Heartless Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 3)

“I have to admit, it’s pretty clever.” Audrey blew out a short laugh and shook her head as she stared into the tunnel before us. “The middle path always feels like it should be the right one, which is why no one picks it because it would be too easy. So to have it actually be that one both times really makes sure that people waste time going down at least two dead ends.”

I shot a glance towards the tunnel on the left that we had just returned from. It spiraled in on itself just like the one on the right did. The one I had chased Audrey down a few hours ago. Lingering dread swirled up inside me just thinking about it.

“And since this is the only one left, it has to be this one,” Audrey finished before I could dwell too much on what had happened last night.

“Agreed.”

She shifted her pack on her shoulders and then started forward. “Let’s get going then.”

Since she had already moved ahead, I didn’t bother nodding because she wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. Instead, I just followed her into the tunnel. While I walked, my stomach growled.

After the… events in that dead end, Audrey and I had returned to the cavern where our packs still waited, and stolen another few hours of sleep. The water we had swam through had fortunately turned out to be drinkable, so our waterskins were full. Food, however, was a bit more difficult.

We had only been able to bring a few vegetables, a bit of dried meat, and some hard cheese. And since we didn’t know how long it would take to reach the Enhancer, we had to ration it as if we would be down here for days. We ate enough to keep us going, but damn, I was still hungry.

As if on cue, my stomach let out another discontented noise.

Audrey chuckled.

“As if you’re not hungry too,” I muttered in reply.

“Of course I am.” She threw me a look of smug superiority. “But as always, I’m much better at hiding things.”

“Again, you keep saying that, but it’s not really true, is it?”

“If you’re yet again about to bring up the one time you managed to outsmart me, I might actually strain my muscles from how hard I roll my eyes.”

“Except that one time landed you as a prisoner in my dungeon.”

“Which I got out of just fine.”

“By groveling before my feet and begging me to let you move into a room instead.”

Narrowing her eyes, she looked up at me. “I meant getting my freedom back. Which, if you recall, involved you begging me for help.”

I snorted. “I think you and I remember that day very differently.”

“Convenient.”

“Very.”

Amusement pulled at her lips, though she tried very hard to hide it, while she waved a dismissive hand in front of her face. “Regardless, the point still stands. Apart from that one time at The First and Last Stop, you have never been able to successfully lie to me. Which means that I am better at hiding things than you.”

Oh she really had no idea that I had successfully been hiding an incredibly dangerous truth from her for weeks now. After spending so much time together, I could barely believe that I had managed to keep her from realizing how I truly felt about her. But by some miracle, I had managed it. And now I just needed to keep it up until we finished this war with Eldar.

A rumbling sound echoed into the silence as Audrey’s stomach suddenly let out a growl as well.

It drew a surprised laugh from me. Turning my head to look at her, I raised my eyebrows in smug amusement. “You were saying?”

She glared at me before dragging her gaze back to the tunnel ahead and huffing out an embarrassed, “Shut up.”

I chuckled again.

Then my gaze drifted down from her face and towards her neck. The red marks I had put there had now darkened slightly. Another wave of guilt washed over me.

Fuck, that had been one of the most terrifying things I had ever experienced. I was always in control. Of both myself and others. So to feel my consciousness slipping through my fingers like that had been truly horrifying.

It had to have been those glittering flowers that went flying everywhere when that block of stone crashed down from the wall. And if Audrey’s poison didn’t work on them, they had to have been created by someone. Probably an emotion mage.

When it had started taking over me, all of my other emotions had disappeared one after the other until all I could feel was how much I wanted to slaughter everyone in sight. If I hadn’t woken Audrey up when I did, I would have killed her in her sleep right then. And Henry too, if he had been with us. The thought of that sent a shiver crawling down my spine.

As the image of those red and gold glittering flowers flashed before my eyes again, I couldn’t help but wonder if Grant was also capable of creating something like that and if that was the reason why the people who went into his gardens unauthorized never made it back out. If he was, I would have to be even more careful around him from now on.

“How’s your neck?” I asked as my gaze dipped down to the handprint around her throat again.

“A bit tender.” Looking up at me, she lifted her shoulders in a casual shrug. “But other than that, it’s fine.”

There were so many other things I wanted to tell her, but all I managed to say was, “Good.”

She slid her gaze back to the tunnel ahead. I did too. For a while, only the faint sound of our footsteps echoed against the dark stone walls.

I hated that I had done that to her. In comparison, I knew that I had done much worse things to her during the course of our war. But this was different. Because this time, I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. And because… I loved her.

My heart did a couple of hard beats in my chest every time that thought blew through my mind.

While continuing forwards, I stole another glance at Audrey. I could barely believe that she had wanted me to touch her again last night after what I had almost done to her. But I was incredibly grateful that she had because I had needed it too. I hadn’t even realized how much I had needed it until I had kissed her.

