Page 40 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

We had a few secret passages back in Olmstead, although ours were mostly alcoves hidden behind paintings and false openings, and only two tunnels. Nothing so sophisticated as this.

At least, not that I was aware of .

“It’s through here,” said Marius, gesturing. At my expression, he grinned, wide and smug. “What? You don’t have anything like this in Olmstead?”

“No,” I grumbled, stepping through the door.

A thousand scenarios ran through my head. This was some kind of test. Perhaps he’d lured me here to hurt me, or he was going to leave me here, stuck screaming behind the wall, or he’d take me back into the dungeons, and leave me there?—

But instead, he followed me inside and pointed to a lever on the back of the door. “Use this if you need to leave,” he said, showing me how to raise it just so, then click it into place. “Try to be discrete. Queen Tarra will have my ass if I let this secret out.”

I gasped at his choice of words, then remembered that he was a prince, and hardly anyone cared. Many probably expected it of him. But if I’d used language like that, courtiers would have fainted. “I shan’t say a word.”

“Mm, I hope you don’t mean that literally. Then I’d be bored.” He let out a quiet laugh. “And I don’t want that. So tell me. What should I ask Princess Valeria? Has she told you anything?”

“Well, you might start by complimenting her, I suppose,” I said.

Prince Marius shut the door, and we were cast into darkness. I let out a choked little cry.

“I’d have brought a torch, but I assumed you’d come prepared. Or was I wrong about that?”

“It’s hardly proper—Oh, it’s not as if you can see me anyway,” I huffed, reaching into my bodice, and freeing one of the stones tucked away there. By its soft aura, I was almost certain it was one that I’d enchanted to glow.

“Was that hidden where I think it was hidden?” Even the darkness couldn’t conceal his amusement.

“Don’t ask questions,” I chided, grateful that he couldn’t see my blush. “You’re the one who led me into a dark passage.” I smacked the rock against the wall, relieved when it illuminated instead of singing, exploding, or launching itself at the prince’s head .

Now, I could just make out his face. “I suppose it is customary to issue a warning,” he sighed, like he was the one inconvenienced. “Follow me, please.”

I stuck close to him so that we might both be able to see. “I hope we’re going somewhere with a torch. This isn’t going to last forever.”

“Yes, yes,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. Rings glinted on his fingers.

In the dim light, I could just barely see the stone walls. There was only enough room for us to travel single file, but that didn’t keep me from practically clinging to him. The walls pressed in on us as the passage continued, seemingly endless. My breath came in short pants.

Marius paused. “Alright?” There was an unfamiliar concern in his voice.

“I will be,” I managed. “I’m not accustomed to such narrow hallways.”

“Aren’t the servants’ hallways narrow?”

“Well, yes, but—I know where I’m going when I use them.”

“Do you?” he mused. “I’ve always considered them something of a labyrinth. If it’s any consolation, it’s impossible to get lost here—it’s a single hallway. And I truly think you’ll like where we’re going.”

The toe of my boot caught on a loose stone, and I tumbled into his backside—solid and warm. Muscles shifted beneath his coat as he caught his balance. Hadn’t King Hergarv claimed that Marius was sick? This wasn’t the body of a sick person.

Startled gasps escaped us both.

“Are you alright?” Marius reached to steady me, but I’d already jumped away. After years of etiquette lessons, it felt like a crime to touch a man I wasn’t married to. Especially when that someone was a prince .

I shivered and rubbed my arms. “Wherever we’re going, I just hope we get there soon,” I said, feeling rather like Ria. Was this what it was like to be surly all the time? I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“We will,” Marius assured me. Then, to distract me, he said, “Tell me, how did you meet the Princess? Were you always destined to guard her? How did that come about?”

No one had thoroughly questioned me so far. Not even Fallamor. I’d grown so complacent that I hadn’t even bothered to coordinate a cover story with Ria. “That’s… not something King Amonrew would wish me to share.”

Which was true.

“Hmm,” said Marius. “Olmstead’s customs are so… strange .” His tone was too smug. I was sure Ria had told him something. But what?

“No stranger than Tocchia’s,” I argued, feeling a swell of pride for my people and their ways, not so different from any other kingdom I’d visited.

“It must seem that way,” Marius said with a chuckle.

And then we were at the end of the passage.

I stood back while he swore and grasped at the lever, only faintly illuminated by the stone in my hand.

There came a click. The door creaked open.

Marius stepped inside. I followed, and found myself beneath a field of stars, shimmering against the night sky.

Crystal orbs hovered in the air, drifting around the room like autumn leaves in a gentle breeze.

A pale blue light emanated from them, as gentle as the stone in my hand.

The stone floor was streaked with gold and purple veins. The pillars were so pale and smooth that they looked like they were made of ice.

But it was the center of the room that stole the breath from my lungs. An altar, cut from gleaming black rock. Stars reflected on its surface, the constellations shifting with every movement of the orbs.

The ground beneath my feet hummed.

“What is this place?” I whispered, stunned. The walls were not made of brick or stone, but of volcanic rock. Moss crawled between crevices and dangled from the ceiling.

“The Star Room,” said Prince Marius, beaming at me. “Obviously.”

I stepped into the center of the room, staring up at the stars. Galaxies swirled. In the sea of glittering stars, constellations were nearly impossible to spy. The sky was not black but a deep purple. Over the altar, it faded to a midnight blue.

My breath caught in my throat.

“You’ve a cloak like this,” I said suddenly, thinking of Marius’s shimmering, dark cloak that he wore sometimes when the night was more than halfway over, and he wanted to melt into it.

Not that he needed a cloak to disappear into the shadows.

“Observant,” said Marius, arching a brow. “But there’s more. Come.”

At the far end of the room was another passage, carved from rock and just as narrow as the first. The glowing orbs floated after us like sentries, their light just bright enough to keep me from tripping over my own feet.

I was endlessly grateful for them.

The passage was short, but Marius grabbed my hand, unabashed, and led me through.