“A girl can dream.”He scraped harder.
Arianrhod rocked back on her heels and surveyed the door they’d exposed. Six feet by two feet, it was solidly built—or had been at one time. Wooden planks set into a rusted metal frame were recessed deep into the muddy soil. The entrance appeared so unused, she wondered if it led to anything beyond a dead end.
Strident bugling announced dragons returning. It sounded like the same pair she’d heard earlier, which suggested Malik and Preki returning to Rhukon’s manor house. If luck was with her, the dragons would shift back into their mage forms. She drew the weave of her magic more tightly around them and stifled their presence down to nothing more than a whisper in the wet vegetation.
Rhukon was a dandy and an ass. Connor an inconvenience. But that was if she faced them as men. Facing them as dragons cast things in a much more perilous light—particularly for Angus. It disturbed her that he’d refused outright when she mapped out parameters and told him he’d need to leave if things got dicey. Being brave was one thing. Being foolhardy, quite another.
“I’m not leaving.”
She snapped her head up and felt the heat of his gaze drill into her.“Get out of my head.”She started to redirect her magic, but decided it wasn’t a good idea.
A smug expression carved his features into self-assured lines.“You can’t have it both ways. Either you use your power to guard us from above, or you use it to keep me out.”He tilted his head.“What’s that?”
She focused her hearing, augmenting it with what little power wasn’t keeping them shielded. Dragon chatter gave way to the deep hum of men’s voices, followed by a muted, clangingthunkas a door swung open and shut.
Angus leaned close.“The dragons are men again.”
“Aye. We must get inside afore they harm Eletea.”She eyed the gateway in the ground and decided to take a chance. A single blast of magic reduced the rusty hasps to smoking holes.
Angus surged forward and yanked hard. The door didn’t budge because some of it was still submerged. He focused a stream of white light that washed over the door. Clods of muddy dirt flew everywhere. She ducked. Even so, one barely missed her head.
“Hold.”She laid a hand over his and waited, barely breathing. Time slid past. One minute. Two. If Rhukon or Connor had felt a disturbance, they’d be out here by now, or at least headed their way.
He raised his brows in an unspoken question. At her nod, he pulled the door up and to the side.
She stared downward into darkness and summoned her mage light. It illuminated a set of rotting, wooden steps, so narrow negotiating them would be a neat trick.
“I’ll go first.”Angus swung his body into the hole.“I’ll let you know when I’m at the bottom, and you can come ahead. That way I can catch you if you fall.”
Part of her bristled at being ordered about, another part craved being coddled and cared for. She didn’t want to sort through any of it, so she watched him disappear into the dank-smelling earth. At least it was a clean odor. This part of the underground tunnel system hadn’t been used to sequester bodies—or for anything equally grisly.
“Now,”rang in her head. She backed down steps more like a ladder than a staircase, ready for anything.
Angus spanned her waist with his strong hands and lowered her the last few feet. She kept her light low and gazed at rounded walls not quite tall enough for her to stand upright. Water ran down the walls, coming almost to her ankles. A phalanx of red eyes stared at her. Rats. High-pitched, nervous chittering filled the space, echoing off the walls.
“Friends,”Angus suggested silkily.
The tenor of the rodents’ vocalizations shifted from frantic to a normal cadence.
Arianrhod nodded briskly.“Good. Now if we can just keep the bats from leaving, we’ll be golden.”
“Soothing them was the first thing I did, even before I called you.”
Pleased he’d thought of it, she plodded through standing water toward the manor house. Eventually, they’d hit the foundation, sunk deep into the earth. There’d likely be another gateway there, but not always. Side tunnels branched off from time to time. If she wasn’t certain, she let Angus make the call. He was the one with the link to the dragon.
“Does she know we’re coming?”Arianrhod asked.
“Nay.”
“Are ye certain? Ye’ve been following her energy ever since we arrived. Surely she felt the twang when ye sighted her.”
He shrugged and gestured for them to keep moving.
Arianrhod shrouded them with invisibility. Things were going along too well, and the deeper they got into the passageway, the edgier she became. Rhukon wasn’t stupid. That was Connor’s purview. He had to realize they were beneath his house. If the situation were reversed, she’d know.
Angus ground to a halt and pointed ahead of him at the rough stones of the manor house’s foundation. They’d fallen in one spot and made a hell of a mess. There’d once been a door, but it was twisted almost beyond recognition by rock fall. Blasting their way through with magic was child’s play, but they couldn’t risk it. Not this close to the house.
Drawing himself up to his full height, Angus extended his hands. Before he could loosen anything that would give their presence away, she grabbed his wrist.