Page 45 of Wicked Prince of Shadows (Wicked Princes #2)

I hit another link and another, searching for any weakness. Metal rang against stone, echoing in the confined space. My palm stung where the rough stone bit into it, but I kept striking, searching frantically for any weak point in the links as high as I could reach.

Nothing. The chain was solid, well made. Of course it was. Vetle wouldn't have used anything less.

"Please," I sobbed, bringing the rock down one more time. "Please, please, please."

The stone cracked in half against the chain, splitting apart in my bleeding hand.

I threw the pieces aside and searched for another. A larger one. Something heavy enough to actually do damage. My fingers scraped across the pit floor, finding only small rocks and grit. Nothing at all.

My breath came in ragged gasps as panic clawed up my throat and tightened my chest. There was always the chance that the portal could open and I could ask Enola for help. But I wasn’t just going to sit here and wait for that.

No.

There had to be something else.

Anything!

I looked up at the steep walls rising around me. Black stone, smooth in places, jagged in others. The slab of marble Vetle had chained me to reached up beyond the top of the pit, too large to easily move out of here but perhaps high enough for me to climb on and find something better.

If I couldn't break the chain, maybe I could pull out whatever was anchoring it.

I grabbed the chain with both hands and began to climb.

My feet slipped on the angled stone, and I had to dig my toes into any crack or crevice I could find.

The chain scraped against rock as I pulled myself upward, using it as a handhold.

My wounded wrist screamed in protest, blood making my grip slippery.

The lavender gown caught on the stone, fabric tearing. I climbed higher, muscles burning, lungs heaving.

Finally, I reached the top of the pit and hauled myself over the edge. The chain disappeared into a narrow gap where a thick iron spike had been driven deep into the stone.

I scrambled onto the top, my knees scraping against the rock. The spike was thick as my wrist, hammered in at an angle. The chain looped through an iron ring at its base.

I wrapped both hands around the spike and pulled.

It didn't budge.

I braced my feet against the boulder and threw my full weight backward. The spike remained fixed, as immovable as the stone itself. My hands slipped, and I fell hard onto my back, the impact knocking the wind from my lungs.

I lay there gasping, staring up at the dull red blood moon. It was already high in the sky, nearing its zenith.

How much time did I have?

An hour?

Two?

Panic clawed within me, my breaths short and ragged.

I turned back toward the palace and froze.

The southeastern courtyards, external buildings, walls, and towers were indeed all gone, the chasm itself pressed right up against the marble as if devouring it in giant bites.

The southwestern courtyards and walls had collapsed completely into piles of rubble, the towers overturned or so unsteady it looked as if a breath might topple them.

It looked as if it had shifted yet again.

If there was another earthquake, the whole palace might slide into oblivion.

But my gaze snagged on the column in the center of the widest part of the crescent-shaped chasm. There on the dark stone stood Vetle.

Dark vines had risen from the depths and were now around him. He stood stock still, shoulders squared and wings spread, motionless against the hunger of the chasm and the vines. His shadows pulsed and flared.

“No,” I whispered. “Please, Maker, no.” My chest broke open. “Please, I love him. Don’t take him now. Please!” Tears streamed down my face, salty and hot.

The wind swept up in a great aching howl, sharp and cold, its scream climbing until it sliced straight through me. My skin prickled, every hair lifting as a strange pressure built in the air.

The clouds above twisted violently, and a face emerged.

A face emerged in the clouds. Massive, ancient, spectral. Eyes wide with something like horror. A mouth open in a silent scream. Then it was gone, swallowed by the dark churning clouds.

I staggered back as I stared in shock. An eidon? A living eidon? Here?

“Sabine!”

A small voice cracked through the wind, distant and easy to miss.

“Sabine!”

I turned sharply toward the sound, gaze focusing in on the narrowest point of the chasm on the other side.

Osric.

He ran toward the edge of the chasm, his pale hair whipped by the wind, eyes wide with fear. Without hesitating, he leaped over the narrowest point. His boots slid in the loose earth and gravel, then he charged toward me.

"What are you doing here?" My voice came out strangled as I wiped the tears from my face. "You need to get back to the palace! It's not safe!"

Osric skidded to a stop in front of me, panting for breath. “Fahlda said the creatures won’t attack. He made a deal. Then he told me I’d find you in a garden after the curse ended. Why’re you chained up?”

“Fahlda was trying to protect me. Get me a rock.” If Osric was going to be here, then I might as well have him help me.

I glanced once more at Vetle. He’d said that this would potentially take hours, but already I saw his strength flagging.

His shoulders sagged, and the vines writhed as if trying to drag him down to his knees.

Osric brought me a fist-sized rock. I grabbed it and began smashing it against the spike, the impact jarring up through my arms with each strike. The metal rang out, but the spike held firm. I hit it again and again, my muscles screaming, my bloodied wrist burning with each blow.

