Page 100 of His Wicked Charm

“Yes, exactly.”

Sabrina’s eyes widened. “Even more since I touched you. I can—oh, I can feel Alex so clearly—he can’t decide whether to worry or be angry at me.” She grinned and looked over as Alex emerged from the stairs.

“I wasn’t worried,” he told her, belying his words by pulling Sabrina to his side and kissing her forehead. “I knew you were fine because the whole way down, I could feel your amusement at thwarting me.”

Con looked over at Lilah, raising his eyebrows in question, and she smiled and nodded in reply. Con edged his way around Alex and Sabrina and took her hand. He glanced at her in surprise, no doubt feeling the change in the energy. Con took the lantern from Lilah and held it up to shine down the tunnel. It illuminated only a few feet in front of them, leaving the rest in uncertain darkness. It was, however, enough light to see that the tunnel was both low ceilinged and narrow, necessitating, as the stairs had, going forward in single file. The two men had to duck their heads to keep from scraping the stones above them.

“I suppose you are still of the opinion you have to lead the way,” Con said to Lilah, frowning.

“No.” Lilah suppressed a grin at his startled expression. “I think we are...accepted. And I know you’re dying to explore.” From the look on Con’s face, Lilah knew he would have kissed her if they had been alone.

They walked into the seeming void, the dark closing in after them. “I have no idea where we are or where we’re headed. Are we under the house or outside?” Lilah asked.

“Under,” Con said with assurance. “But we’re walking toward the maze. I think that behind that wall—” he gestured to the right “—are the dungeons.”

“A parallel tunnel?” Alex asked.

“More or less.” Abruptly the tunnel widened, so that they were able to walk side by side and the men could stand upright. “This must be the newer tunnel. The extension built by Lilah’s ancestor.”

“We’re very close.” Lilah had felt the power increasing with every step they took. Now it filled the air, almost palpable in its intensity.

“We’re beyond the house now,” Con said, and a moment later, the edge of the lantern’s light fell on a wooden door. Having read her grandfather’s thoughts on the Sanctuary, Lilah had expected the door to be a grand thing—large, dark and heavy; she would not have been surprised to find it fitted with a handle of gold.

But there was nothing grand about the sturdy door—except for the large padlock securing it. Shaped like the familiar triskele, each spiral was a separate lock, centered by a keyhole. Con and Alex inspected it closely.

“I’ve never seen a triple lock.” Con glanced at his brother, and Alex shook his head. “We can try to pick them. I wonder if they have to all be unlocked simultaneously.”

“Or in a certain succession,” Alex added. He glanced around the edges of the door. “Hinged on the inside, so no hope of taking off the hinges and removing the door.”

“I’d guess it would take a battering ram to break through this thing.” Con rapped the wood. He turned to Lilah. “Maybe you could put your hands on this and command it to open.”

Lilah gave him a repressive look. “I don’t have command of it.” Still, she laid her hands against the door. “I feel remarkably foolish.”

Energy surged beneath her hands, pushing against the door from the other side. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the power beyond the door, inviting it in. The power rushed into her, and she turned it back into the door, imagining the door crashing down. The door vibrated beneath her hands but didn’t move.

Lilah dropped her hands and the energy ebbed. “If I have the ability, I’ve no idea how to use it.” She did, however, feel more certain of her control.

There was a burst of noise at the other end of the tunnel, and they all swung around. A vague glow became a bobbing light, then a figure holding a lantern.

“Aunt Vesta!”

“There goes any hope of keeping this entrance a secret,” Con murmured.

“I knew!” Aunt Vesta exclaimed as she drew nearer, her breath coming in pants. “As soon as I heard Ruggins talking about the lanterns, I knew you had found the way. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. LeClaire,” Con replied. “But we didn’t want to get your hopes up until we were certain.”

Aunt Vesta, however, was paying no attention to his words. She scarcely even glanced at Sabrina and Alex. Her gaze was fixed on the door, her eyes shining. “Oh, yes. I can feel the power.” Her voice was filled with wonder. “Can you feel it, Lilah?”

“Yes.” Looking at her aunt, so eager and hopeful, Lilah felt a long-buried affection wind its way through her chest. Her aunt was selfish; she had abandoned her young niece without a thought to her welfare; but inside Lilah, beneath the hurt and resentment, there was still an ember of the love she had once felt for her capricious aunt. “Yes, I do feel it.”

“I knew it. I knew it would answer to the Holcutt women.” Vesta put her hands to the door. “Oh, yes, it’s strong. I can feel it feeding me.”

“Sabrina senses it, as well,” Lilah offered.

“Really?” Vesta cast a speculative glance at Sabrina. “But not the men?”

“No,” Con answered.