The Queen's Device by Brittany Mack

Author:Brittany Mack [Mack, Brittany]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fortitude Press LLC
Published: 2024-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

28

Without explanation, Bernard started down the tunnel of loam and wooden foundation. After Griff and I shared a look, we followed my tutor.

Now that my body was calmer, I studied our surroundings with Griff and Bernard’s flashlights. The walls, caked with dirt, housed molded wood beams, keeping the ceiling from caving in on us. Griff and I stayed at an identical pace behind Bernard, and when Griff’s hand gravitated toward mine, warmth curled through me.

It almost wasn’t fair. I should’ve focused on deciphering Bernard’s cryptic sentences and vague implications instead of daydreaming of Griff.

I supposed, though, it was all equally enthralling. Even with Griff’s fingers interlaced with mine, questions about Bernard still catapulted through me.

What was this place? Why would Bernard ask Charles Howard to bring me here? Was this tunnel how Cass made it to the greenhouse?

And what did Bernard mean, liberate the island? From whom?

We stopped in front of a flat, wooden board, flush against the muddy wall, which Bernard slid away to reveal an outcropping from the main tunnel—a quaint hole constructed from mulch, not even large enough for me to crouch in. Ah. This was our alcove.

It contained a stash of about a dozen books, leaving Griff and me to gawk. It was the most paper I’d ever seen at once.

“Where to begin?” Bernard said as he kneeled on the ground next to the tome-filled cavity. Griff and I sat across from him, and I tried ignoring my reservations about sitting in dirt. The two men propped their flashlights so we could all see each other and the outlet demanding Griff’s and my attention.

Griff peered around Bernard and set my tutor’s firearm on the ground. The two let it sit idly between them, and I took it as their sign of trust. “Those are all . . . books.”

“Congratulations,” Bernard said flatly. “Your vision is terrific.”

My stomach kinked into a tight knot. “Bernard.”

His gray eyes flicked to me before he brushed dirt off his pants. “Sorry. Just my . . . odd way of mourning, I suppose.”

By the moon. “Just tell us what you wanted to tell us,” I replied. “Don’t bring Cass into this.”

Bernard’s eyes danced as he debated heeding my request. “Fine,” he conceded. “Let me start at the beginning, then, when Abner and I were growing up. We lived in the executive sector—our father was on Pointe’s portion of the council—and we hated the Top Tier. When the monarchy closed this industrial greenhouse, we snuck in and explored just to have some fun. We never expected to find the trapdoor leading to this tunnel.”

Bernard pointed behind him, deeper into the section swathed in shadows we hadn’t ventured into.

“Farther down there, this tunnel connects with a branch of Miota’s underground tunnel network that’s monitored by the monarchy.”

“Tunnel network?” I wondered.

“You didn’t think Cass traveled above ground to come see you, did you?”

I had no response. I’d never thought about underground being a means of travel; it was a dangerous world we were warned about from a young age.

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