128: Ada's POV

I’d forgotten that Nik was supposed to show me the remaining passages all those months ago. These were the ones that Darius and Phoenix had both warned me about and told me to avoid. They’d told me Nik would show me them, but he’d never gotten around to it. Considering how dangerous they were, I just hadn’t thought of them again.

For some reason, that almost added to the fear that was radiating off of me as we entered the corridor of the passageways. Nik led me to the area where it branched off before turning back to me. He grabbed me by my arms and looked in my eyes.

His voice shook slightly, “I’ve never shown anyone else how to go through these. They are exceptionally dangerous.”

My heart raced as I glanced at the pitch black passage behind him. I swallowed, “Maybe you shouldn’t—”

Nik cut me off with a shake of his head, “No. It’s time. Listen to me,” he grabbed my chin, forcing me to keep my eyes on his, “These are an absolute resort. They are only to be used when all other options have been exhausted and we can’t be there to protect you,” he placed a chaste kiss on my lips, “Do you understand?” I nodded quickly, and he released my chin, “Good. There are about a dozen things down these tunnels that can kill you.”

“Why do these exist?” My voice cracked as he took a step toward them, and I grabbed his elbow to stop him.

He turned, jaw set, “I don’t know where they came from. It took me years of exploring them to map them out,” he wrenched his arm free, “They’re full of magick, Ada. Most people couldn’t venture into them even if they wanted to.”

“Why not?” I cocked my head to the side.

“Making it to the other side has a cost,” he whispered, his face pale in the low torchlight, “If you don’t meet the requirements, you don’t make it.”

“How do you know that, Nik?” My blood went cold.

“Don’t worry about it,” he blinked and shook his head, “Just know that I am the only one of my brothers who could follow you down this path.”

He stepped into the tunnel and disappeared from view. My eyes searched the darkness in front of me for some signal that he was still there, and there was nothing. No outline of his form, no glowing eyes as his wolf kicked in. Just a black wall. Seconds later, a hand darted through the wall and grabbed onto my wrist. A strangled yelp escaped my mouth as I was yanked forward.

Stumbling through the black wall felt like walking through fire. My skin burned and itched as it felt like tiny needles pressed into my body and yanked through layers of flesh roughly. When I emerged on the other side, I expected to be shrouded in thick darkness and reeking of blood. Instead, I found myself in a well-lit corridor and injury-free.

Nik’s hand was still wrapped around my wrist and slowly slid down as he laced his fingers with mine. He held a finger up to his lips, and I gave a curt nod. The wall was made of a material I had never seen before— something that looked smooth and rough at the same time and had seams. I leaned in close to the wall.

My eyes widened, and I leapt back, looking at Nik as all color drained from my face. I glanced between him and the wall, and he nodded. I swallowed. The wall was made of skin. Where the fuck were we, and why did this exist? How many people had to die to make this long corridor? I looked down at the floor. It was shaped like cobblestones, but was pure white. I didn’t need to look at Nik to know that the floor was most likely made from ground bones.

Even the torches were macabre— made of skeleton hands mounted to the wall and wrapped around the burning pieces of wood. A rat skittered across the floor in front of me, and I scrunched up my nose.

Just as Nik started to take a step forward, there was a *whoosh* behind us. He spun around just as I screamed. Something hooked onto the back of my leathers and yanked. I tumbled back into the darkness, dragging Nik with me. This time, the feeling escalated to feeling like full razor blades cutting into my skin.

By the time I made it back into the corridor that branched off into the passageways of Oberon Castle, I was heaving on the floor. Nik stepped through behind me, his hand releasing mine. I dropped to my knees, still emptying the contents of my stomach.

Nik stepped over me, and I looked up to find him chest-to-chest with Dagger. The fae snarled at him as Nik growled and extended his fingertips into claws. Dagger shoved him back, and Nik snapped, “What the fuck is wrong with you? How the hell did you—”

“What the fuck were you doing there?” Dagger interrupted him, his eyes darting between Nik and me frantically, “How did you even open a portal to get there?”

My mate cocked his head to the side and sent out a burst of shadow that shoved Dagger back slightly. Blade was standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest. Dagger’s face was pale. I could hear his rapid heartbeat, see the strength of it in his throat. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.

I climbed to my feet, stepping up beside Nik. My mate was tense, every muscle in his body taut as he stated, “This passage has always been there. What do you mean by ‘portal’?”

Blade snickered, “You expect us to believe that a portal to the Dying Lands just happened to be open in *this* castle and none of you knew?”

“That’s exactly what we expect,” I rolled my shoulders back, stepping up to Blade with a flat expression, “What the hell are the ‘Dying Lands’?”

“You have truly lost all of the important history of your species and these lands,” Dagger scoffed, taking a step back from Nik and me, “The Dying Lands are the fae lands that Velentaria was banished from.”

I froze as Blade stepped out of the passageway. Dagger followed him, stepping into my quarters. Blade poked his head back in, “Come. Clearly, there’s much the four of us need to discuss.”

Nik grabbed my hand, giving it a little squeeze as he tugged me along behind him. When we stepped into my quarters, Dagger and Blade were already sitting on the couches in front of the fire. They’d changed from their armor and were both dressed in casual sweats and t-shirts. I noted that they didn’t sit beside each other, but sat across from each other, sitting in ways so that every side of the room could be watched by one of them.

I took a seat beside Dagger and released Nik’s hand. He sat beside Blade, “Start talking.”

“You do not make demands of us,” Dagger pointed at me, “She does.”