Jinxed (Gilded Blood) by Rachel Rener

Author:Rachel Rener
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rachel Rener
Published: 2022-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

XIV. Sin, Salt, and Spelunking

Once I’d successfully transformed racy tops into fleece hoodies and stilettos into cushy high-top sneakers, I quickly changed into my new clothes, grateful yet terrified for the chance to venture outside. Grateful because I desperately needed to clear my head, and fresh air would be a great way to accomplish that. Terrified, because the last time I ventured out into the Fae Realm, I’d had near-death run-ins with glaistigs and fachans and mermaids (oh my). But Korinne assured me that we weren’t venturing far, and the only fae we’d stumble across might be a knocker or two.

“What’s a knocker?” I asked, grabbing my purse from its hiding spot. I wasn’t about to let the delphinium ink out of my sight. And furthermore, I wasn’t going anywhere in that perilous, oxygen-deficient realm without my inhaler ever again.

“They’re small and mischievous, like children. Are you ready?”

Slinging my purse across my chest, I nodded, then followed her out of the room. In the hallway, the trio of Chrises – Chrisi? – had swapped out their three-piece suits for more casual attire and were waiting to accompany us outside. Evans was wearing a skin-tight cotton t-shirt and fashionably-tattered jeans that he’d probably paid a grand for. Hemsworth was also in jeans and a tee, and his longish hair had been pulled into a surprisingly sexy man-bun. And Pine had apparently decided to forgo a shirt altogether, because his tee was slung over a glistening, muscular shoulder.

He flashed me a wink when he noticed me admiring his obnoxiously chiseled body. I dropped my eyes to the ground, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

Instead of going back toward the elevator, Korinne walked us to the very end of the hallway, where there was nothing but a seemingly-empty wall, and pressed her hand against one of the tiny runes placed among that particular peacock’s tail feathers. After a moment, a wooden door shimmered into existence. She swung it open, revealing a hidden stone staircase. The five of us piled inside one by one and descended the dark, winding stairs in silence, until we reached another door at the bottom. When Korinne opened it, the briny smell of the sea immediately greeted my nose. I shielded my eyes as we stepped into bright midday sunlight, peering up at the black tower. It loomed at least thirty stories above our heads, blotting out the sun. Somewhere near the middle, I could make out the barred window of my room – at least, I was pretty sure it was my room, since a third of the windows on that side of the turret had bars on them.

The area surrounding the fortress was totally flat, with ankle-high, cobalt-blue grass that spread all the way to the very edge of the precipice, less than ten feet away. The afternoon sun had burned away much of the mist and fog beneath the bluffs, granting me an unobstructed view of the jagged rocks my body would splatter on, were I to trip over a pebble and plunge to my death.

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