Magic Undying (Dragon's Gift: The Seeker #1)(25)

The potion had me woozy, but I staggered toward him. When I bumped into his solid body, I finally had the presence of mind to raise my hand and ignite the lightstone ring that I wore.

The golden glow illuminated Roarke’s still face and the powdery potion in his hair. My heart thundered, and worry made my breath come short as I tried to brush the powder out of his dark locks.

“Wake up!” I shook his shoulder, still seeing double myself. This damned potion was strong.

Eventually, his eyes cracked open and he groaned, then sat upright. He loomed over me, and I reached up to pat his cheeks.

“Wake up, big guy.”

He blinked, his gaze finally focusing on me. It sharpened almost immediately as he threw off the effects of the potion.

“Where are we?” he demanded.

“Locked up. No windows.” I shined the light around the room, revealing a small square space with one door. There was nothing else in the room, but there was a strange sense of residual magic with a thousand different signatures that I couldn’t identify. Like potions had once been stored here.

“So this wasn’t just an illusion,” Roarke said.

“Nope. The place came alive.”

“That’s a strong enchantment.”

“Damned good hiding place for the demon. He’s got his own security force and everything.”

Roarke nodded and stood, then stalked the room, searching the walls and finally the door.

“We’re stuck.”

“Not for long.” He turned to me. “Try to figure out where the demon is. We need to head in the right direction when we get out of here.”

I nodded and sat down hard on my butt. I needed all the focus I could get since I was still a bit off from that potion bomb. Even standing wasn’t super easy at this point. As I drew a deep breath, I focused on keeping my magical signature repressed while I called upon my dragon sense.

It thrummed inside of me as I envisioned the Ubilaz demon’s ugly face, and I let my dragon sense roam. It tugged me from behind. And lower. Near sea level.

I opened my eyes and looked at Roarke, then pointed to the wall opposite the door. “He’s on the other side of this wall. Low, near the sea, I think. Though I’ve no idea why my seeker sense led me here instead of there.”

Roarke walked to the wall and pressed his palms to it. “This could be an exterior wall.”

“That makes sense. When we first arrived, I wasn’t sure the demon was even in the castle. But he could be on the other side. On that piece of protected land that jutted out into the sea.”

“Or down at sea level, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Give me a moment, and we’ll be out of here.”

“A castle this age, the walls are at least three feet thick and made of stone.”

“Not a problem.”

All right. I stepped back instinctually as black mist swirled around Roarke. When it faded, the dark demon stood with his back to me.

Up close, I could see that his wings were a million shades of gray and black, shimmering in the glow of my lightstone ring. Really pretty, actually.

He reached up and gripped the stones like one would grip elevator doors to pry them open. A second later, there was an explosion of rock as he tore his way through the stone wall.

“Whoa.” I stared, wide-eyed, at the gaping hole in the wall.

In the distance, the black ocean roiled on the other side. He’d been right. This was an exterior wall built along the cliff.

I approached slowly and peered left and right. In both directions, the castle’s outer wall was built up directly from the cliffside, which plunged into the sea below. When I peered down at the waves crashing into the rocks, I caught sight of notches in the stone wall. Like a narrow staircase.

My dragon sense pulled hard, indicating that the Ubilaz demon was at sea level.

The only way to access it was exactly the way that Roarke had—by blowing a hole in the castle wall. Maybe in present day, without the magic that had brought this place to life, this wall wasn’t even here.

“Go.” His voice was far deeper when he was in this form, like gravel scraping against gravel. “The noise may have alerted the guards.”

“Okay.” I climbed out the hole in the wall and stood at the precipice.

I knocked on my head, then made my way gingerly to the stairs that were carved into the cliffside. One wrong move and I’d be headed straight for the sea, going way too fast.

A door slammed, and I looked up, back into the room. Four figures streamed through the door.

“Go!” Roarke yelled. “I’ll hold them off.”

He grabbed one by the throat and threw him into the wall of the cell. Any hesitation I’d had about leaving him to fight four against one disappeared. He could handle himself, and someone needed to find this demon.

Anyway, Roarke could just fly out of there if he didn’t like the situation.

The wind whipped my hair around my face as I scrambled down the stairs as carefully as I could. I strained my ears to hear sounds of the battle above, but got only the sound of crashing waves. Wherever possible, I gripped stones that jutted out from the cliff wall. Dirt wedged under my fingernails as I clung on.

By the time I made it to the narrow beach at the bottom, I was sweating. My boots splashed in the waves, and I hopped off the step. Roarke landed next to me, looking scary as usual, but completely calm. The moonlight glinted off his shimmering gray skin.