Page 80 of His Prince

Bane hops down, turning on a flashlight he had tucked in his torn jeans, and helps me into the tunnel, giggling wildly.

“There are so many different ones around here. In the walls, under the floors, but this one is fucking cool. Oh, and remind me to show you the box I found. I think you’ll be very interested to see what’s inside.”

He bounds off, and I have to nearly jog to keep up with him, my arms brushing the sides of the dirt walls.

“Bane! Wait up,” I say as I trip over something on the ground.

Bane slows down for a moment before bouncing on his feet. “Hurry up. No time to waste.”

When I finally get close enough to reach out and touch him, he links his hand with mine and pulls me forward.

A moment later, Bane stops abruptly and then points to the ground.

“What is it?” I ask, and Bane waggles his eyebrows.

“An oubliette.”

“What?”

“A secret dungeon.”

“Why would that be here?”

“Because Mikhail obviously has a dark side. I’ve been begging your dad for one of these for ages. You put people in here and leave them to die.”

“You know I don’t approve of any of that.”

“Yes, but it’s such fun. Look.”

Bane flashes his light downward and just as he does, a low groan rises up from the darkness and Bane screams.

“Mikhail?” I ask, my heart thrumming in my ears. Between Bane screaming loudly and the fear that’s ripping through me, I’m slightly off-kilter. I blink and then feel someone nearly crawling up my back.

“Bane, stop it,” I hiss, swatting at him until he finally pries himself off of me, and then I grab his flashlight.

“Fuck, sorry, but I was not expecting someone to be down there,” he says, laughing wildly. “That made me pee my pants a little,” he adds as we both walk to the edge of the oubliette and look down.

And as the flashlight winks in the darkness, I see Mikhail there, in a small three-by-three-foot space, his face smeared with blood and dirt, his hair completely matted down, his lips cracked dry. My mouth opens and closes, unsure of what to do, what to say.

“What are you doing down there?” Bane asks with a waggle of his fingers.

“Came here for a nap,” Mikhail murmurs dryly, and Bane giggles maniacally.

“He’s funny.”

I nudge Bane to get him to be quiet; this is no laughing matter. My husband fell down a hole and is bleeding. “We need to get him out. He’s hurt. Go back and get the guys. Tell them it’s an emergency.”

Bane bounces on his toes and then glances at the flashlight in my hand. “I’ll need that. Don’t want to end up in one of those, too. Then we’ll just die in here.”

“God, Bane,” I reply and then lower myself to the ground, stones and damp dirt seeping through my pants as I move as close to the edge as I can. I want to do this while I can still see because pretty soon it’s just gonna be the two of us engulfed in the dark.

“I’ll be back as fast as Superman can fly,” Bane says excitedly and then he’s gone, disappearing through the tunnel, darkness consuming Mikhail and me like a veil.

“Mikhail?”

“Yes, husband?”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” It’s a silly question, but I need to know. I need him to be okay.