten awaybeforehe tried to stop her.
He’d been so transfixed by her, she’d almost been out of the door before he snapped out of it. If she hadn’t wasted valuable seconds removing a spell she’d placed on the door, she would have been gone before he’d had a chance to reach her. Because of that, he’d managed to catch her.
The moment he placed a hand on her, it felt like sparks of electricity passed between them. It raced up his arm and through his body. Arun didn’t get a chance to question the weird sensation before his hand was ripped off her arm and he was thrown backwards.
Arun rubbed the back of his head. It still hurt like hell, but at least his magic was healing it. Albeit slowly.
By the time he was finished searching the compound, he was no closer to finding out what she was trying to do than he had been before he started. The only way he was going to get the answers he was looking for was by finding her.
Hopefully, she would be in more of a talkative mood next time they meet.
