His father hadn’t known of a change in the family crest either, nor had any of the older advisors who had spent their lives immersed in all things Ahtissari.
Yet the dagger existed, and thus, Elias was determined to find an answer.
If it meant he had to spend the next five years trolling the underground tunnels for clues, so be it.
The door to the library opened.
Elias stood when Inari entered, but took his seat again when the princess waved off the formality.
“It’s all right. Stay where you are, Elias.”
“Any other orders to pass along while you’re at it?” he joked, tracking her advance into the room. The dark-washed jeans and beige sweater with buttons offset near her collarbone looked good on her shapely frame.
She glanced his way with a chagrinned expression, a small smile curving her berry-painted lips. “Sorry.”
This time, it was Elias who waved off her apology. “You’ve got your work cut out for you. I’ve gone through perhaps eighteen books so far, but there are hundreds to go.”
Inari approached the tall bookcases, gaze sweeping the numerous tomes.
Elias saw the library through new eyes as she examined the room. Kallaster Castle had a more medieval flair than the family seat, with open beams across the high ceiling and stone walls wherever the heavy wooden bookcases did not reach. The bookcases themselves, carved with medieval shields and adorned with decorative corbels, filled three walls and half of a fourth. Five tall windows with rounded corners admitted early morning light, which spilled across luxurious but old rugs strewn across the gray stone floor. It was the main library, and the largest in the castle. There were two others, smaller and on different floors, plus his father’s private stash of books in the king’s suite. The deep mahogany furniture—a desk, two side tables, and a coffee table—were polished to a high shine. Six large chairs provided places to sit and read or simply enjoy the ambiance. A fireplace tucked between the windows was a necessary source of heat. The castle was drafty and often cold.
“No luck yet?” she asked, face tilted toward the higher shelves.
“Nothing. I’ve asked the king, I’ve visited the oldest members of the council. No one has heard of a crest change. My father is vastly curious now, however.” Which was an understatement. Sander had asked a hundred questions Elias had no answers to. All the more reason to find them, at least in his estimation. “How was your flight over?”
“I imagine your father is curious. I would be. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I want to know, and it’s not even my family heritage.” She smiled over her shoulder. “The flight was fine. Helicopters are not my favorite, but it’s the easiest way on and off your island.”
“You could have landed a jet on the mainland and taken a boat over.” He watched Inari drag a ladder along the bookcases then climb when she found a spot she wanted. She might not like helicopters, but she didn’t seem one bit afraid of heights.
“I’ll do that next time. Today I wanted to get here as quickly as possible.” Her fingers traipsed over several weathered spines.
Elias thought about informing her that she was in the wrong section. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in the plush leather seat. Like Inari, he’d preferred to dress down. Dark pants, slate gray shirt. It was still chilly enough in the mornings and evenings to require long sleeves unless one wanted to wear a jacket all the time.
Inari pulled a book off the shelf and began the climb down.
“That’s fiction,” he pointed out.
She paused halfway, looked back, and ascended again. “You could have said something.”
“And you could have asked before you got started.”
“I was expecting a tour of the castle before anything else, but your doorman led me straight here. I figured I needed to get right to work.”
“You didn’t mention wanting a tour of the castle.”
“You didn’t ask,” she retorted.
“You got here like thirty seconds ago,” he pointed out, amused despite himself.
“It’s only polite to offer a tour. What kind of sovereign will you be when it’s time?”
“Says the woman who literally waved off societal niceties the first chance she got.”
Inari laughed. She tried to muffle the sound, but he heard. It was hard not to in the otherwise silent library.
Once on the ground, she faced him and put her hands on her hips. “All right, then. Where do I start?”
Elias pointed to the wall on his right. “There. Beginning at the fourth shelf and up.”
She stared comically at him as she marched toward the bookcase, keeping him in her field of vision. Elias was enjoying this version of Inari, the less queenly one that he suspected only certain people got to see.
“Don’t trip over the ottoman.” There was no ottoman. He laughed when she gasped and trip-stepped over thin air.
“So help me, Elias Ahtissari . . .”
“Just get to work.” He smiled to himself and sat forward in the chair, prepared to pick up where he left off.
Her indignant snort only made everything better.
* * *
Inari wasn’t sure what it was about Elias that drew her out of her shell. She felt less strict around him, less like she had to watch every word, every movement. The sense of freedom was . . . well, freeing. He was not the sort of royal she needed to treat like royalty.
She spent three hours scouring books and papers, climbing up and down the ladder when need be. Sometimes she sat across the large desk from Elias and perused while he did the same. As the day waned and evening came, he ordered dinner for them both and prepared a fire in the fireplace.
“I’m finding interesting things about Latvala, though most of it is several centuries after Latvala became its own territory,” she said after a bite of salad. “Have I just not reached the literature that came before?”
She met Elias’s gaze across the desk.
“Those are on the next shelf. But I’m going through every book I can, starting with a few centuries out, looking for accidental clues. You never know what you’ll find. And, since I don’t know when the crest changed, it seemed prudent to begin the search farther out, as it were, and work my way in,” he said.
