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“I do happen to know where the controls for it are. Maybe I can make something happen.”

“Please, Starlight, that would be perfect.” Robby bit his lower lip, almost as if he were worried, but I knew the effect that expression had on people. And so did he.

Starlight gave a nod and put up a long blue fingernail. “Wait right here. Don’t move. Give me like ten minutes.”

She spun around, the dress flashing through the air, and disappeared into the sweaty crowd.

“Think she’ll do it?” Robby asked.

“Hoping so. Let’s get to the hall just in case.” I grabbed Robby’s hand in mine, the connection feeling so natural. So needed. “Lead the way.”

Chapter 25

Lost in the Labryinth

Robby

We got to the hall of mirrors just as thick, colorful mist started to drift out from the air vents. It picked up in pace, filling the hallway, starting at our feet. There were a couple of partygoers who ran past us so they could get back to the dance floor, where I was sure the main debauchery would be happening.

But Damien and I had other plans. We started to press against the mirrors, pushing on each panel. We moved quickly, trying to beat the mist before it completely filled the hallway and made our job that much harder.

“Anything?” Damien called from the opposite end of the hall, hands up against a mirror.

“Nothin—” The wall shifted under my palms. “Hold on.” I pushed harder, and the wall gave way, the illusion breaking and my hands going straight through empty air.

“Found it!”

“An illusion, nice,” Damien said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the fake mirror, walking us out into a well-lit tunnel. It must have buried directly into the hills that the chateau was tucked into. The walls were still raw gray stone, with vines and roots coming through tiny cracks.

“We did it,” I said, unable to hold my excitement. “Now, let’s find this cure.”

Damien apparently couldn’t hold back his excitement either. He grabbed my face in his big hands and pulled me in for a knee-trembling kiss. When we separated, I could see that his lips still glinted under the dim light in the tunnel.

We continued down the path and found ourselves at another door, this one with a heavy padlock on the handle. I had a brief moment of worry that this would be where our journey would end, being locked out of the room that held all our answers.

Then I remembered I was here with a dragon.

He grabbed the padlock in one hand as flames erupted around his fingers, climbing up toward his wrist. It only took a minute or two for Damien to melt it with a fire-engulfed hand.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of seeing that,” I said as Damien’s hands returned to normal, not a single burn mark on them. “You look so damn cool.”

“I thought you were going to say hot.” He gave me a wink and a playful grin.

“Too obvious. I like to go for the unexpected,” I said, reflecting the same smirk he gave me.

“Ready?”

“Let’s do this,” I said as Damien opened the door and let us into Marmont’s hoard.

My jaw dropped. The sight that greeted me was the furthest thing I was expecting after walking through the rock-walled tunnel.

The secret labyrinth of Marmont’s hoard was like nothing I had ever seen before: onyx-black floors reflecting clean white walls, all lit by sconces that highlighted an impressive collection of rare vials, potions, and tonics. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, a mixture of art and danger that left me feeling a strange unease. There was an endless illusion to the way the hall curved and split ahead of us, and there were some potions that looked to be held under heavy security, with thorny iron cages, bars that looked as thick as tree trunks. There was one vial that kept shifting and banging up against the invisible barrier that contained it.

“So Marmont collects potions?” I once again asked the obvious.

“Looks like it,” Damien said, moving toward a red-and-green vial that emitted the sound of a beating heart.

I glanced at a vial of purple liquid. Underneath it, written on the marble pedestal, was a description: Cage of Force. There was something haunting about that potion, a sense of power restrained.

Damien’s voice brought me back to reality. “Hey, you okay?” he asked, concern in his eyes.

“Yeah,” I said, shaking off the unease. “Just… impressed.” A question blasted to the forefront of my thoughts. But was it okay for me to ask? I’d been curious about Damien’s hoard since the day he spoke to me about it, but he still hadn’t told me what was even inside, much less offered me a chance to look into it.

I walked with him down the hall, the path splitting into two as we curved down the left. I couldn’t hold the question back. “So, what do you collect in your hoard?”