Page 11 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

Seven

I flee before Talon or Imogen can catch me eavesdropping, my mind whirling with everything I’ve just learned.

As I drift through the halls, heading in the direction I think the kitchen is, I sift through it all.

Purposefully shelving Imogen’s comments about me, I focus on what really matters: my pendant might be the key that unlocks the gates to the human world.

A bubble of hope rises in my chest. For the first time since that portal snapped shut, separating me from Becks, I feel like I can take a full breath.

When I finally pay attention to where I am, I realize I’ve wandered too far. I must have missed a turn somewhere, because rather than standing in the kitchen, in front of me is a stone staircase leading underground.

I should probably turn around and retrace my steps.

Imogen will have a conniption if she finds me roaming when she expressly told us not to.

But I don’t really care. I heard the prejudice in her voice when she said “ human .” The dark-haired creature’s desires aren’t on my list of concerns.

In fact, I start down the stairs to spite her as much as to appease my curiosity.

The air grows noticeably colder as I descend. Goosebumps rise on my arms, and I rub them, trying to bring some warmth back into my skin.

At the bottom of the stairs, my stomach drops. The tunnel ahead is lit with yellow, flame-like fae torches, reminding me of the underground passages at Nightlark. That alone gives me pause, but I shove the unsavory memories back into the corner of my mind I’d locked them in and keep going.

The tunnel twists and turns, one long corridor snaking back and forth without any doors or split paths. I try to move quietly, but each step echoes off the stone walls, loud and jarring, like I’m stomping through the silence.

At first, I try to track where I might be beneath the castle, but I lose count of the turns. More than once, I consider turning back, but a quiet compulsion urges me on. More than curiosity. It feels like I’m being called forward.

After two sharp turns, a soft rosy glow appears ahead.

I quicken my pace, abandoning stealth, and rush toward it.

One final curve brings me to a small, stone-walled room, no bigger than an average bedroom.

At the far end is a dome of shimmering pink light I instantly recognize as a magical barrier.

This one is more opaque than the one Kerrim used to block out sound during the Chaos trials.

I step closer, squinting to make out what the barrier is protecting.

Inside the dome is what looks like a sword stand, but smaller, the kind that holds a blade upright from a U-shaped bracket fixed to a gold pole about two feet tall.

The pole is anchored in a base that resembles a large gold nugget, roughly the size of a bowling ball.

Etchings spiral around the pole, but the haze of the barrier makes them hard to read.

I take another step and slowly reach forward, my hand lifting toward the veil of magic almost on its own. I want to touch it. I need to know if I can feel anything.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Yanking my hand back, I whip around with my heart in my throat. Talon is standing with one shoulder propped against the room’s entrance. Faelight flickers in the torches behind him, casting shadows across his face and making it impossible to read his expression.

“Why didn’t I hear you coming down the tunnel behind me?” I ask, placing a hand over my heart, which is still beating furiously from the shock.

He shrugs. “I’m light on my feet.”

“Well, congratulations. If you were trying to scare me, it worked.”

He pushes off the wall and takes a few steps into the rose-drenched space. “No, I wasn’t trying to scare you. I wanted to see what you were up to.”

“I got lost,” I say, but the look Talon gives me says he knows how ridiculous that sounds, and my cheeks warm with embarrassment.

“You thought our kitchen was underground?”

I clear my throat and glance back at the magical barrier.

“Why don’t you want me touching it?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Well, I assumed you wanted to keep your fingers.”

“Excuse me?”

Talon chuckles when he sees the look on my face. “That barrier will burn away whatever passes through it.”

“But there’s nothing in the stand,” I say, my voice rising an octave as I realize how close I was to losing a few fingers, maybe even a whole hand. “It’s empty. Why is it even active right now?”

Talon’s gaze shifts past me to the empty golden stand within the magical barrier. His face turns haunted. “It’s where Shadow Striker used to be kept. Only the dagger’s wielder can pass through the barrier. Unless the wielder dies and a new champion has to be chosen. Then it’s safe.”

“So, you’re the only one who can reach in there?”

Talon shoves his hands into his pockets. “Or you. We don’t really know anymore. After what happened in that cave with Kerrim, the rules are a little muddy right now.”

“Does that mean I might have been able to touch it safely?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. But maybe not. Are you willing to risk it to find out? I’m certainly not.”

I shake my head and take another step back.

