Page 88 of His Wicked Charm

Con stopped, waving his words aside. “But that’s for the future. Why were you pulled to the maze?”

“But I don’t know if I was pulled there because I wanted it, needed it, the way one is drawn to the fire when it’s cold. Or was I being dragged there against my will? I’m not sure.” She shook her head. “I cannot believe I am seriously considering such things.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Con grinned. “The question is, what is calling to you? This sanctuary of the Brotherhood?”

“The real question is, how are we going to stop it?” Lilah responded. “If the Sanctuary exists and the men tapped into it, then perhaps what Mr. Dearborn told us is also true.”

“That the...the contract, I suppose you’d call it, with the Sanctuary has to be renewed every three years?”

“Yes. And that if it is not renewed by Midsummer Day, something horrid is going to happen—that this force is going to be set free.”

“‘Unleash holy hell,’” Con quoted.

“I have felt that power, Con, and it is unbelievably strong. I terrifies me to think of what it might do.” Her insides were suddenly like ice. “And it’s only a little over a week until Midsummer Day.”

They looked at each other in stark silence for a moment. Con said, “Then I guess we’d better get to work.”

* * *

THEY DECIDED TO continue with their plan to search the cellars. Given Lilah’s experiences with the Sanctuary’s power, Con was sure the first course of action was to pinpoint its location. When they asked Ruggins for a pair of lanterns so they could explore the cellars, he looked aghast and began to issue dire warnings about getting lost in the vast underground area, but they ignored his protests and ventured down into the cellars.

Close to the steps, the area was clean, the stone-walled rooms filled with wine, foodstuffs and supplies. As they went on, the walkway grew narrower and split off into different paths. They wound their way through them, peering into rooms, some containing rubble and others merely dust and spiderwebs. Now and then there was a squeak or the scrabbling of paws that brought Lilah closer to his side.

Con smiled. He enjoyed the darkness and the hint of danger, the lure of the unknown. It was made even better by Lilah’s nearness, her body soft and warm, almost touching his, the scent of lilacs clinging to her hair.

“Ruggins was right,” Lilah said. “I never realized how huge the cellars were.” She cast him a sideways glance, a teasing sparkle in her eyes that made him want to kiss her. “Let’s hope your human compass is working today.”

“Never fear. I have you with me.” Because it gave him the excuse to do so, he took her hand.

It hadn’t been his imagination. A ripple of awareness ran through him, and everything was suddenly, subtly, clearer. Sharper. Con hadn’t feared getting lost; the way back was obvious to him. But now he sensed something else, something more—a tickle at the back of his mind that made him turn around and return to the dark room they’d just passed.

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure. This place...” He raised the lantern and walked farther in. Dust coated the floor like a carpet, and great spiderwebs hung in the corners, dust gathering on their silken threads. There was a pile of stones at the other end, as if part of a wall had come down.

“Ah.” Con skirted the rubble and there, almost hidden in the dimness, was a recess in the wall. A closer look showed a gaping hole.

“What is it?” Lilah asked. “The wall caved in?”

“I think perhaps it was torn down. See how rectangular the hole is? I think it’s a door that had been blocked, and the stones were moved away.” He held the lantern inside the hole, lighting another stone wall beyond it.

“A passageway?” Lilah breathed.

Con grinned. “A hidden passageway.” Ducking his head, he stepped through the doorway.

Lilah followed him, taking a firm grasp of his jacket, and peered over his shoulder. “It’s not a tunnel after all.”

“No,” he said, gazing at the worn stone steps curving down into the darkness before them. “Even better. It’s a hidden staircase.”

Con started down the stairs cautiously. The steps were so worn that in some places they almost disappeared, as if the rock around them was swallowing them, and the circular staircase was so narrow that Con all but filled it. Lilah stuck close behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

The stairs seemed to go forever, spiraling into the darkness in a way that was dizzying, but Con had a sense of the strata beneath them, almost a map in his head of the tunnel that lay at the bottom of the stairs. They emerged into a tunnel far narrower than any in the cellars above and with such a low ceiling that Con could not stand completely upright. It was unnerving to be so deep in the earth, surrounded by stone.

Lilah linked her arm through his. “I think we have found the dungeons.”

“Mmm. Hopefully no skeletons in chains.” He held the lantern higher, but it lit up the stygian darkness for only a few feet. “Shall we go on?”

“Of course.” Lilah looked at him indignantly. “I didn’t climb down those wretched stairs just to turn around and go back.”