Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,90

as low as I could.

“Yes, I’m here to help you. Herne sent me. I can see in the dark.” He roughly grabbed my wrist. “Let me lead.”

I had no choice. If it were just me, I’d have to either turn on my flashlight or turn back. I said nothing as he dragged me along, hissing a warning when we came to a rough patch in the tunnel, or when I needed to sidestep a hole.

As we hurried along to—well, I didn’t know where we were going—I thought about the dragons that Herne and his mother were fighting. They looked as ruthless as Herne had described them. And then it occurred to me that we might find bigger, scarier dragons down here.

“Focus, damn it,” Trinity whispered as I stumbled over a rock. “You may not be able to see, but I need you to pay attention.” He squeezed my arm, shaking me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry,” I muttered. I couldn’t argue with him—I had been lost in my thoughts and I had slowed down.

We continued on. We were headed down a slope, deep into the earth. I tried not to think about how much rockfall and dirt were piling up over our heads, but instead focused on Raven, keeping her firmly in my thoughts. We had to find her. I concentrated on putting my feet firmly one in front of the other as Trinity dragged me down the sloping incline.

A few moments later, he slowed, then squeezed my arm for me to stop. I could almost make him out now. My eyes had adapted to the dark, and I was also seeing his aura. It was brilliant green, like the green of leaves under the afternoon sun. I closed my eyes, trying to see if I could sense Raven’s presence.

And there it was…I felt a shriek race past. Filled with pain and rage, it crackled with fire. Raven’s fire. Feeling sick to my stomach, I tapped Trinity on the arm and whispered to him.

“I can feel her near.”

“Look for light. Pandora works in the darkness, but she can’t see to… She needs light to do what she does to her victims.” Trinity paused, then said, “There, up ahead. My vision is blurring and it only does that in the dark, when light begins to cloud it.”

We crept along until Trinity stopped me. “You’re still making too much noise,” he whispered. “If she’s near, she’ll hear you.” Then, before I could say a word, he knelt. “Get on my back. I’ll carry you. I can move far more silently than you can.”

I didn’t argue. I climbed on his back. He wrapped his arms under my legs as I held tight to his shoulders. I knew better than wrap my arms around his neck. I didn’t want to choke him.

He started off again, as silent as a shadow. My thoughts drifted back to the surface, and I wondered how they were faring with the two dragons. But before I could get lost down that road, I forced my attention back to the present, to the darkness and Trinity, and to Raven who was somewhere down here, fighting for her life.

We must have gone another quarter mile when Trinity stopped. I blinked, realized that I was seeing a faint light from an opening to the side up ahead. I could see Trinity’s silhouette now, so I leaned as close as I could to whisper to him.

“What do we do?”

He knelt again, letting me climb off his back. “You stay here while I sneak ahead and have a look.” He began to creep forward. I leaned against the rock wall, snapping open the binding on my sword. With one hand on the hilt of Brighid’s Flame, I waited, trying not to hold my breath.

As Trinity drew farther away, I could feel a shift. His energy had kept some of the darkness at bay, but now I could feel creatures swirling around me. They weren’t corporeal. I didn’t even know if they were astral, but I felt as though I had fallen into a field of writhing snakes. The air around me churned and I had to force myself to breathe. Whatever they were, the creatures felt as though they were suffocating me. I prayed they wouldn’t notice me, because even at this point, I could tell they were dangerous and chaotic.

Trinity crept along the wall of the tunnel, and I realized that the grade had evened out. We were no longer sloping downward. I could