Page 20 of A Spell of Bones and Madness (Nostos #2)

Chapter Fifteen

Ajax

A gain and again Ajax pounded his fist against the onyx mist barrier separating him from the lower level of Aidesian.

It was futile. The thick mist felt more like stone, leaving knuckles raw and bloody.

If it were not for the sight before him, Ajax would have thought he was hallucinating—these haunted corridors were known to do that to you.

On the other side, Ember knelt on the floor shaking, sanguine-stained hands gripping the sides of her head, covering her ears.

Scream after violent scream pierced through the mist, searing into Ajax’s mind.

He had to help her—had to get through. He slammed his fist once more against the cloudy substance, but to no avail.

Darkness began to wrap its way around Ember, quieting those screams. Ajax blinked, and when his eyes opened, the veil was down and Ember was gone.

“Shit!” Ajax sprinted into the room, spinning left and right in search of the Prytan.

“What the fuck just happened?” Dimitris ran his hand over his face, squinting into the darkened room before them. “I can’t smell her. I can’t smell anything. It’s like she was never here.”

That wasn’t possible—they had followed Ember all the way down those spiraling stairs. There was no door along the walls, no other corridor she could have gone down. Ajax had seen her with his own two eyes. She was there. It wasn’t just some illusion. She was there and she was hurt.

Ajax paced around the creaking stone floors, dust kicking up with each stomp of his boots.

“Ember’s got to be in here. Maybe there was a trap door or something she fell through.

I can’t—” His voice cracked. “I can’t lose her.

” His whole body was heavy, muscles strained, temples pulsing, like he’d just watched his family slaughtered before his eyes.

Not again. Because that’s what Ember was, whether she trusted him or not.

There was not a world where he didn’t get the chance to tell her how he felt—had always felt.

“Did you not just see what happened in front of us? A shadowy ward locked us out of this chamber—do you not think whatever power created that could also whip Ember away with it?” Dimitris spat.

Dimitris circled the perimeter, sniffing about to try to pick up a scent.

The wolf irked him, not only because of the way he stalked about like a predator, but the gaze he gave Ember, how he looked her up and down the first time they met.

Especially the way he called her blondie.

What a lame excuse for a nickname, even if the Prytan had seemed enamored by the dark-haired prince.

“I thought you said only your father and brother could aervade? So unless one of them took her, how else do you explain this?” Ajax stalked up to him. “I swear to gods, Dimitris, if your family—”

“You think it wise to threaten me, Ajax?” Dimitris growled. “Do not forget your place in this pack.” Instinctively, Ajax took a step back—a bend to the knee for his alpha, a gods-damned nature he couldn’t avoid. Pack politics would be the death of him someday.

“It was a mistake for us to come here. We should have waited for Nikolaos to send word to Aidon—or Katrin to return from rescuing Ander. It is my fault Ember is missing.” Ajax sighed, slumping his shoulders. He had to think, still his mind and consider the rational explanation for what happened.

So, of course Dimitris had to send him spiraling once more. “You’re right. It is your fault, spy. No one should be down here, in this labyrinth of the lowest levels of Aidesian, especially not a princess.”

Ajax was going to throttle the prince—alpha or not. Ember was so much more than just a princess and she was to be respected. How many times would Ajax need to remind him of that?

“Will you two quit your childish bickering,” Thalia’s firm voice echoed in the damp chamber.

Mykonos, now shifted into that large creature, stood beside her, fangs glistening in the low light of the torch above them.

“If you idiots could stop being at each other's throat, you would have noticed that there is another corridor out of here. Tartaros is known for hiding them.” She pointed at a small opening on the other side of the chamber, barely noticeable in the dark, but distinctively a second way out .

Ajax would have to remember to thank Thalia more often. He was glad they had the seer with them, even if he could sense her increased frustrations at their power struggle. She was wise, and loyal, and one damn good fighter.

Dimitris raced over to the opening, planting his palm against the cool stone. “How did we miss this?”

Thalia sauntered over to him. “Maybe my sight is just better than yours, dog .” Her painted red lips curled into a lethal grin, one of her black brows arched.

“You insult me while that thing roams next to you?” Dimitris nodded to the frightening psychí .

“Mykonos is a delight to be around. I am not sure I can say the same for you. Prove yourself, Prince, and maybe I’ll change my mind.” The vitriol in her voice did not go unnoticed by Ajax, nor Dimitris it seemed. His hands clenched firm and his jaw tightened.

The seer breezed by Dimitris to head to wherever the corridor led them, and Ajax could see the prince’s nose twitch, his silver eyes widening in disbelief. Not at the insult, Dimitris was never known to take those to heart, but something else.

“What was that about?” Ajax asked, striding up next to him.

Dimitris didn’t answer, only stared down the hall at the woman before them, back rigid.

Ajax shrugged off Dimitris’s antics—there were more pressing matters at hand.

He closed his eyes, stilling his mind with a slow, deep breath.

What horrors awaited them below, Ajax was not sure, but he would meet each one with a vengeance until Ember was back safe in his arms.