“True.” She scanned another page in the book lying open at her side. While she ate, she didn’t touch any of the pages or papers, too afraid to damage the fragile tome with food-tainted fingers. “I know it was popular back then to hide messages in titles or chapters. Also to stick a page that doesn’t belong in between other pages, or in a pocket at the back. There are several books like that in my father’s library.”
“I’ve come across that already, but none of it had to do with the crest.”
“Tell me what you know, what the rumors are, of how Latvala came to be.” She concentrated on a bite of fish for a moment, then gave Elias all her attention. He chewed and swallowed his own bite, dabbed at his mouth with a napkin, and sat back in the chair.
“I know that my ancestor, Aksel, landed on this island first. Then they moved on to the mainland. He had many Viking warships with him. But there was nothing and no one to conquer. The land, this particular stretch, was wild and inhabitant free. So he claimed it, named it, and brought a colony of people from the north to settle here.”
Like everyone else in the known universe, Inari had heard about the troubles with Elias’s grandfather, who had apparently been named after the original sovereign of Latvala. The details were sketchy in her mind. She’d read about it while off at school when she was much younger. “It all sounds straightforward. I’m surprised there isn’t information that’s easier to find on the crest change.”
“It’s probably a matter of finding the correct book or papers, which means pinpointing the right time it happened.”
“We just need to find the right point in time, yes.” If they had even a hint of the century, it would narrow the search considerably, she thought. “Where di
d you say you found the dagger?”
“Beneath Ahtissari Castle on the mainland.”
“Have you done more investigating? Maybe you’ll find another clue down there.”
“I searched for several hours and came up with nothing. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t something else to find, only that I haven’t looked in the right place.” He forked up a bite of fish, then one of vegetables.
Inari patted the corner of her lips with the linen napkin and considered things. After a moment, she said, “Why don’t we go tomorrow? I can help you look.”
“It’s very dark and dank down there. Closed in.” His words sounded almost like a warning.
“I hear you. I’m not worried. I don’t get nervous in tight spaces.” She had fears, but claustrophobia was not one of them. As Elias seemed to debate her offer, she picked at her dinner, finding the food fresh and delicious.
“There’s a very real possibility of getting lost,” he said.
“How many times have you gone down and come back okay?” She posed the question to remind him that he was still there, and that she had faith in his ability to find his way out.
“I’m just saying. The possibility is real. I’ve gotten turned around a few times and spent an hour or three working my way back to common ground.” He sipped water from his glass, regarding her with a thoughtful expression. “All right. Tomorrow morning, early.”
Inari flashed Elias a broad smile. “Excellent. I’m curious to see what it’s like.”
“Cold, dark. Stone tunnels. Nothing too much more than that once you get past the dungeons. Sometimes there are caves that doubled as rooms or meeting places.”
“Sounds fascinating.”
He laughed. “We’ll see if you’re still as optimistic tomorrow.”
Chapter 7
Damn Elias for being right.
Inari paused and adjusted the light backpack on her shoulder. The beam of her flashlight illuminated Elias’s blond hair, which he’d pulled half back away from his face, and the dark clothing that covered him throat to toe. He, too, wore a pack, but his sagged with weight. Water, food, maps, and other gadgets had been stuffed inside before they’d departed Kallaster Castle. He’d insisted on carrying the bulk, leaving her with a lighter load to haul.
None of that mattered at the moment.
What mattered were the tiny beads of sweat collecting on her brow despite the bone-cold temperature, and the rock walls closing in. Not literally, but it sure felt like it to her. The tunnels were only wide enough to allow a single file procession, which meant she sometimes brushed her shoulder or elbow against the stone. Now and then the corridors widened a little, but even then there was not a lot of room to maneuver.
“Elias, wait.”
He paused and turned around. The headlamp on his helmet swung in her direction.
Thankfully, Elias didn’t blind her with it. “I’m sorry. I need to stop for a second.”
“Getting to you, isn’t it?” he asked, walking back to the place she’d paused.
“I just need a moment, that’s all.” She loathed admitting that the tight confines were getting under her skin. “How much farther do you think we’ll go?”
So far, they’d found nothing. No rooms or caves or even a hint of a hidden cavern. This particular tunnel seemed to be just that: a tunnel. No place to sit, not even a deep enough niche to take the weight off her feet. They certainly hadn’t found another dagger on the ground, or papers, journals, weapons . . . nothing.
“As far as you can stand to go. You’re sweating, and it’s cold down here. You need to go back now?” he asked.
There was just enough light for Inari to see Elias’s frown under the edge of his hard hat. She wore a hard hat, too. Just in case.
“No, I don’t need to go back. I’m just curious.” It sounded lame even to her own ears.
“There’s nothing wrong with turning back. I did mention that walking these tunnels is difficult.”
She absolutely wasn’t giving up now. “I’m fine.”
He shone his light down at the map he held in his hand. “In another hundred feet or so we’ll come to a fork in the tunnel system. That’s as far as I got when I discovered the dagger. I don’t know what’s beyond, or which tunnel leads where.”
