Chapter 85

Third Person POV

Alaric watched as Sienna disappeared inside the palace, fidgeting at the thought of her and his uncle in a room together. He could do anything to her, easily make her disappear without a question.

Before he could sit and worry any longer, Mia strode out from the ballroom, clad in a dress that just barely reached her knees, fitting her body so tightly it’s like there was nothing that could possibly be left to the imagination.

Notice the difference between her and Sienna? his wolf said, its disgust aimed towards Mia. It’s as simple as their vast difference in class.

Alaric bit back a smile, because as Mia approached, he realized how upset she looked. Not just upset, but scared, too.

“What is it?” he frowned, suddenly on high alert, even if he didn’t fully trust her.

“Rogues were seen entering those tunnels,” she whispered, shaking her head. “The ones just outside the palace.”

“Are you telling me it’s a complete coincidence that you brought those very tunnels up to me yesterday and now there are rogues in them?” Alaric’s defenses shot up, anger beginning to simmer in his veins.

“I swear to you, it’s a coincidence. This has nothing to do with me, Alaric.” The look in her eyes almost convinced him, even with her exceptional acting skills. Even the best couldn’t muster up as much fear as he saw in her eyes at that moment.

He was hesitant, but let her continue.

“I’ve been studying the maze of tunnels for days now, and maybe they had the same idea. It’s the perfect entry point for an attack; a place they can linger for as long as they need until they’re ready to strike.”

She sat up straighter next to him, her eyes wide. “I think I know the path they’re going to take, and I think we should go down there and intercept them.”

“Are you mad?” Alaric scoffed, completely taken aback by her suggestion. “Us up against a group of coordinated rogues? No, we need our army on this.”

“That’ll just send up a panic, won’t it?” Alaric winced, knowing she was right. Any alert to the army would soon be discovered by the people of the city, and word would spread like a wildfire.

People would try to step in and help in their own ways, only making matters worse. The tunnels had been closed off for years now, but a lot of people knew the secret ways into them still, and they wouldn’t hesitate to revisit their darkness if it meant helping the city.

Sometimes, people were just too valiant.

“I want to bring Lucius,” Alaric said, his fists clenching in his lap, unsure of the safest way to proceed. Every part of him screamed that it was wrong to descend into those tunnels alone, because what if something happened?

What if no one knew he was down there at all? Would he disappear again, for good this time?

My uncle would love that, he laughed to himself. Just like we all appreciated the way Julian disappeared; almost a little too conveniently.

“Three of us down there is going to get tricky,” Mia warned. “The two of us can be a lot stealthier.”

“I don’t like that,” Alaric said with hesitation, uncomfortable with the way Mia was pushing for it to be only the two of them down in a dark maze of ancient tunnels.

“Remember how good we were hunting in the forests together? How coordinated and silent we were?” A faint smile found its way onto Mia’s lips, because those days had been some of their best times.

Alaric couldn’t stop the flashes of he and Mia barreling through the forest at night, their paws pounding against the damp ground, wind flowing through their misted fur.

They were shadows of the night, Alaric’s wolf the same shade as the darkness while Mia’s was a beautiful chocolate brown with bright green eyes, so similar to her human form.

Together, they’d been unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with. Moving together so fluidly, practically reading each other’s minds and next moves like it was nothing.

“I still don’t like this, but…” Alaric took a deep, steadying breath in. “I’d rather stop them than risk them getting into the palace.”

Relief flooded Mia’s eyes, and she quickly nodded. “If we enter through the entrance off the southwest gardens, we can intercept them before they get here. Remember there’s only two entrances leading to the palace?”

“How do we know another group isn’t coming from the east?” Alaric asked, his mind drifting, dreading the stifling air and claustrophobia of those tunnels.

“We don’t,” Mia said with a sad smile. “But as far as I know, there were only ones spotted on the western edges.”

“Shouldn’t I have been alerted of this from my own armies?” Alaric poked at every possible hole he could in her story, waiting for her to slip up.

She didn’t.

“I’ve been a big part of the scouts here, you know, for years. They trust me too, and they trusted me to deliver this to you.”

Irritation bit at Alaric, his eyes narrowing. “I assume they have no idea of the way you planned that rogue attack at Blackmoon, hmm?”

Mia averted her eyes, looking disappointed in herself. Clearly, that was a no.

“We should hurry,” Alaric muttered, standing on somewhat wobbly feet. This was going to be a hell of an adventure underground.

Mia led them towards the southwest side of the palace, Alaric’s nerves rising the closer they got. Why wasn’t he telling anyone where he was going?

Not the smartest choice, his wolf said grumpily. But you don’t make that choice very often.

Alaric almost laughed aloud, a smile fighting its way onto his face. No, I don’t, do I?

“So you’re sure this is the place to start?” Alaric asked, needing her confirmation one last time.

“The southwest gardens are the easiest access point into the palace, especially coming from within the city. The entire tunnel system is a maze, but the paths leading around the palace are the strongest ones for safety reasons.” It was obvious she’d studied the tunnels like she’d said.

“Right,” Alaric nodded, remembering the blueprints of the restricted tunnels he’d seen years and years ago. Even though the palace had locked down on the entrances to the tunnels, it was easier than you’d think to break into them, which left them quite vulnerable to any attack by someone with even the slightest amount of intelligence.

“You ever think who is down there, hiding away?” Mia asked as they approached one of the old, grated off entrances via the sewers. One of the bars at on the far right side was bent, just enough for the average person to squeeze through.

“I think about who might be rotting down there. It’s not exactly livable.” Alaric couldn’t stop the shiver that cascaded down his back.

He was really about to go down, willingly, into tunnels that had been around over a century, with legends wracking up about the dangers they bore.

“Are you ready?” Mia hesitated at the edge of the bar, nerves in her eyes too.

“Not much else I can be,” Alaric murmured back, slipping through the bars and into the sewer after her, ignoring the constant nagging that this was going to go terribly wrong.