The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(43)

Demeter and Vincent were trying to say something, their mouths wide, but Alex couldn’t hear them above the din.

“WHAT?” Alex screamed.

This time, he realized what the two men were saying: Run! Hide! Get out of here!

Alex didn’t even have a chance to grab the Stillwater essence Ellabell had hidden a few feet further up the corridor in preparation. All he could do was dive toward the nearest door. He saw Ellabell and Natalie throw themselves into a cell just ahead, with Aamir and Jari following suit through another door at the top of the hall. Vincent and Agatha sprinted past him with surprising speed.

Alex broke the lock to the cell with a twist of his anti-magic and jumped inside, slamming the door behind him. He peered through the grate. Demeter and Lintz whispered hurriedly in the corner, brushing down the fronts of their gray uniforms and sweeping their hair back, their faces pale pictures of abject fear.

The ground continued to shake, and Alex felt as if the whole keep might crumble and collapse on top of them. Clusters of dust and debris dropped from the ancient ceiling, chunks of rock falling away from the walls.

This wasn’t right. They had known Caius would come, and so the reaction of Vincent, Demeter, and Lintz didn’t make sense. They were truly, wholeheartedly terrified of what was coming, and Alex had no idea why.





Chapter 13





The earthquake ceased as suddenly as it had begun, although the suffering cries of the inmates still echoed through the Keep. Alex glanced behind him, unnerved. He could feel the burn of eyes, watching him. Turning slowly, he peered into the darkness. With a startled gasp, he saw a hunched figure, crouched down in one corner of the cell. The beady eyes of an ugly, sagging face followed him, a rotten-toothed smile stretching across the pale skin of the frightening troglodyte. The limbs of the prisoner stuck out at unnatural angles, the hair limp and greasy.

Piercing the unpleasant tension, the man began to laugh hysterically, the sound jarring amid the shouting. Alex wanted to shut him up, but he didn’t dare get close. He had no idea what the prisoner was in here for, and he didn’t think it wise to go toe-to-toe with a murderer.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the flagstones outside distracted Alex’s attention, though he was careful to keep one eye on the manically laughing man.

“What do I have to do to find someone who has at least bathed in the last fortnight?” a sharp voice bellowed from the end of the hallway just beyond Alex’s line of vision. The prison went silent, the only sound the cackling of Alex’s cellmate.

Lintz and Demeter stood at attention outside Alex’s cell, and though they must have known he was in there, they didn’t as much as flash a glance in his direction. It made Alex all the more nervous. Hadn’t it been the plan all along to fight Caius?

“King Julius, an unexpected pleasure,” said Demeter, his voice trembling as he bowed low.

Alex’s heart rose into his throat as he realized why they were so afraid. It wasn’t Caius after all. It was far worse than that—it was his brother. Hadn’t Vincent said that Julius made the warden’s box of tricks look like a parcel of kittens? Alex shuddered, wondering how they had managed to summon the even crueler brother. He had the sinking feeling they had missed something in the mechanisms—an alarm of some sort, perhaps, that had somehow caught the attention of the king instead. It was likely the reason removing the shield hadn’t provoked the red fog.

Alex held his breath as King Julius came into view. His harsh, regal features were framed by royal white hair. There was a cruelness around his mouth, the smile he gave Demeter and Lintz devoid of any pleasantry. His eyes were a piercing, pure gold that shone with amused malice, and his skin lacked any wrinkles, despite his age. Alex supposed the king sipped from the same youth serum as Alypia. Julius’s stride was tall and proud, and he wore a cream-colored suit that resembled military dress, with black epaulettes, a high collar, and several medals dangling from his chest.

Julius cracked his fingers. His golden eyes rolled in annoyance, and Alex felt his entire body tense as he waited to see what Julius was about to do. The man behind Alex was still laughing hysterically, the sound cutting straight through Alex like a scythe. It was impossible to block out, and it seemed the king shared his irritation.

“Open this cell,” Julius demanded, turning toward where Alex was staring out. Alex ducked into the corner of the room, pressing back against the wall.

“Nothing in there but two petty thieves, Your Highness,” said Lintz quickly, stumbling over his words.

Julius eyed Lintz sharply. “Open this cell, or you shall receive the punishment yourself.”

Lintz glanced between the cell and the king, his mouth agape. Demeter hurried forward and made a show of opening the already broken lock, pulling the door toward him and gesturing for Julius to step inside.

“After you, Your Highness.”

“At least one of you has his wits about him,” Julius snarled.

Alex pressed himself farther back into the corner of the cell as Julius entered, using the door as extra shelter. The king stepped toward the laughing man, who continued in his mania. Whatever had happened to the guy while he had been at Kingstone Keep, it had removed all of his senses. Any functioning person could see that Julius was incredibly dangerous, and incredibly unpredictable.

“You! Shut your mouth. You are in the presence of a king,” Julius snapped, but it did nothing to shut the laughing man up. “You dare defy me, you vile wretch? You dare to laugh in my face?” Julius asked calmly. Then he smacked the poor man hard across the face. It silenced his laughter for a split second, but then the cackling sound rose from the prisoner’s throat once more, even more manic than before.