Of course, the moment Elias mentioned undiscovered territory, Inari wouldn’t have dreamed of stopping the search. “Let’s keep going.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
And they went. Elias led the way, as it had been all along, his broad shoulders barely squeezing through a few tight spots. Inari followed, sweeping her light along the walls, ceiling and stone floor so they didn’t miss anything.
At the end of the tunnel was a small cavern, perhaps twenty to thirty feet wide, with two more tunnels forking off at two- and ten-o’clock angles. Here, there was a little more room to breathe.
Elias marked the tunnel wall with a piece of white chalk, an arrow pointing back to the tunnel they’d come from.
“Which direction should we go?” she asked, flashing her light to the rightmost tunnel then the left. Both appeared equally dark and similar in size.
“I don’t know. Which direction, Inari?” Elias asked as he appeared at her side. He tucked the chalk away and pulled a different map from his backpack.
“Left. Let’s try the left.” She was not afraid to make decisions.
“Left it is. We’ll go slower here. I’ve investigated everything behind us pretty good, as well as this cavern.” He flashed his light over the rough stone walls. “From here on, though, we might find anything.”
The prospect of undiscovered territory was as exciting and invigorating as when he’d mentioned it the first time. It helped distract from the overwhelming feeling of being buried alive. “I’m ready.”
Elias took the lead. He penetrated the mouth of the leftmost tunnel, the ten o’clock route, as she thought of it, and flashed his light everywhere. The floor, walls, ceiling. He paused to make a note on his new map with a flat pencil, used the chalk on the wall again, and then continued.
She, too, dove into the search, examining the walls for niches or crevices or possible hiding places. They found a few stones tucked against the base of the tunnel and the wall, nothing large or unusual. Elias used the toe of his boot to move them aside nonetheless before moving on.
The excruciating pace, slower than a snail, allowed them to thoroughly investigate. Inari discovered a whole lot of nothing. The walls seemed thick and sturdy, with no hidden doors and no crevices in sight.
Fifty minutes later, Elias paused and leaned his back against the wall. “Thirsty?”
Inari rubbed the back of her neck and leaned nearby. “Yes, actually. Very thirsty.” After a brief pause, she said, “I don’t know how you do this. It’s so time consuming. Exciting . . . except when it’s not.”
He laughed and passed her a bottle of water, which she took and opened immediately.
“Patience, grasshopper. Isn’t that what they used to say in the old days?” He had a drink from his own bottle of water.
“I want to find something. It’s thrilling to look, to not know what’s around the next proverbial bend, but still.” It would be ten times as thrilling to locate another dagger or something like it.
“More than likely, this tunnel will produce nothing. Most of the time that’s how it goes. A hell of a lot of searching with little reward. I’m adding to my maps, however, and I’m pleased enough with that.” He tucked the water away and straightened from the wall.
Inari took her cues from him and handed her bottle back. She hitched the pack higher on her shoulder. “There’s got to be something else down here.”
But there wasn’t. Not after an hour of walking and careful examination, not after coming to yet another fork in the tunnels. Just walls, hard stone floors, and the endless corridor. The longer it went on, the more suffocated she began to feel. The tight confines were starting to take their toll o
nce more.
“Have you had enough yet?” Elias asked, as if he’d read her mind.
“Yes.” She didn’t bother to hide it or deny it.
He paused and turned back. Beyond him, once his light had ceased to penetrate the darkness, a great black void existed. Like it might seethe forward and consume him whole.
Consume them whole.
She needed to escape the tunnels.
“Let’s start back.” Elias stepped closer and started to squeeze past.
Inari pulled in a breath as their bodies brushed against one another.
“I can lead the way,” she said, suddenly thinking it might clear her head to have open space in front of her rather than Elias’s broad physique.
He stared down at her then used the hand holding the map to gesture. “All you have to do is follow the arrows.”
His eyes looked surreal in the stray light cast from the beam of her flashlight. The illumination washed nearly all the color out. Almost too pale blue, yet striking all the same.
Inari inched past and turned, taking the lead.
It was not as slow going on the return as it was to forge new ground. There was nothing left to look for, only to navigate the tunnels to the stairs. She felt his presence at her back with every step, a reassuring heat source she relied on when only darkness and a dank chill waited ahead.
By the time they reached the final fifty feet, she was ready to sprint up the stairs and be done with the subterranean space. Wanted to put the gloom and the sense of being buried behind her. Once her foot hit the bottom stair, she charged up the flight, breathless, and burst through the door onto the main floor. She inhaled deeply several times, as if she couldn’t get enough air. It was somewhat embarrassing, her total lack of control.
Elias’s hand landed on her shoulder a moment later, as if in sympathy, or to say, I tried to tell you.
She wouldn’t let the underground defeat her. Next week, or the week after, she would invite herself back again and follow Elias into the tunnels. One way or another, she intended to fight back against the psychological shutdown.
Latvala Royals: Bloodlines Page 5