in this maze of rock and darkness, freedom wouldn’t be her only concern. Dying of hypothermia would quickly shoot to the top of that list.
“Come on!” Ana called from somewhere ahead.
Talisa felt her way along the uneven rock walls, using them as a guide as she followed Ana’s voice. At the corner, she spotted the nymph’s torchlight, relieved she hadn’t left her.
The passageway was narrow, only wide enough for one person at a time. In several places, Talisa had to duck to keep from smacking her head on the rocks above. They seemed to be going down, but Talisa couldn’t be sure, and every time Ana rounded a corner, the walls grew dark and hard to see once again, disorienting Talisa even more.
Her heart raced. The scents of mildew and dirt were even stronger here. Talisa wanted to ask how much farther but kept quiet, just in case anyone else was in these tunnels. Then she heard the sound. Faint at first but growing stronger with every step.
Rushing water. Like from a waterfall.
Ana had rounded another corner ahead, taking the torchlight with her. Feeling her way along the stone walls, Talisa hustled to catch up. But when fresh air rushed over her cheeks and she spotted the white light ahead, she knew her senses hadn’t been playing tricks on her.
The tunnel opened to a wide, rocky ledge, and directly ahead, cascading water fell from above, illuminated by moonlight somewhere beyond.
Water droplets sprayed into Talisa’s face. She blinked and stared at the water, realizing they were behind the waterfall she’d seen with Zagreus when he’d first brought her to Ehrendia.
“There’s no time to sightsee,” Ana shouted to be heard over the roar of the falls. “We’re almost to the border. Keep up.”
Talisa spotted Ana to her left, still holding the burning torch, standing on a narrow rock path that ran behind the waterfall and down along the cliff face.
“Quickly.” Ana motioned her to follow then rushed down the path.
Talisa’s adrenaline surged, that feeling something about this wasn’t right hitting her hard all over again.
Why was the nymph suddenly helping her? Why hadn’t any guards been stationed at the passages and doorways when she and Ana had left the tower? The sentries had been watching Talisa all freakin’ day as she’d wandered around the castle, on Zagreus’s orders. And where was Zagreus anyway?
Carefully, Talisa followed the rocky path behind the waterfall, her mind spinning with a million questions. When she reached the bottom, Ana was waiting for her in the moonlight on the edge of the wide pool, the torch already extinguished, a nervous look in her eyes that pushed Talisa’s suspicions even higher.
“We have to hurry, before anyone at the castle realizes you’re gone.” Ana turned, heading past the pool and up a hill, toward the same stone arch Zagreus had brought Talisa through on their trek to Ehrendia.
As Ana passed under the arch, Talisa pushed the hood off her head and moved into the forest after the nymph. “You said I was a distraction the prince didn’t need. What did you mean by that?”
“Exactly what you think I meant.” Ana maneuvered around tree roots and up a small incline. “You’re a problem for the prince.”
“What kind of problem?”
“The kind of problem that keeps him from his destiny.”
“And what destiny is that?” Talisa asked, pushing her sandals into the soft soil as she followed the nymph up another hill.
“The kind of destiny that does not concern an inferior creature such as you.”
Inferior creature? That did it.
Talisa grasped Ana by the shoulder at the top of the hill, stopping the nymph’s momentum and spinning her around so they were face to face. “You’re not helping me. You’re up to something. Something Zagreus would not approve of. What are you after?”
Ana’s eyes flew wide. “I am after what I am owed.”
She surged toward Talisa, forcing Talisa back a step, a malice Talisa did not anticipate spilling into the nymph’s features, making her look anything but docile.
“You have no idea who I am,” Ana snarled. “What I’ve been through. What I am willing to do. You are nothing more than a minor inconvenience, one I will not allow to distract my prince a moment longer. Those nymphs back there are pathetic, and when he realizes that he is going to take his rightful place back where he belongs, at the head of a satyr army I amassed for him while he was in prison. And when he does, he will remember what he is