Queen's Gambit - Karen Chance Page 0,37

what had possessed me to accompany Hassani down here in the first place.

He had promised to take me to the morgue where they were keeping the attackers’ corpses from last night. Louis-Cesare had already seen them, and probably gotten a clue as to where to start his search. It was something he hadn’t bothered to share with me, forcing me to retrace his steps in the hope that I’d notice whatever he had—which had sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan upstairs.

Here . . . was a different story.

This place was seriously creeping me out, and my overly suspicious brain was taking full advantage. It was busy pointing out that this was a damned long trip to the morgue, wasn’t it? One with no witnesses to anything that might happen along the way except for Lantern Boy, who was Hassani’s creature. The consul hadn’t hurt Louis-Cesare because that would have been tantamount to declaring war on our senate, but a filthy dhampir who had just attacked him? And who he probably blamed for the assault last night?

Shit.

My mood wasn’t improved when we entered yet another area of the temple. I still couldn’t see squat—even less than before, in fact, since the lamplight was no longer able to reach the ceiling. But whatever we were walking through suddenly felt bigger and airier, with our footsteps echoing loudly in absolute silence.

Well, almost absolute. The vamps weren’t bothering to breathe since they didn’t need it, but my own breaths sounded loud and ragged in my ears. Calm the hell down! I told myself sternly.

My adrenal glands told me to get fucked and pumped out some more energy I didn’t need and couldn’t use right now. It buzzed around in my veins, threatening to make me clumsy, although the crappy lighting and uneven floor were already doing that. The tiny puddle of lantern light seemed vanishingly small, leaving me feeling like I was walking through a big, black, echoing void, with the only thing keeping me from falling on my face the small area of rough-cut stone I could see directly in front of me.

And, eventually, that wasn’t enough.

I tripped on the crack between two huge stones and went down to one knee, and then almost jumped out of my skin when a hand cupped my elbow.

“My apologies,” Hassani said, his voice repeating eerily from all directions. The handsome, bearded face bent down into the puddle of light. “Our people see so well in the dark that I sometimes forget that others do not. But you should experience this.”

“Experience what?” I asked hoarsely, and heard my own voice echo.

I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to experience shit down here.

But it wasn’t up to me. Suddenly, a series of light flashes all but blinded me, to the point that I threw an arm over my eyes. And when I lowered it, blinking in a dazzling flood of illumination, I saw . . . something incredible.

I had wondered why Hassani’s court was smack in the middle of Old Cairo. Vampire enclaves tended to hug the outskirts of cities or be off in the hinterland somewhere. Wards were good, and the ones upstairs were next level. But they couldn’t hide everything as last night had proven. It was easier to make sure that any oddities were well beyond the range of prying eyes.

But now I understood.

Holy shit.

“The ancient Egyptians knew how to build,” Hassani said, appearing pleased by my reaction as he helped me back to my feet. And kept a hand on my arm to steady me, which I actually appreciated since I probably would have fallen again otherwise. I still might, I thought dizzily, staring up and then around at a long, octagonal chamber that could have fit three or four football fields. And their stands. And parts of their parking lots.

The damned thing was immense.

The ceiling soared out of sight, claimed by darkness despite the fact that each of the dozens of huge stone pillars supporting it had lights branching off of them. The massive torches were at least ten feet tall, but they looked tiny in comparison to everything else, and were woefully inadequate. And, damn it, I wanted to see this.

I fumbled in my jacket and came up with a small, golden bird that looked a lot like the spider I’d thrown at Hassani, which was probably why he eyed it apprehensively.

But this one was for me.

I tapped it against my temple, and the magical tat dissolved into my skin, leaving

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