Another stairway. Frowning, I kept walking. I ran my hand along the wall, finding a hand-shaped light about every fifteen feet. It helped, but there was a moment of panic every time I looked into the darkness ahead.
The stairs seemed to go forever. Just as I thought for sure I should have run into the side of lower Eigiollys by now, emerging into some mermaid’s living room and scaring them, the stairs turned. I followed the spiraling steps, still hitting each hand-light as I found them. My ears twitched to relieve the pressure that built up in them.
I touched one and flinched as a light burst into my vision. Blinking, I turned to my left.
A crystalline window like the glass that made up the temple’s dome let me see into a room at the center of the spiraling steps. I stepped forward, leaning in close enough that my breath fogged the glass.
A gilded statue of Tahninym glared at me, glowing crystals in his eyes. More adorned his person, with a great one in his hand that produced most of the light in the room. I looked down to a small, circular pool at his feet. The water was reflective and cloudy. I could not see into it. I made a face at the smaller statues that lined the pool.
Above me, there was an awful noise, metal against metal. I flinched, looking up at the ceiling. My ears twitched. I heard voices, and then footsteps growing louder. Another scraping sound echoed down the stairs, immediately followed by a yelp.
I narrowed my eyes as Levent rounded the corner, Rio clinging to his cloak and looking paler than usual.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said.
“Hi!” Rio squeaked, eye darting to the handprint light in the wall before he inched away from it.
I leaned in toward Levent. “What’s with him?”
Without a word, the kin walked over to Rio, gripped him by the shoulders and lifted him off the ground.
“Wait wait wait,” Rio chattered as Levent pushed him in front of the handprint light.
Rio screamed as a part of the wall flipped open and a blade lashed out. If Levent were not holding him off of the ground, it would have chopped his legs at the ankles.
Levent put the half-blood down and looked at me. I glared at him as he