Page 16 of Heartless Enemy

There was absolutely nothing inside the room. Not even an oil lamp in the ceiling.

I turned towards the grimy window. The parliament building with its shining white lights and sprawling green lawn was visible on the other side of the street.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to know about this,” Eve said from behind me. “But when I was working in the archives last week, I came across Chief Anderson’s report from that day when you attacked and destroyed the Blade of Equilibrium.”

Smug satisfaction welled up inside my chest at the memory of that. They hadn’t seen it coming. Hadn’t even considered that someone might be bold enough to try to destroy that blade. Oh, the looks on their faces when they realized what I had done. If I could’ve preserved that image forever, I would have. Hands down one of my greatest achievements ever.

“And well, I was curious because,” she began. “You know, it was about you. Before we met.”

Tearing my gaze from the view outside the window, I turned back to face my little spitfire. Amusement tugged at my lips.

“Were you now?” I teased.

She huffed and narrowed her eyes at me. “Oh stop looking so fucking smug.”

I just grinned back at her.

“Anyway, I read the report,” she continued. “And when you attacked, Chief Anderson made sure that all the members of parliament escaped. Because he thought that you were there for them. Not for the blade.”

My interest sharpened.

“And this is how they escaped,” Eve finished.

There was a carefully neutral expression on her face as she pointed towards a trapdoor set into the floor in the middle of the room.

Cold dread crashed into me like a freezing black wave.

Keeping my breathing even, I forced myself to move across the room until I was standing next to Eve. She crouched down and grabbed the iron ring set into the wooden door.

There was no lock on it. Presumably since people had to lift it from down there in order to get out. And a locked escape route was worse than useless in a catastrophe because panicked people weren’t able to stop and think rationally about things that prevented them from fleeing unhindered.

The hinges creaked faintly as Eve lifted the trapdoor and then gently placed it on the dusty stone floor.

I stared down at the narrow tunnel it revealed.

A dull clanging sound echoed inside my skull. I tried to bend my knees so that I could inspect the tunnel further, but my body refused to obey me. Standing there frozen on the floor, I just stared into the cramped dark space while awful memories surged up inside me.

The madness in my soul stirred in response.

I clenched my jaw while fighting down both the raging panic and the urge to slaughter everyone in sight and get the hell out of here.

“No,” I simply said.

Eve heaved a sigh. “I guessed as much. It’s why I didn’t mention it last time we were here. But I figured I would at least tell you so that we could rule it out completely.”

After one last glance into that awful fucking tunnel, she straightened and brushed her hands off on her pants. I just kept staring into the darkness for another few seconds. Then I dragged my gaze up to Eve.

Dread washed through my veins as I waited for her to ask me about it. To ask me why I was terrified of small, enclosed spaces. Or what the insanity she could no doubt see in my eyes had come from.

But she didn’t.

She just looked back at me. I could see her wondering about the reason for my strange reaction, but she didn’t comment on it.

I knew that things like this shouldn’t be a problem for someone like me. Someone who had slaughtered and threatened his way into becoming the sole dark mage ruler of Malgrave shouldn’t be bested by something as ridiculous as a small dark space. It was my greatest weakness. And the fact that Eve even knew about it was just more proof of how special she was.

The only other person who knew about my intense claustrophobia was Callan Blackwell. Ever since he faked his death and left, we hadn’t exactly been on the best of terms. But he had still never used this information against me. Given that I had spent a few years sending assassins to take him out, it said a lot about his character. Maybe I wouldn’t kill him on sight if I ever saw him again, after all.

“Alright, then,” Eve said as she moved the trapdoor back.