24. Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Bronwyn

The room I find myself in as I exit the tunnel exceeds my wildest expectations. I have never seen anything like this, and my father's lair is set in a half-crumbled city built into a mountain, a remnant of the Higher Elves' societies before their great collapse that left them as outcasts.

Even with the wonders of that architecture and knowing how deep and vast underground chambers can be, I still find myself utterly stunned by what I behold. Dozens of waterfalls cascade down from hidden sources in the domed ceiling far overhead. They land in water that is green as if it belonged to the sea, churning and bubbling up, but the water toward the center of the room is crystalline and blue.

There is a single platform in the center of the room and on a raised dais is a rectangular box.

The resting place of Petrov Hansimov.

Mist rises up along the corners of the room, but the water surrounding the platform is entirely smooth. Uninterrupted by the churning waves surrounding it.

"This really is something," I breathe as I take it all in.

"If I ever die, make sure I'm buried in a place like this," Wilder says, his tone equally awestruck.

It's with a great effort that I force myself to lower my gaze. It lands on the dais. "The spellbook must be lying with Petrov in his tomb."

"And this is where I must interrupt you."

I startle at the loud voice ringing through the vast chamber, louder even than the roaring of the waterfalls.

I whirl to see Morozov standing behind me with a twisted smile on his face. Gregos is next to him, his arms crossed and a hard expression on his face.

"What?" I ask stumbling back a step. I glance at Wilder, wondering if maybe he double crossed me after all. I knew he was being suspiciously kind to me. He even apologized for bullying me and fool as I was, I believed him. But he looks just as befuddled as I am. "How?"

"You foolish girl, did you think that I would just allow you to walk free knowing our secrets without my reasons?" Morozov lets out a laugh that echoes through the room. My ears have started ringing. "I haven't trusted you from the start, and for clearly good reason. So, I watched you. And I saw that you spent an undue amount of time with that bookkeeper… Sofarynn was that her name?"

I glance again at Wilder, edging away from him.

"So, you decided to use me?" I ask.

"I decided you must have designs on the key. So I bided my time, I knew if I got Wilder upset enough he would tell you my plan, spilling his guts like the stuck pig he will be if he doesn't get back in line, and then it was only a matter of waiting for you to open the door and lead me straight to the very spellbook that is essential for my conquest of this world."

I move to the center of the path, blocking the way to the tomb with my body. If they want it, they will have to go through me. Or start swimming, I suppose. "Not if I have anything to say about it," I spit out.

Wilder throws me a glance full of terror, but Morozov only laughs. "Ah, Bronwyn the Eel, I have been looking into you, trying to figure out why you also want my book. From the outside your father appears to be a respected merchant, and the owner of the only successful inn in Ruskhazar. But at a deeper look I realized that things did not add up. Business partners disappear, competition disappears, so, so many disappearances are linked to your father. Did you know that your father's inn is the only one that has not had some calamity befall it?"

He takes a step forward, but I hold my ground, my eyes darting to Gregos.

"They say that inns are cursed here in Ruskhazar, and yet your father's is thriving. And his competition? Burn down, the owners are killed, food winds up with poison in it." He tilts his head. "So curious. That tied in with the many accidents in the shipping industry. Dangerous work, especially with the supposed reawakening of the krakens and yet the men dying are not the sailors. Instead, the danger lies with those who had any sort of say in your father's business?"

"I'll have you know that the inn is actually owned by my mother," I reply tightly. "It was a wedding gift."

"And yet the point still stands." Morozov smiles. "The atrocities I discovered that happened to landowners before your father bought their land do not even bear speaking."

"And yet you bring it up anyway."

"All I'm saying is that I know what type of man your father, this Elwis the Eel is. He is a man who exists in the shadows of life, he wields so much power and I would suspect that he carries even more power in the criminal realm of Ruskhazar than even I realize. I must have an audience with him."

"Bronwyn, what is he talking about?" Wilder asks, shifting a nervous glance toward me.

"My father does not grant audiences to men like you," I say ignoring Wilder.

"He will when he hears that I have his daughter."

I cannot help it, I snort. "That's a death sentence."

Morozov rolls his eyes. "Oh please, you won't be harmed. I'm sure I can convince your father to see reason. Especially when he sees you a vampire by my side." Morozov raises his hand, his palm up. "Come with me, together we will blot out the sun and usher in a new age. The elves and men have had their time to rule, now it is time to bring about the era of the undead."

I back up a step; my eyes darting from Morozov to Gregos who has begun to circle around so that I can only face one at a time. My back bumps Wilder's chest, he must have moved behind me when I wasn't preoccupied with Morozov. I turn to look at him.

"Zubkov, this is your chance to be a man," Gregos calls. "Bite her."

My fingers move down to my spellbook as I watch Wilder's neck bob as he swallows.

"Don't do this, Wilder, you're better than this," I hiss.

"Ironic that you will tell me who I am, but I have no idea who you are. Who are you, Bronwyn?"

"I—" I begin but then I swallow. I'm my father's daughter, how can Wilder truly know me if he doesn't know my father?

Wilder shakes his head, confusion and betrayal shifting across his expression. He backs up a step, moving another one before he turns and takes off running toward the center of the room.

"Wilder!" I shout.

Before I can move to stop him, I spot Gregos moving out of the corner of my eye. I whirl, pulling my spellbook out of its special leather holder in my belt, opening to the page inscribed with my fire spells. If these vampires think they can take me, turn me into one of them, and use me as a hostage against my father then they are sorely mistaken.

And then after them, I'll have to figure out some way to deal with Wilder Zubkov.