The shimmering barrier is deceptively beautiful. Even knowing what it can do, part of me still wants to touch it.

I clear my throat and turn away, ignoring the pull in my chest that urges me closer.

Facing Talon fully, I study him. I hadn’t gotten a good look at him through the cracked door, but it’s clear now that a shower and fresh clothes haven’t fully erased the signs of exhaustion.

Still, the rosy light from the barrier casts a warmer glow on his face, softening the shadows beneath his eyes, making him look a little less worn down than he probably is.

“So, are you finally ready to be real with me?” I ask.

Talon’s brows lift. “I’ve always been as honest with you as I was allowed to be.”

I press my lips together, annoyed. That caveat at the end covers a lot of secrets and deceptions.

“You don’t believe me,” he says, almost looking a little hurt.

I sigh. “Can you blame me?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t blame you for anything,” he says, his gaze softening.

Considering his cousin basically blames me for everything, those words mean more than I want to admit. I don’t know what to say, but Talon keeps going, sparing me the need to answer.

“My family’s been part of the Arcane Society for generations. So long we don’t even remember a time we weren’t involved.”

I blink, caught off guard that he brought it up on his own. Is this it? Is he finally coming clean?

“Some members chose to walk away over the years,” he says.

“But doing so comes at a price. They’re excommunicated to protect the Society’s secrets.

Bound by magic, they can’t speak of it again.

Their descendants are kept in the dark, and they’re even forced to change their last names so they’re no longer tied to us. ”

“That’s awful,” I say, thinking of families being torn apart just because they didn’t want to be part of whatever secret society or cult-like thing Talon’s family is tangled up in.

He nods. “It is. But it’s also necessary.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, confused. He’s giving me history, but I don’t even know what the Arcane Society is yet.

“So you understand why I couldn’t be completely upfront with you before, and so you understand the weight of what I tell you next. Revealing the Society to outsiders breaks one of our oldest and strictest rules.”

I swallow hard, unsure if I’m more nervous that he’s about to tell me, or that he won’t.

“You weren’t willing to break that rule before. What’s changed?”

Talon’s gaze dips to where the chain around my neck disappears beneath my shirt, and I would swear the pendant warms against my skin.

“Where did you get your necklace?” he asks. “I’ve never seen you wear it before.”

If I hadn’t overheard him and Imogen, I might think he’s changing the subject. But I know better. It’s the pendant. Whatever it is, it changed everything.

“My parents gave it to me after they told me the truth. That I’m not biologically their daughter.

” The words scrape coming out, but I keep going.

“They didn’t know I’m human. But the way I came to be with them is suspect.

They said I was wearing the necklace the night I was given to them.

They’ve had it restrung since. It was supposed to be a graduation gift. ”

I lift the chain, drawing the pendant out from beneath my shirt.

The rosy light from the barrier hits it and the purple gemstone flares to life, catching the light and fracturing it into shimmering waves of violet and magenta that dance across the walls.

Talon’s eyes flare and he takes a step forward, reaching a hand toward me, stopping just short of touching the gem.

“May I?” he asks, his hand hovering in the air.

I nod, and as he carefully touches the purple gem, he shifts closer, bending his head to examine the necklace.

Tendrils of his dark hair brush the tip of my nose and a delicious scent, part spice, part unmistakably him, wafts over me, sending my pulse into overdrive.

Without realizing it, I lean in slightly while he focuses on the pendant, inhaling his scent like I’ve lost all sense.

My eyelids grow heavy, my fingers twitching with the urge to run through the strands of his hair.

Just as I start to lift my hand, I snap back to reality.

What is wrong with me?

Becks is in another world, likely injured and alone, probably thinking no one is coming for him and believing I’ve betrayed him. And here I am acting like Talon’s some kind of scratch-and-sniff sticker I can’t get enough of.

I lean back and hold my breath until Talon releases the gem and steps away. If he thinks I’m acting strange, he doesn’t show it.

I press my lips together, waiting, hoping he’ll say something, that he’ll confess what he knows about the pendant. But he just stands there, holding my gaze.

Moments pass, the air between us thickening with unspoken tension, and eventually I can’t take it anymore.

“Talon,” I say, still locked on his blue-gray eyes. “What is the Arcane Society?”

He sighs, then turns without a word and starts back down the tunnel.

Seriously?

“Come on,” he calls over his shoulder, his voice echoing off the stone walls. “Let’s collect your friends. It’s time for that talk.”