The Jewels of Kinfairlie Boxed Set by Claire Delacroix & Deborah Cooke

Author:Claire Delacroix & Deborah Cooke [Delacroix, Claire & Cooke, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance
Amazon: B007GC4RUY
Publisher: Deborah A. Cooke
Published: 2012-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Like Elizabeth, Vivienne would have preferred to remain out of the caverns beneath Ravensmuir.

Unlike Elizabeth, Vivienne did not particularly trust the spriggan Darg to lead them out of the labyrinth. She dared not show her trepidation, not when both Ruari and Erik were so clearly skeptical of this course, but her heart skipped in fear when she stepped into the chill of the labyrinth.

It was so dark. The flickering torches did not seem to cast their light far into the endless blackness of this place, nor did the heat from the flames seem to disperse the coldness emanating from the rock.

Vivienne knew that there were a thousand branchings of the path, a thousand false corridors, more than a thousand dead ends. The network had been partly carved by nature, partly expanded by men who sought places to hide. It was like the comb of a hive, and Vivienne had always been convinced that there were caches of bones from those who had entered the caverns and not been able to find their way out.

She hoped they would not join that company.

“You should close the portal,” Elizabeth said with authority, pointing back to the opening that gaped wide. As Ruari was the last to step over the threshold, he crossed himself, visibly muttered a prayer, then reached to do her bidding. The dungeon disappeared as the large stone settled audibly in place.

Vivienne swallowed, for the shadows grew even deeper and the air seemed colder than it had just a moment before. Their torches flickered in unison at the change in the air, then settled. She could hear the whistle of the wind and the crash of the sea.

There had been a storm coming, she recalled, though here she felt more at its mercy than within the stronghold of Ravensmuir’s high walls.

“There is a draft,” Erik said, his words echoing around them. “It smells of the sea.”

Indeed, the flames now all appeared to be blowing back toward the dungeon. Vivienne inhaled deeply, relieved by this evidence of an opening somewhere below them.

They had only to find it.

“This way!” Elizabeth said with a confidence Vivienne did not share, and darted down the wide steps of hewn stone. She disappeared quickly, for the descent was tortuously curved, though the light from her torch guided the others onward.

There was no rail, only the stone wall to steady oneself upon, and the steps were neither level nor of the same height. Occasionally, a trickle of water made its way down a stone wall, splashing in some unseen pool far beneath them. The shadows seemed more ominous with each step, their secrets just barely kept at bay by the light of the torches. Each time an opening yawned wide on one side of the path or the other, Vivienne wondered what threats lurked within it.

It would have been easy to stumble, though Vivienne did not ask either man for aid. If anything, they were more concerned than she. Ruari mumbled his paternoster over and over again, the sound more reassuring than Vivienne would have cared to admit.

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