I glared at him as I turned to follow Asher.
The vampire led us away from the wall and out of sight from the guards, then south toward the guild hall not far from the inn. We circled the towering building, heading into a dead-end alcove with walls lending privacy on all sides. If Asher hadn’t been looking for me at the inn, he might not have caught the man’s scent in this out-of-the-way place.
Asher stopped walking and gestured toward a set of cellar doors. A steel chain wound several times between the handles, held in place by a padlock.
“I found the man’s scent again here,” he explained. “The padlock also smells strongly of him. I imagine he had a set of keys.”
I stared down at the thick steel chain. “Was the other end of the canal locked?”
He shook his head. “The man did not lock it upon his departure, but I cannot guarantee someone else did not lock it after I was gone.”
“Couldn’t you just have bespelled him or the servant?” Steifan asked. “It seems an awful lot of work to do things this way.”
Asher gave him a less than friendly look. “You would be surprised how resilient the minds of some mortals can be. If I would have attempted to bespell the servant, there’s a chance it would not have worked, then I would have needed to kill him. That seemed unnecessary.”
Unnecessary, I thought. That was one way of putting it.
“But you bespelled the duke,” Steifan pressed. “If it hadn’t worked, would you have killed him?”
“Yes.”
I gaped at him.
Asher lifted his nose. “Judge me if you will, Lyssandra. But I was only in such a situation because you asked me to go. It is not my fault you did not consider the possibilities.”
I let out a long breath through my clenched teeth. “I suppose you’re right.” I had to be more careful what I asked for in the future. Turning away to hide my flushed cheeks, I gestured to the cellar doors. “Can you break the lock?”
Asher stepped up beside me. “As could you, I imagine.”
“I might be able to break down doors, but I cannot bend steel.”
“If you believe it to be so, then it must be so.” With that annoyingly cryptic reply, he knelt, wrapped one hand around the chain, then tore it free with a loud groan of metal.
The handles on the cellar doors gave before the chain did, but it got the job done. Asher lifted one door open, revealing stairs leading down into darkness.
“What’s that term,” Steifan said at my opposite shoulder. “Ah yes, ladies first.”
With a smug look, I marched down into the darkness. The Seeing Sword would warn me if there was any danger . . . I hoped. I reached the bottom of the short stone staircase, then could go no further. It was pitch black. I could feel the stone wall to my right, and could hear water flowing to my left. The cellar door creaked shut above as footsteps echoed down the stairs behind me.
I heard the distinct sound of flint grating on fire steel, then a lantern flared to life.
Asher shielded the lantern with one hand so as not to blind me. “I could smell the oil,” he said, bobbing the lantern in his hand. Once my eyes had adjusted, he extended it to me.
“My thanks,” I said through gritted teeth, finding it difficult to mutter my gratitude. I took the lantern handle, brushing his long, cool fingers with my skin. I suppressed a shiver. “Let’s go.”
We walked one by one down the narrow canal. Asher walked directly behind me, making me uneasy. I had been trained my entire life to never turn my back on a vampire, now here I was, willingly working with one. If only my uncle could see me now.
Supposedly following the man’s scent, Asher spoke directions as we wound our way through the canals. They were like a maze. Anyone traveling this route would have to know the way well. It made me wonder just who had transported Charlotte’s body.
“It is here,” Asher said as we rounded a bend.
I extended the lantern to light the way ahead. Sure enough, a rickety metal ladder led up to a closed hatch.
I approached the ladder, then set the lantern on the stones near its base before climbing the bottom rung. “Is it just me, or is it odd for the canals to have these random entrances?”
Asher answered at my back. “After the siege where the old keep was destroyed, the canals were built. The nobles wanted a way to escape should the city fall under siege once again. Some of the outlets lead all the way outside the main wall. The easy access to water was a secondary concern.”
I looped one elbow on a ladder rung, then leaned to look back at him. “So if the city were to fall under siege, the nobles could escape, leaving everyone else to die?”
“Something like that.”
Humans truly could be as bad as vampires, I thought, then finished climbing the ladder. The closed hatch had a long metal handle. I grabbed it and pulled it toward me, and was able to push the hatch open. No locks after all. I supposed they were more worried about people getting in, than getting out.
I peeked my head up, glancing around. We were in the back of someone’s garden.
The night was utterly silent, and my sword issued no warning, so I climbed the rest of the way out of the hatch. I crouched in the shadows of a meticulously trimmed shrubbery while I waited for the men to ascend.
Asher came up next, and stood next to me.
I looked up at him.
He shrugged. “There is no one here to see us. I would hear them breathing.”
Feeling a little foolish, I stood as Steifan climbed out of the hatch, then shut it gently behind him, sealing the light of the lantern within.
“Your duke’s estate is that way.”
