Chapter 339

Chapter 339
My heart skips a beat and I freeze.

I stare at her, blinking. “The same ones who wiped out the hunters?”

My voice sounds oddly distant even to my own ears.

Scarlette nods, making my jaw fall open. She smiles crookedly and stretches her arms towards the sky as though we’re discussing the weather.

“They owe me a favour.”

“How did you—”

Before I can finish, she raises one hand and catches her elbow with the other, then winks.

The meaning is obvious.

That’s a secret.

I narrow my eyes at her. She only smiles wider.

“Would they even agree to meet me? And would they know anything?”

“They’ve lived for over a thousand years,” she says with complete conviction. “They’ll know something.”

My pulse quickens. For the first time since arriving in Laos, genuine hope floods through me. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is the lead we’ve been searching for.

Inside our shared mental space, Zinnia lies sprawled on her stomach, apparently asleep. One ruby eye slowly opens. She looks at me, closes it again, and a smug grin curls across her muzzle.

I narrow my eyes.

She isn’t going to tell me anything.

Still, I know exactly what that expression means.

I’m getting closer.

One step closer to the truth.

“When do we leave?” I ask immediately. “And where are they?”

“I can’t tell you where they are, but I can take you there.” Excitement surges through me until she adds, “However, we have to leave before Drix finds out, because only you can come.”

Across from us, Gillian releases a long sigh.

“You know you’re signing my death warrant, right?”

His smile is tight.

Scarlette ignores him completely and crooks a finger at me, signalling for me to come into the water. The smirk on her face makes my stomach sink.

I know that look.

She’s planning to use her water teleportation spell again.

I still hate that spell. I hated it the first time, hated it the second time, and I am fully prepared to hate it forever. I’d sworn never to use it again.

Unfortunately, finding the truth matters far more than my personal grievances with magical transportation.

I jump into the lake.

“Just tell him I took her somewhere and it’s a secret place,” Scarlette says to Gillian as I take her hand. “You can tell him it’s the home of the fox deities and that I stole her away before you could stop me.”

Before I can respond, she spins me around and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling my back firmly against her chest.

My back immediately squashes against her breasts.

I blink.

Then involuntarily notice that they’re somehow even bigger than before.

“Nice boobs,” I comment.

Scarlette giggles.

“Why, thank you.”

Across from us, Gillian snaps his fingers in exasperation.

“Hey! Focus here!” he shouts. “The two of you can’t just leave without informing the alpha. I already told him you’re trying to kidnap his wife. He’s running back here right now.”

Scarlette tightens her hold around my waist and presses me more firmly against her chest.

“Like I said,” she says smugly, “I stole her before you could do anything.”

Gillian lets out an unimpressed snort.

“And what makes you think I’ll let that happen?”

Neither of us answers immediately.

Beneath us, the water begins to move.

At first, the shift is subtle. Gentle ripples spread across the surface before gathering into a slow rotation around our legs. The current gradually picks up speed, the water circling faster and faster until a whirlpool begins to form beneath us.

Gillian is too busy glaring at Scarlette to notice.

Scarlette, of course, knows this.

Her grin widens.

“Because I can do this.”

She flicks her wrist.

A pillar of water explodes from the lake.

“Bloody—”

The torrent slams directly into Gillian before he can react, lifting him clean off the rock and launching him backwards. He crashes through a tree with enough force to split the trunk apart, the crack echoing across the waterfall.

“Ta-ta, my little cutie!” Scarlette shrieks.

Then she bursts into maniacal laughter.

The whirlpool beneath us immediately gives way.

The water opens underneath my feet and drags us down.

I squeeze my eyes shut.

No matter how many times I experience Scarlette’s teleportation spell, it never becomes easier.

The sensation is horrific.

It feels as though something enormous has swallowed me whole. Invisible fangs scrape across every inch of my body, chewing through skin, muscle and bone without actually damaging any of it. The pressure squeezes from every direction at once, crushing and stretching me simultaneously.

Then comes the worst part.

The spell spits me back out.

My stomach lurches violently.

The moment my feet hit solid ground, I collapse onto all fours. Bile burns the back of my throat as I struggle to keep my breakfast where it belongs.

Nearby, Scarlette straightens as casually as if she’d stepped through a doorway.

Not a hair out of place.

Not even a hint of nausea.

I hate her.

Groaning, I force myself upright. The room immediately tilts. I stagger backwards, fighting a fresh wave of dizziness, and nearly fall over again.

Then I finally notice where we are.

The nausea instantly becomes secondary.

We are inside a building.

Massive pillars stretch towards a distant ceiling, their design vaguely reminding me of the temples I’d seen in Greece. Yet the similarities end there. The architecture is completely foreign. The walls are crafted from a smooth, gleaming material I cannot identify, reflecting the light in ways that make the entire structure seem almost unreal.

Slowly, I turn around.

Behind us lies a small blue lake.

At its centre rises an elegant fountain, water spilling endlessly into the pool below.

The entire thing is indoors.

My mouth falls open.

“Where are we?”

“Inside a pagoda,” Scarlette replies as though this is perfectly normal. “This is the home of the deities.”

I stare at her.

Then at the building.

Then back at her again.

Somehow, while I was busy trying not to vomit, she has acquired a coat and is pulling it on.

I have absolutely no idea where it came from.

Before I can ask, she turns and starts walking away.

“Come.”

I take a step after Scarlette and nearly plant my face into the floor.

The dizziness hasn’t completely left me yet.

A sharp wave of vertigo sweeps through my head, forcing me to windmill my arms before I lose my balance entirely. Somehow, I manage to recover with what little dignity I have left and hurry after her.

As we move deeper into the structure, my attention shifts from my protesting stomach to the surroundings.

The interior is breathtaking.

Gold, red, and white flow seamlessly throughout the pagoda, woven into every corner with a level of craftsmanship that borders on impossible. Intricate carvings cover the pillars and walls, depicting creatures, landscapes and symbols I don’t recognise. Polished surfaces gleam beneath the warm light, while high ceilings stretch overhead with an elegance that makes the entire place feel unreal.

It doesn’t feel like a temple.

It feels like a palace.

A palace built by beings who have never had to consider limitations such as money, labour, time, or common sense.

The further we walk, the better I feel. The nausea gradually loosens its grip until it becomes nothing more than a lingering discomfort at the back of my mind.

Then we reach the stairs.

I stop.

And stare.

The staircase rises before us like a monument to cruelty.

Each step is enormous, absurdly tall and broad, as though whoever designed it had never encountered a normal-sized person in their life.

Scarlette doesn’t even hesitate.

She starts climbing.

I follow with considerably less enthusiasm.

After the fourth flight, my legs begin questioning my judgement.

After the sixth, I seriously consider turning around and throwing myself back into Scarlette’s cursed teleportation lake.

At least drowning would be quicker.

Scarlette, meanwhile, continues climbing as though she’s taking a leisurely stroll through a garden.

I begin to suspect she’s enjoying my suffering.

By the time we finally reach the eighth floor, my lungs are burning, my legs feel detached from my body, and I am entirely convinced the fox deities designed these stairs specifically to eliminate visitors before they ever reached the top.

Then Scarlette pushes open a set of massive doors.

I step through them and immediately forget every complaint.

The room beyond is the largest chamber I have ever seen.

My gaze travels upwards, then upwards some more.

The ceiling seems impossibly distant. Vast pillars stretch towards it like the trunks of ancient trees, and the space itself feels large enough to swallow entire buildings.

And then I understand why the staircase was so enormous.

The beings occupying the room are enormous too.