Page 118 of His Wicked Charm

Suddenly it all became clear to him. The frozen compass had been no accident, no flaw. The needle had been stopped deliberately, turned so that it pointed in only one direction—toward the edge of the maze lying closest to the Sanctuary. The cove where Lilah had been drawn in her sleep.

He spun and charged back through the maze to the dead end where he had found Lilah. He went to the ornamental bench. It had to be here. Three triskeles decorated the board of the back. He bent instinctively to examine the middle one. It did not budge to pushing or pulling. But, he discovered, there was a tiny slit in the very center.

His heart tripped in his chest. Con flipped up the top of the ring, exposing the miniature sundial beneath. The little triangular wedge popped up, and carefully he pushed it into the tiny slot. It fitted. He turned it.

With a groan, the bench slid back, revealing a deep dark hole. Attached to the side was a metal ladder. Picking up his lantern in one hand, Con swung over the side and started down into the pit.

* * *

LILAH’S HEAD KNOCKED against the stone, sending bright shards of pain through her. Dazed by the blow, she managed to hang on desperately to Vesta’s wrist, keeping the knife at bay. Vesta’s weight pinned her down. Vesta bore down, panting with the effort. “Your blood must feed the altar. The Goddess demands sacrifice.”

Lilah’s hands grew slick with the blood flowing down her arm from the cut. She slipped for an instant, then recaptured her hold and with a great heave, jerked Vesta’s hand to the side. She heard the knife graze the stone, and Vesta’s weight slid half off her. Lilah squirmed to get free, but then Vesta rolled back, pressing her into the stone.

Lilah’s head throbbed, and Vesta’s weight was pushing the air from her lungs. Above her, Vesta again began to pant the creed from her father’s ceremony, adding her own words that called the Goddess. Beneath her back, the stone warmed. Power blasted into Lilah, filling every inch of her body.

With a loud cry, Lilah shoved her aunt up and over, forcing Vesta back onto the altar. She straddled Vesta, holding her aunt down, and slammed Vesta’s hand against the altar. The knife fell from Vesta’s grasp, clattering on the stone.

“No! No!” Vesta shrieked. “Come to me! Goddess, come!”

Lilah was filled with strength, pulsing with energy, her connection to the altar as solid as a steel chain. Yearning permeated her, keening and deep. She felt the ache, the thirst, the need for freedom. She understood.

“Go!” She cried, her voice ringing through the cave. “I sever the chains that bind thee here.”

There was a scrabbling and scraping behind her, and light pierced the dark. “Lilah!”

Con! She let out a laughing sob. He had come. Of course he had found a way to her. She heard his footsteps rushing across the floor, and she called out, “No! Wait.”

“What—” He stopped. She could hear his harsh, fast breaths behind her, but he didn’t speak or touch her.

Con’s lantern illuminated the altar beneath her. Vesta struggled wildly, but Lilah had no fear that she would escape, for the strength that held her there was not Lilah’s.

“I release thee!” Lilah went on, the words flowing out of her without thought. “Thou art bound no more. Return now to thy home. Dwell in peace in the Otherworld, no more to be disturbed.”

With a joyful leap, the power poured out of her, sinking into the altar, the floor, the walls of the cave.

“No. No.” Aunt Vesta began to cry, her head shaking from side to side.

Lilah sagged, suddenly shaky and weak. “Con...” She turned, reaching out to him.

He pulled her from the altar and, grabbing the knife, sawed through the rope that bound Lilah’s wrists. “Lilah, my God, you’re bleeding. And your head!” He started to pull at his ascot.

“No, no, there’s isn’t time.” Lilah grabbed his hand. “We must go.”

“What? But—” He gazed around him in awe. “This place.”

“We have to go,” Lilah repeated, unable to explain but certain she was right. She pulled Vesta up. “Auntie, come. We must go.”

A deep rumble started in the earth. The floor of the cave began to vibrate.

“This way,” Con said, grabbing the lantern and starting toward one of the openings.

“No, no, leave me alone! I don’t want to. You horrible, wicked child!” Vesta slapped at Lilah’s arm.

With a curse, Con came back and grabbed Vesta’s arm. “Shut up. You’re coming with us, though God knows why she wants you.”

He dragged Vesta through the opening, and Lilah followed. The rumbling grew louder. The ground shook beneath their feet. The room seemed to have no exit, but Con directed them around a jutting rock that hid a narrow gap. He handed the lantern to Lilah. “Go on, slide through.”

She did as he said, slipping between the rocks into a long, narrow chamber. At the other end of the tunnel, there was a metal ladder mounted on the wall, and at the top of it, a very faint light. The exit. The rumbling was growing ever louder, the shaking stronger. Behind her Con pushed her aunt through the gap and ran to Lilah.