And those words… I’m safe in your hands. I had needed to remind myself that it was true. That it hadn’t truly been me who hurt her. That I was back in control again. If we had left things the way they were when I regained consciousness, I don’t think I would have trusted myself to put my hands on her later because the memory of waking up and finding myself strangling her like that would have been all I’d be able to see.

She truly had been right about the importance of replacing those memories before they could settle. It was more or less the same concept as getting back up on a horse straight away after being thrown off instead of letting that fear take root.

A small smile blew across my lips. She really was an intelligent one.

“Callan,” she suddenly said, an urgent note to her voice. “Look.”

I tore my eyes from her beautiful face and instead shifted my attention back to the tunnel ahead. Anticipation shot through me.

Up ahead, the tunnel ended in another vaulted doorway. Beyond it was a small cavern that was bathed in bright light from what had to be an entire ceiling packed full of white crystals, and there looked to be a pedestal in the middle of it.

The glowing light spilled out of the doorway and brightened the dark stone ground at the end of the tunnel too. I flicked my gaze back and forth. There were no other pathways. This had to be it.

“Be on the lookout for traps,” I said.

She clicked her tongue and shot me an irritated look. “What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time?”

“Just…” I forced out a long breath while scanning the area ahead. “Be careful.”

She didn’t reply.

I kept my eyes on the path ahead as we walked the final distance to the doorway. We moved even slower than before, but there were no traps set into the tunnel.

When we at last reached the opening, I threw out an arm to block her way before she could go inside.

“I know,” she ground out, and then put her hand on my arm to shove it down.

I let her.

Standing side by side just outside the doorway, we peered into the brightly lit cavern.

My heart rate sped up.

There was indeed a rough stone pedestal in the middle of the room, and on it was a glove made of some kind of gold-colored metal. It wasn’t smooth, like a real glove would be. Or even solid. Instead, each finger was made up of a pair of slim rods with joints in the same places that the real ones would be. Between the rods was just open space. There were also two flat pieces that were set so that they would cover the person’s palm as well as the back of their hand. And then it ended with what looked to be a thin adjustable chain around the wrist. Also in a golden color, of course.

So, there it was.

The Enhancer.

“It’s rather ugly, isn’t it?”

A surprised huff of amusement tore from my throat. I looked down to find Audrey scowling at the metal glove. It made her scrunch up her nose a little, and I had to fight down the sudden impulse to draw my thumb over her cheek to smoothen out her features.

Giving my head a quick shake to clear it, I returned my attention to the cavern. “Yeah, it is.”

“Such a long exhausting journey for such a terribly dreary thing.”

“Yeah. But at least we can be sure it’s the real deal.”

“Yes,” she began, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “The dark mages who hid it here might have neglected to mention the wooden spikes, the unscalable wall, the underwater tunnel, the sliding stone openings, the giant insects, the mind-altering flowers, and the two dead ends, but hey, at least they deigned to pass down the information that they had not gone to the trouble of planting a fake Enhancer just to screw with us.”

“Watch that tone. I’m just as pissed off with all their traps as you are.”

“Then let’s just get this damn thing and be done with it.”

“Agreed.”

However, neither one of us moved. We just remained standing there outside the doorway, scanning the cavern ahead.

Just as I had guessed, the whole ceiling was packed with white crystals. Well, everything except a round spot right above the Enhancer where only dark stone was visible. The walls were made of slightly uneven rock while the ground was a patchwork of square-shaped stones.

I heaved a deep sigh. “How many traps do you think are in there?”

“As in total numbers or how many different kinds?”

“Different kinds.”

“I’ll go with two.”

“Really? My guess is at least five.”

Looking up at me, she flashed me a wicked grin. “Then let’s make a bet out of it. Loser has to treat the winner to…” she ran her gaze up and down my body, “something pleasurable.”

I chuckled. “Deal.”

“Well then, let’s get to it.”

After dropping her pack on the ground outside the chamber, she touched her palms together and sent a massive cloud of poison in through the doorway. I placed my own pack next to hers while green mist swirled through the cavern.

Nothing happened, so she let it dissipate. I moved up to stand next to her.

“Want me to throw a force wall in there?” I asked.

“To do what? Knock the Enhancer off the pedestal?”

“What did you think your poison cloud would accomplish?”

“I don’t know. See if a trap was triggered by something moving?”

“Looks like we’ll have to figure that out the hard way.”

“Yeah.”

She stuck her leg through the doorway and gently tapped the first square-shaped stone. When nothing shot out to attack her, she stepped across the threshold and moved her full weight onto it.

Again, nothing happened.

Glancing back over at me, she shrugged. Then she lifted her foot and shifted it towards the next stone.

The ground beneath her disappeared.