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CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Ryker

Though pulverized, bits of bone still poked through the ashes at Scarlet’s feet. There was no denying this was once an immortal; whether it was an amsirah or not, I couldn’t tell, but I assumed so.

“Shit,” Ianto muttered.

Movement drew my attention to Ellery as she walked over to the sofa and used the tip of her dagger to peel back a shirt there. It opened to reveal more ashes within.

“What could have done that and not destroyed their clothing too?” Tucker asked.

“Or the furniture,” Callan said.

“Or the whole town,” Ianto muttered.

I had no idea what could have done this, but… “It doesn’t look like they saw it coming.”

Ellery pulled her dagger away. A small cloud of dust puffed up from the fallen clothes when they settled back into place.

“How could they not know they were about to be eradicated?” Tucker asked.

“Fuck if I know,” I said as I strode closer to Ellery.

Her cyan-colored eyes were turbulent when they met mine. I settled my hand against her elbow, seeking to reassure her, but what I really wanted was to drag her out of this place and back to the safety of the tunnels.

Are they safe?

They’d been safe before, but that didn’t mean that whatever happened here couldn’t happen there. I had to get her out of here.

“We have to know what happened,” she whispered, as if reading my mind.

“Do we?”

“Yes.”

I ground my teeth together as she lifted her chin. We stared at each other before she rested her palm against my cheek. Some of my tension eased, but not all of it.

“We’re safe here,” she said.

“No, we’re not.”

“We’re staying. We’ve come this far, and we have to know.”

“At the first sign of anything going wrong, we’re leaving.”

“I don’t think these amsirah got a sign,” Tucker said.

The murderous look Ellery shot him sent his eyebrows into his hairline.

“Ahh,” he stammered before throwing his hands up. “This is why I stay single.”

“Yeah, that’s the reason,” Ianto quipped.

Tucker gave him the finger before walking over to examine a family portrait on the wall. A man and woman stood behind their daughter and son.

“They look like amsirah,” Tucker said.

“Amsirah look like many other immortals,” Ellery said.

She lowered her hand from my face and stepped away from me. I almost pulled her back, but the more we fought, the longer we’d be here. And I’d feel much better once we were out of these tunnels and back above.

“There’s lightning rods on the buildings,” I said. “Amsirah must have lived in this village.”

“There aren’t as many rods as we have in Tempest,” Tucker commented.

“And?” Callan asked.

“And nothing, I’m just stating what I saw.”

“Why would that be?” Scarlet asked.

Tucker shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

The red burst once more before the room faded to a dim pink. A corner of the castle was visible through one of the windows, but the other homes blocked much of the structure and the tower where the pulsing light came from.

“This is crazy,” Callan murmured.

“We should check the rest of the house,” I said.

We moved onto the dining room, kitchen, pantry, and downstairs bath before climbing the steps to the second floor. We found more remains in the upstairs bathroom.

When we returned downstairs, we exited the kitchen door, where we discovered three more piles of clothes and remains near the back steps. They’d either been leaving the residence or arriving.

The wide-open backyards spread across all the homes on this side of the road. When the light pulsed over us once more, I spotted more clothes scattered throughout the yards.

Callan ran a hand through his pale blond hair and tugged on it until it stood on end. His pale green eyes surveyed a land that was probably once covered in grass, but without rain and sun to nourish it, the grass had withered and died. Now only patches of dirt spread across the land.

“Maybe we should leave,” Tucker suggested. “Whatever happened here, these immortals never saw it coming.”

I had to agree with his reasoning, especially with Ellery here.

“No,” Ellery said. “We have to find out what that pulsing is.”

“It’s not safe,” I said. “You and Scarlet should climb back out, and we’ll meet you in a little bit.”

She gave me a disgruntled look. “And you’re going to stay?”

“Yes. We’ll stay and explore.”

She scoffed. “That’s not going to happen. I’m not going anywhere until I know what that light is. It’s the answer.”

I wasn’t surprised by her response until that last part. “The answer to what?”

“I don’t know, but it is.”

The fading red light played over her beautiful features and danced like fire in her eyes as she stared at me. I’d only get her out of here if I picked her up, threw her over my shoulder, and carried her away.

I’d probably end up with more than a few bruises for my efforts and one extremely pissed-off woman. A cordou would be more fun to tangle with than an irate Ellery.

She can take care of herself. She’s the most powerful amsirah in the realm.

While this was true, and I trusted her ability to defend herself, how could she stand against something that had destroyed all these amsirah where they stood?

Fuck, this is a mess.

“We need answers,” Ellery said.

We did, and we couldn’t leave here with those answers possibly at our fingertips. I was frightened those fingers would turn to ash before we discovered anything.