Page 71 of In The Dark
Unless he’d been watching.
A chill crawls down my spine at the thought of him keeping an eye on me, but with a lift of my chin, I give him a small smirk.
“You’re messing with me,” I say casually, then suddenly remember that he stole from the kitchens the last time we were in this hall. My eyes instinctively flick to his hands. “Oh my gods, you’re stealing again.”
“Hush,” he snaps.
“Do you have a thing for sweets?” I chuckle as a quiet growl rumbles up his chest.
Again, my eyes dart behind him to ensure we’re alone. That the guards at King Elion’s archives didn’t overhear us. Ren holds my gaze for a breath, then suspiciously squints his eyes.
I suddenly fear he’ll mention this to King Elion in passing, regardless of him stealing. My stomach twists at the thought. I know that his loyalty is with the king first and foremost, so I decide to give him a partial truth for fear of him doing just that.
“Well, since you’restealingagain, I’ll tell you. The last time we were in this hall, I could’ve sworn I felt the wall move when I leaned against it,” I say cautiously, my eyes shifting to the chain around his neck, spotting what looks like the shape of a ring settling beneath his tunic.
He studies me, not answering right away. Instead, his gazedrops slightly as if reading the anxious flicker across my expression. Like he knows what’s currently running through my mind.
“And?” he asks.
I exhale. “And it felt like a door. I was curious and I’m awake so…” I carelessly shrug, but he glares in silence as if deciding whether or not he should believe me. “But I’ve been here for thirty minutes and can’t find anything, so I’m giving up and going to bed. See you later, thief.”
I quickly step around him, eyeing my exit at the end of the hall, and hope he doesn’t chase me down or report me to King Elion. Sweat beads my forehead despite the chill in the air. But then a quiet scraping noise fills the air behind me—stone.
Pivoting, I find Ren aiming his palm toward the wall as a stone door cracks open, right where I was standing. Excitement pricks my skin, my mouth falling open when he turns to me with a wicked grin. Then my irritation flares, realizing he just found what I was looking for—for the last half hour—in a matter of seconds.
“Want to explore?”
How I ended up in a dark, hidden passageway with Ren in the middle of the night, I’ll never know. But here I am, striding down the darkened corridor, floating an orb over both of us while listening to him bite into one of those tarts he stole from the kitchens.
Despite my chilling unease.
Pushing the orb higher, I glance at the cobwebs that cling to the walls, dust thick in the air. The floor is cracked and uneven, showing how much of the area has been left untouched—unused. But I notice a few empty crates on the ground and how torchlights hang on the wall.
Ren notices where my attention shifts as he flicks out ahand, igniting the torches. The corridor suddenly lights up, each one flickering to life, and I see how far the corridor goes.Wow.
I assumed he would have killed me by now. The thought still lingers at the possibility, but the thrill of discovering this tunnel outweighs the logical part of my brain. The part where it tells me to go back to my room and ignore the fact that I’m alone with him in a tunnel.
Rydian’s going to be pissed when I tell him.
But Ren pushed out his magic to find the door, encouraging us to investigate it, and I can’t help but think that he already knew it was there. With where it’s located, the entrance sits directly beneath the ballroom.
“Did you know this was here?” I ask, my voice echoing off the walls. “What is this place?”
His hand grazes the dark stone beside him as if dusting it, and then he wipes his hands on his pants. I listen to the thud of his boots on the ground, but his steps remain light as he reaches my side in only a couple of strides. He throws me a wary sideways glance, like I should already know, but I brush it off. I never really bothered to learn about the castle anyway.
“This is an old housemaiden tunnel. They used to use this as a way of getting around the castle from the kitchens without being seen. But now that times have changed a little, they aren’t really needed anymore. There are multiple entry points in the courtyard, but most are hidden behind the shrubs.”
“I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk, brute,” I mutter, stifling an amused snort. “But I’m not surprised you know that since you’re so familiar with the kitchens. Are you not afraid I’ll go sneaking around and cause trouble?”
This could be useful later, especially if Rydian and I end up exploring the castle with Ivy and Orin. But I begin to wonder how much of the castle Ren is aware of and if he knows where everything is. If he does, it could make it a little more difficult to search the castle. We’d have to stay in the Veil if that’s the case.
“If I thought you were a threat, I wouldn’t have brought you down here.”
“That’s insulting,” I say. “Would you like for me to show you how threatening I can be?”
He huffs out a quiet, disbelieving chuckle. “You could try, but with how loud you are? I doubt you’d be able to reach me before I put you on the ground.”
“You’re arrogant.”