Folkloric Guile: A Rip-Roaring Fae Mystery (The Folkloric Series Book 5) by Karenza Grant

Author:Karenza Grant [Grant, Karenza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: L'Ours Books
Published: 2026-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

“I can’t be long, my lord.” Poky held a lantern above her. Its warm glow filled the broad tunnel, casting her shadow over the worn steps and our boots as we descended behind. “I’ll be missed if I’m not back shortly. I’m supposed to be tidying the breakfast things, then I must freshen the chambers before I’m due at the laundry.”

Her footsteps were a light flurry. In contrast, Lucas and I thudded downward. After returning from the Bruxes, we’d met her in an alley not far from the castle, and she’d led us through a door into the tunnel. The steps were endless. We had to be deep underground by now.

“Of course,” Lucas said. “And Elivorn?”

“I’ve had confirmation he made it to the meeting with Isarn and the Stinkhorn officials,” she replied. “Not that he’s happy about it. But he should be there for a while.”

He nodded. “Perfect. Lead us to where he’s messing around, and we’ll take it from there. I know these tunnels like the back of my hand.”

As we descended, the Bruxes’ words rolled over and over, which only rekindled their hideous faces, their bony fingers, their cracking. That Lucas had been at their mercy as a boy didn’t bear considering. I brushed off my Keeper gear as if I could brush away their memory. And I wasn’t going to think about what lay in my pouch. I’d deal with that later.

Even so, a thin thread of hope stirred within. They’d said there might be a way to win us time for our bond markings. But it vied with concern that Elivorn could’ve found a way to reach and stabilise the dark heart. The two wrenched in opposite directions, leaving that stuck feeling, which extended up my back and across my shoulders, making my bond markings ache and my skin too small. It also stirred the question that if the blackness in our arms finished us, who else was going to stop the Rouseaus?

“Wortle said you used to play down here with Elivorn, my lord.” Poky cast a glance back, then dropped her gaze. “Said he used to run off and leave you alone for hours on end, and you would hide and jump out on goblins using the tunnels. Gave them the fright of their lives, you did, springing out all teeth and claws.” She shivered. “Started a rumour that anyone who came here would die a grizzly death. Plenty of folk avoided the tunnels for a few years after that.”

“Those poor goblins.” I breathed in fresh airflow from a fissure. “They must have been terrified with a miniature drac attacking them in the dark.” Perhaps that young boy hadn’t been as vulnerable as most.

We entered a junction of passages, and Poky took the left-hand turn.

Lucas chuckled. “For the record,” he said, “I only gave them a little fright. There were absolutely no grizzly deaths and just a few faints. Although there was that one occasion when a goblin was so startled, he knocked out his teeth on a boulder.

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