"It's not working!" Osric's voice cracked with panic as he grabbed the chain and began pulling as hard as he could.

"I know!" I struck harder, desperation fueling each swing. The rock shattered, crumbling into multiple pieces.

We were out of time. A cold finality spread through me, and I set my jaw. “Osric, get me that rock over there.” I pointed at the biggest rock I could see.

He seized it and ran back to me. His gaze darted from me back to Vetle. “What’re you going to do? That chain isn’t going to break.”

I braced myself, fear fluttering in my stomach.

No. The rocks and chains were too strong to break in the time we had left, but…

my bones could. “I need you to do something for me. I need you to focus very hard on Fahlda, all right? Cover your ears and focus on him. Look for every detail. It will help me save him.”

He scowled as he handed the coarse grey rock to me. “Why do I have to close my ears?”

“If you’re denied one sense, the others sharpen in response. So close your ears hard and just use your eyes.” My insides tightened.

His amber eyes flickered with concern, then he nodded. “All right.” He hesitated a breath more, then turned toward the chasm, pressing his hands over his ears, shoulders hunched against the wind.

My stomach twisted into a knot so tight I thought I might be sick.

I’d said I’d do anything. Now it was time to prove it.

I took off my shoe and shoved the side in my mouth. The foul taste coated my tongue as I set my teeth against the leather to keep from breaking my teeth. Then I lifted the rock in my left hand, positioning it carefully above my right thumb and bloodied wrist. A panicked breath escaped me.

The metal cuff gleamed dully in the red light.

I could do this.

I…had to do it.

Do it.

My fingers trembled. I gripped the rock tighter.

Just do it.

Do it NOW.

Clenching my eyes shut, I slammed the rock down on the base of my thumb and wrist. White-hot agony exploded through my hand as the bone gave way with a sickening crunch.

My vision whited out for a heartbeat. I bit down hard on the shoe, crushing the scream that tried to tear from my throat into an agonized but muffled screech.

Tears streamed down my face as I gasped for air through my nose, my jaw clenched so tight against the leather my teeth ached. The rock slipped from my fingers and clattered against the boulder.

My thumb hung at an unnatural angle, already swelling. Nausea rolled through me in waves, and I had to breathe through it—slow, deliberate breaths that did nothing to dull the throbbing fire radiating up my arm. But I slipped myself free from the cuff, my blood helping ease the path.

I dropped the shoe from my mouth and choked back bile as I cradled my ruined hand against my chest. The pain was like a living thing, thrashing in my veins, pulsing with each heartbeat, but I was free.

"Osric!" I stumbled toward him and grasped his shoulder with my good hand. "We have to go. Now!"

He turned, his eyes going wide as he took in my bloodied, mangled hand. "Sabine, what did you—"

"No time!" I pulled him back toward the narrow point of the chasm. I knew an eidon when I saw one. Vetle’s words about desperate and vengeful eidons echoed in my mind. And the face that had just shown itself above the chasm definitely wasn’t dead.

We ran as fast as we could toward the narrowest part of the chasm. My heart clenched, the darkness of the chasm calling to me. “Who did Fahlda make the deal with? Did you hear who it was?”

“I didn’t recognize the name.” Osric’s arms pumped at his side as he kept pace, his features drawn tight with worry. “But he was outside.”

“Did you hear anything else? See anything at all?” I asked.

“I—no. But everyone was surprised,” Osric responded. He kept pace with me though I was already panting. “You could ask Maltric. He saw. And he was surprised too. Really surprised.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, my gaze fixed on that narrow point. It was drawing closer by the second, the coarse terrain ripping beneath my feet.

“Don’t know. Didn’t think it was possible, I guess,” Osric said.

That was troubling. But it was a clue too.

I braced myself as we raced toward the edge, my ruined hand throbbing with every heartbeat. The chasm yawned below us, that hungry darkness that had swallowed so much already. But the gap here—it was just narrow enough. Gritting my jaw, I leaped. Osric followed behind.

For a heartbeat, there was nothing but empty air beneath my feet and the wind screaming in my ears. Then my feet hit solid ground on the other side.

I stumbled forward, barely catching myself with my good hand as Osric landed beside me. Our feet skidded in the loose grey soil and gravel. The dust burned my eyes and made me cough.

"Come on!" I pushed myself up and ran toward the three tablets that stood like sentinels against the churning sky.

“Wait!” Osric slowed. He pointed back toward the edge of the chasm and toward the narrow bridge that led to the column where Vetle stood. “Aren’t we going to rescue Fahlda?”

“We are. But first we have to find out what’s happening so we can save him and save everyone else.

” I surged ahead, my broken hand cradled against my chest. Each jarring step sent fresh waves of agony through me, but I pushed it aside.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered except reaching those tablets and finding the truth.

The tablets loomed above us, piles of scattered earth on either side. We rounded the largest pile on the right, and my gaze at once latched onto the lowest portions.

Maker, help us.

Was this what I thought?