“You feel that? It almost feels as if we’re being watched,” he said to the others in the room.
“If we were being watched, Bilé would tell us,” another said. We stood up and moved further down the room until we rounded the corner, and the smell that met us, was nauseating. Dead bodies had been piled together.
I had to stop, close my eyes, and seal off my heart at the sight of people I had once known, people who had been killed recently, from the looks of the remains. I moved away from them without bothering to see if anyone followed. I couldn’t stand the sight of it, or the guilt that gnawed on me.
I knew I couldn’t have changed it, but it was a different matter getting my heart to accept that. I entered another room and waited at the threshold for the rest of the group. Inside the room was dark, but I could almost make out a silhouette. Whoever it was had their back to us and their head down.
I used the senses I’d been given, and tried to see through the darkness, but it was as if the darkness was a thick mist, and no matter how much I tried to, I couldn’t see through it.
“That’s not Ristan.” Ryder pulled me back.
“Whoever it is needs our help,” I growled.
“No, they don’t. They’re beyond our help, Pet,” he replied and pointed to the floor where even I could make out the thick dark pool of blood.
“I’m really going to enjoy killing these bastards.” I accepted his outstretched hand as we headed down the hall to where the library was. It would be the ideal place to create a setup, because it had the most unused space.
“You and me both, Syn,” Zahruk said as he moved in front of us.
As we rounded the corner, we all stopped. Ristan was there, and he was tied to what looked like a mediaeval torture device. His arms were tied to one end and his feet were tied to the other. His eyes were vacant, and he had been brutally tortured. His face was a mass of slashes and angry looking bruises and his body had fared no better. His shirt was missing so I could see that his ribs were sunken in, and he had at least six God bolts in his shoulders and upper arms. I could sense there was more damage that we couldn’t see. I couldn’t stand to see him like this.
“He’s not coherent,” Ryder growled.
Inside the room with Ristan was a large number of Mages and quite a few Guild Warlocks I recognized, but they weren’t who I was worried about. Bilé was somewhere in this place, hiding as he waited for us. I stepped further into the room, noting that if I didn’t, Ryder would. It didn’t matter though. Danu passed us, and stopped everyone as she took the lead.
“Bilé,” she whispered.
I watched as one of the larger Mages turned and looked at her, and then transformed. He was over seven feet tall, and beautiful. He had silver hair, and eyes of the clearest summer sky. His mouth was soft, and yet as I watched him, it grew tight with emotion.
He paused, his eyes raking over her and for a brief second, I saw raw need in his eyes. He growled her name, and the entire room shook.
“Husband, it’s been awhile,” Danu purred, and I turned to look at her. She was beautiful as a pure Goddess; her inner beauty was alight with a glow that created a halo of blonde curls that framed her face. Gone were her leather pants, and in their place was the Goddess attire. This was the Danu that Ristan had described to me in the Maze.
She held her hands palm up, her face tilted, pain in her eyes. It was raw, emotional pain that this man had created, and it was strong. They’d held true love at one time, until years of competition had created strife between them. I reminded myself why we were here, and turned back to find Bilé watching me with open curiosity.
“Is she yours?” he asked as his eyes slid down my body.
“Yes,” Danu answered him softly.
“She’s beautiful, just as our own child would have been, had she survived,” he whispered as his eyes moved back to Danu’s.
I looked to where Ryder and his men stood, silently watching what was occurring. They’d remain invisible until Danu made a move, and then they’d become visible to the Mages, to keep them engaged.
I blinked and almost looked away, but Ristan let out a strangled bellow of pain and I turned my attention to where one of the Mages had stabbed yet another bolt in his chest. “Don’t,” I warned as he pulled yet another one up and readied it.
“What are you going to do?” he sneered, which made his features pinch and I was reminded of Joseph, as he removed Larissa’s heart from her chest.
“I’m going to rip your guts out, and I’ll do it while you’re still using them. Then, after I’m done, I’ll show you your insides, and give you a fucking anatomy lesson.”
He blanched, but regained his composure. “We have a God on our side!” he shouted defiantly.
“So what’s your plan, wife? Kill me for what I’ve done to your children?” Bilé asked as he tilted his head, and watched her.