Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Atlan fell asleep shortly after he finished.

He hadn't said much once we were done, merely draped his arm over the edge of the bed and fell asleep. I waited until I was positive he was asleep, until his breath was just a gentle rise and fall, and he was snoring ever so slightly. I had made sure to keep out from under the blankets, so as not to disturb him while he slept.

I carefully slid off the bed and moved bare foot across the cold stone floor to the balcony that was laying open, despite the wind from the storm outside. Apparently Joxeia was still angry about being held hostage. Not that I faulted him for it. I slipped outside onto the balcony, reaching up to hold the hair back from my face as I scanned the balcony. Just as I thought; the hiding places were very limited. Even worse, it was difficult to see which tiles were loose and which weren't due to the darkness outside.

I knelt down on the floor, running my hands along the tiles, feeling for the loose ones or cracked ones, anything to give away the hiding place of a spell book. Was it even a spell book? What if it was a scroll? More than one scroll? What if the spell to Akin's collar wasn't even in the book?

That's right; keep up that pessimism before you start really changing your mind about Atlan.

Yeah, right. Seeing what he'd done to Akin, then remembering all those things he'd done to get to where he was... I couldn't work beside Atlan in good conscious.

And damn that conscious. If Atlan had come to me sooner... No, I probably still wouldn't have gone with him. It was like Atlan said; my loyalty knew no bounds and didn't have a brain and still loved Hannibal.

I ran my fingers along another tile at the base of Atlan's usual seat when I felt it shift under my weight. I hesitated, then carefully wrestled my fingers beneath it before lifting it up and I froze at the sight of a small worn out leather book lying there, and sticking out in a bookmarked page was a small scrap of napkin. I jerked my head up to stare into the room.

Atlan was still asleep.

I reached in and picked up the book, taking it out and closing the tile over the spot. I stood up and quickly went into the room to fetch the red robe, pulling it on before slipping out of the room as silently as I could manage. I headed down the hallway back toward Akin and Joxeia while flipping the book open to the bookmarked page, and I was halfway to Akin and Joxeia when I came to an abrupt stop, staring at the scrap of napkin.

This was the spell Atlan had offered me. The spell Hades created to kill a god without rupturing the balance. The one that would put me out of my misery.

I swallowed and quickly tucked the napkin inside my robe, keeping my thumb in the bookmarked place where the spell was sure to be. Unfortunately, it was written in Atlantean and I needed a translator, but something told me Joxeia would know exactly what it said.

I sprinted the rest of the way to the old part of the castle, having to do a little peeking through each door to find where Joxeia and Akin were considering all these doors looked the same to me. I finally found where Joxeia and Akin were, relief sweeping through me to see them both conscious and Akin animatedly discussing his favorite television show.

"That's ridiculous," Joxeia snorted, "What kind of woman doesn't recognize her own brother-in-law?"

"I know," Akin exclaimed indignantly, "Bitch is crazy!" I cleared my throat and they snapped their heads, at first tense and alarmed before realizing it was me. Joxeia arched a brow, appearing surprised at the fact that I had come back so quickly, and with the spell book in hand.