Chapter 151 A Sudden Maze
Kira's POV
I stood there, pulse roaring in my ears, the soft sound still echoing faintly like it had wormed its way into my bones.
The corridor felt alive now…wrong in a way that made my skin crawl.
Liana’s stories slammed back into me full force, the ones she’d spilled in hushed tones during those times I was still trying to learn more about this mythical realm.
“Don’t ever trust anyone…especially the king or anything else in the palace,” she’d said, eyes darting like someone might overhear.
“The walls shift when you’re not looking…you must know that is the king trying to trap you deeper in the palace so he can use you for sacrifice to save himself. The whole place is evil, Kira. It feeds on secrets and weak people like you and me. We only have each other.”
My heart froze the more I thought about and my mouth went dry.
Could it be as she said?
Is Adrian pressing some magical buttons to trap me so that I will end up as a sacrifice?
‘I say bullshit,’ I heard Leah sneer back. ‘Don't trust a word that Liana girl ever told you. Our mate will never harm us.’
Maybe I should believe what Leah said. She's the more experienced one with all these werewolf stuff. Besides, Adrian can't be thinking of killing me when we just got married…right?
But if this isn't some elaborate plan to use me as a sacrifice? What the hell is going on?
I gulped hard, the sound too loud in the silence. Fear wrapped tight around my throat.
To keep from screaming, I started humming that old lullaby my mom used to sing…low and shaky, the one about lights guiding kids home when they get lost.
My voice cracked on the notes, but I kept going. Anything to push back the dark.
‘Please lights…guide me out of this place,’ I said to myself.
Then the sound returned. Clearer. sharper. Not wind. Not imagination.
‘Come find me.’
The words slithered through the corridor like smoke.
My stomach lurched. Hell no. I was not becoming one of those stupid girls in horror movies…the ones who hear a noise and yell “Hello?” while walking straight into the trap.
I was getting out. Because I'm a smart girl.
I whipped around, ready to sprint back to the main wing, and reached for the communication link.
‘Victoria? I’m lost…really lost. Come find me, please.’
Dead air. Just a weird unnatural buzzing static, like the connection had been sliced clean. I tried again, pouring every bit of focus I had into it. Nothing. Frustration burned hot under the fear.
Why isn't it working?!
‘Try and see if we can link with Adrian,’ I heard Leah saying and l gulped. He won't be happy that I'm here. He said to stay put and I didn't. But I'm too scared to dwell on his reaction if he finds out I left the room.
I have to try and connect with him.
‘Adrian?’ I called next, voice trembling even in my head. ‘I left the room. Something’s blocking everything. I need you.’
Same wall. Total silence. Like the palace had thrown up invisible barriers just for me.
Dread crashed over me in a freezing wave, so thick it made my knees buckle for a second.
“This isn’t happening,” I whispered. I spun sharply and bolted, feet pounding the stone, breath ripping in and out in panicked gasps. “Leah! Shift…help me! Find the way out, do anything!”
Leah answered, but her voice sounded distant, strained, like she was shouting through thick glass. ‘I’m trying, Kira… but it’s you. You’re blocking me somehow. I can’t reach the shift.’
“How the hell am I blocking you when I’m screaming for help?!” I yelled inside my head, terror sharpening my tone.
‘Stop shouting at me!’ Leah snapped back, frustration bleeding through.
“I’m not shouting!” I screamed out loud this time, the words bouncing wildly off the walls.
I ran harder, lungs burning, until I skidded to a halt in front of the exact same dark corridor. The one that looked like it dropped straight into nothing…no end, no light, just endless black that seemed to breathe.
How? I’d run straight. Turned corners. Yet here I was again, like the palace had looped me on purpose.
A low chuckle almost escaped me…hysterical, not funny. The walls were playing games. Shifting. Just like in movies.
This is not happening.
Maybe I should just stay put and wait. Someone would notice. Adrian would storm through any second, scolding me for not listening, then wrap me in that protective grip of his.
Or… what if I step forward into the unknown?
My throat clicked as I swallowed again. Every instinct screamed a bad idea. But standing still felt like waiting to be eaten.
So I did the one thing every doomed girl in every horror flick does right before the credits roll on her scream.
“Hello?” My voice came out small and cracked. It echoed back distorted, like the corridor had twisted it into something mocking.
I took the first step in anyway, then another, heart slamming so hard I could feel it in my teeth.
A rush of cold air whipped past me…something solid, a figure moving lightning-fast, brushing my arm with icy fingers before vanishing deeper into the pit.
Adrenaline spiked. “Hey! Wait!” I shouted, chasing without thinking. “I want out of here…tell me how to leave! Stop! I’m talking to you!” My voice rose, raw and desperate. “I’m the queen! Listen to me, damn it!”
The figure didn’t slow. I didn’t either. Deeper we went, the last traces of light dying behind me until pure darkness swallowed everything.
No walls I could touch. No floor that felt solid. Just running blind, breath ragged, the air growing colder and heavier like it wanted to crush me.
Then the piercing howl ripped through the black…louder, anguished, vibrating in my chest.
‘Come find me!’
I screamed right back, fury and fear exploding together. “Who the fuck are you? And why do I need to find you? Show yourself!”
‘Please don't show yourself. My heart can't take it,’ I prayed silently.
Silence slammed down. Total. suffocating. No howl. No footsteps. Just my own heaving breaths and the pounding of blood in my ears.
I stood panting, sweat stinging my eyes even in the chill.
Then a new thought hit like lightning…the man from my dreams. The one with the exact same symbol etched on his back as the one on my arm.
The shadowy figure who’d appeared in those fevered visions and in the bathroom mirror of the hotel, always watching, always pulling at something deep inside me.
Could it be him? Trapped here? Calling me through the palace’s twisted secrets?
My foot moved forward on its own, one more shaky step into the void.
Just then, a cold hand..ice-cold, impossibly strong…pressed down on my shoulder from behind, fingers digging in like claws ready to claim me.
Everything inside me locked up.
My scream died in my throat. The air turned to knives. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think past the single, horrifying realization that whatever had been calling me… had finally found me instead.
And it was right behind me.