Page 56 of Date Knight (Roll for Romance #2)

Yorick Proudhollow

Y orick looked desperately around for where Nephrine had taken Eden, but they were gone.

He’d been looking directly at the door, so he was certain they hadn’t left that way.

Which meant they had to still be in the room somewhere.

He spoke a spell of his own to see any invisible creatures around, but there were none.

He cast another to detect any magic at the nexus of the smoke, which turned out to be not the brazier but the bookshelves in the corner of the room.

The smoke itself began to shimmer slightly with transmutation magic, which was no surprise, and Calamity’s magical light was a well-known evocation.

A few spell books on the shelves glowed as well, but nothing else appeared to be magical in nature.

Yorick pinched his eyes shut; he needed a deep breath, but there was still smoke in the room.

This was all his fault. He’d insisted Eden stay behind, and she was now paying the price for it.

And in the end, it had been his card that had rung true– he’d been puppeted right into giving over the clue they’d risked their lives for.

Surely he could still fix this. Surely it wasn’t too late. Otherwise, he’d never forgive himself.

Yorick pulled his robe up over his mouth and plunged into the smoke, fighting the burning in his eyes as he scanned the shelves for another clue.

The smoke was gone by the time he found it, but eventually he noticed another twelve-pointed star– this one crude and hand-drawn– at the base of an unrelated book: a history tome he recognised from his training at the bard college.

As he reached out to examine the book, it refused to come away from the shelf, simply tipping backwards instead. And as it did, a deep clicking and groaning emanated from the bookcase– no, from beyond it– and the shelves swung open to reveal a dark staircase leading down into the earth.

They couldn’t be certain, of course, that Nephrine and Eden had gone this way.

Not without magic, of course. So Yorick cast another spell, this time holding the image of Eden’s star crystal in his mind’s eye, grimacing as he pictured Nephrine wearing it.

He would tear it from her neck if it were the last thing he did.

As the spell manifested, Yorick could sense the crystal descending bumpily beyond the secret door.

“She’s this way,” he said. “I’m sure.” Then he pulled Calamity after him, gesturing to himself until she transferred the light from the brazier to his cloak.

The library plunged into darkness behind him as he started down the stairs, forcing the others to follow, though not without grumbles.

Nephrine moved faster than they did, but this was her home, after all.

“Yorick,” Calamity whispered as she followed close behind him, “we need to talk about the book later.”

“It wasn’t me,” he said. “I tried to fight her, I swear.”

“I know you did,” she replied instantly, and Yorick felt a pang of gratitude for her trust. “But we don’t know how she was controlling you. And that could be a problem.”

“We’ll have to worry about that later,” he said. “Eden’sdown there, and it’s all my fault. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her.”

The staircase wound down into the earth, deep enough that the cold, damp air chilled their bones, and their ears began to pop.

Yorick’s spell ended after ten minutes, and as desperate as he was to keep sight of Eden, he didn’t know what they were walking into, and he needed to save his magic.

Without their armour and weapons, without his lute, they’d need it.

And besides, they’d yet to encounter any branches or junctions.

Just the one winding staircase the whole way.

So there was only one way they could have gone.

Yorick only hoped there was another way up; he didn’t relish the idea of ascending all these stairs later.

Though he supposed he’d be lucky to get to do so, given that he was charging unarmed into a confrontation with a member of The Twelve.

A few minutes after the spell ended, Yorick slowed and motioned for the others to do the same. Calamity dropped the spell illuminating his cloak, and they stopped in the darkness to listen.

Well, near darkness; there was a strange glow emanating from just around the next bend, and as they stopped, Yorick could hear chanting up ahead. Wonderful, Yorick thought. Just what we need. At least the diadem was likely to be there, he supposed.

The party conferred for a long moment, but there wasn’t much to be agreed. They had no idea what they were walking into, and they had no weapons. Hell, only three of them had any magic. All they could do was creep forward, hoping beyond hope that there was something– anything– they could do.

They finally came to a landing at the bottom of the stairs, just in front of a large ornate door, the eerie purple light filtering out around it, with a twelve-pointed star carved into it. The same star symbol that had enraged him so much months ago. It was time to end this.

He knew it was reckless; he’d chastised Eden for doing just this only the day before. But there was no more strategising to be done, and every moment he didn’t act was a moment she was in danger. So he pressed the door open and walked forward.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust; there was a bright purple light in the centre of the chamber he’d entered.

He looked across the room instead as he blinked, and as he did, his eyes focused on Eden.

She was chained to the wall there, her glittering dress torn where she’d clearly been searched.

Her eyes met his, and there was just a flicker of relief before her face collapsed into agony.

Yorick held her gaze and reached out to her with his magic, forming a telepathic bond between them. It was probably a reckless use of magic, but he couldn’t stand seeing her so powerless.

It’s okay, he said to her in his mind. You’re okay.

None of us are okay, she thought back. They’ve already started the ritual.

Sure enough, when Yorick looked at the centre of the room, there was Nephrine.

She stood on a tall dais surrounded by hooded figures, the source of the chanting, one of whom held the book Yorick had hand-delivered just minutes before.

In one hand she held aloft Eden’s star crystal, which was catching the light from a skylight above.

Only that didn’t make sense; they were hundreds of feet underground.

It wasn’t a skylight, it was a crystal of some sort, powering what Nephrine held in her other hand.

The diadem.