Page 17 of Turret
As I hoped, his lips twitched at my teasing, though once again he didn’t fully smile. “The only thing strong enough to divert my attention from you is something that’s for your best interests, should I succeed as I hope.”
His cryptic comment only escalated my curiosity, but by his guarded expression I knew he was determined to keep his secret. The puzzle tickled my thoughts long after he reluctantly left to retrieve Melina from the chores she’d been tending to ever since the tower had stopped cleaning itself so that I wouldn’t be left entirely without a companion, and the mystery continued to distract me when I attempted to return to my book to await my handmaiden’s arrival.
Several minutes passed…and still she didn’t come.
That was unusual. Melina usually came quickly, too wise to risk Quinn’s annoyance should she not attend me as soon as possible. What could possibly be the reason for her delay?
I’d no sooner wondered this than the energy of the room shifted, no longer comforting but instead rather uneasy…and it seemed to be emanating from the tower. I looked up from my book towards the nearby wall and rested my hand against the stones. A surge of agitation tingled from them, spreading up my arm.
“Tower?” I asked uncertainly.
No answer.
I flattened my hand against the wall, hoping for answers in the tower’s usual silent communication, and after a moment of searching through its layers of tension, a single thought filled my mind:leave.
My book slid off my lap as I shakily stood, yet I didn’t immediately move. Confused, I frowned at the wall.
“Tower?” I asked again. Its urgency increased, compelling me to act on its order. But before I could, the tower suddenly shook, causing me to lose my precarious balance and fall painfully to the floor.
I struggled to right myself, but the entire structure swayed, thwarting my attempt to stand and sending me stumbling back to the ground. Several books tumbled from the shelves and even the furniture shifted. Fear cinched my chest as I curled in on myself and covered my head with my arms, waiting for it to pass.
The tower stilled as suddenly as the shaking had begun. For a moment I lay on the ground, shock rendering me paralyzed. My thoughts were eclipsed by the need to leave the library and search for Quinn, but my body ached from the force of my fall, so it took me a moment to stand and face the door. My breath caught. For a moment I could only stare, disbelief causing my heart to still.
The door…was gone.
I gaped at where it used to be, a place that was now nothing more than a wall. It took several moments to regain the use of my limbs in order to shakily approach. I rested my hand against the stones, cold to the touch, no sign of the usual life that filled the tower.
Not trusting my vision, I ran my entire hand across the wall, searching for a way out with my touch. For the door justhadto be here; there was no way it could have simplydisappeared. But no matter my frantic searching, it remained absent…leaving me trapped inside this room.
My breaths came short and sharp as my panic rose. My movements were frantic as I ran my hands along not just this wall but the others in the circular room, desperately searching for a way out…but there wasn’t one.
The strangled sob I’d been fighting to keep back escaped. “Tower?”
No answer.
My voice hitched. “Please, you must take me to the exit. Tower?Tower?”
Still nothing.
My tears escaped, and with my energy spent, I sank to the cold, hard floor. There I knelt, my shoulders shaking with sobs, only broken whenever I found the strength to call for the tower or even for Quinn, but there was never any answer.
I wasn’t sure how long I remained in this hunched position. I only stirred when I felt a flare of life penetrate the air, as if the tower was rousing from a deep slumber. I slowly looked up, and though the force behind the tower’s enchantment remained invisible, I could sense it. It began in the stones I knelt on, seeping over my body to enfold me in what felt like an embrace of comfort…and apology.
The tower held me until I dried my tears before its force pulled away to move towards the wall where the door had vanished with a silent command for me to follow. And though I had no reason to trust it, I shakily obeyed, my legs sore and stiff from kneeling on the hard ground.
I returned to the wall and rested my hand against the stones. At first they remained cold, as they had when the door had vanished. But then suddenly life filled them. They tingled with warmth, then shuddered against my touch, before all at once they caused the stones to melt away, revealing the door.
I’d no sooner registered its presence than it flung open to reveal a pale and frantic Quinn. For a moment he simply stared at me in disbelief before he seized me in his tight hold. “Gemma.”
Pure relief filled my name as well as his arms clinging to me, keeping me close enough for me to feel every firm line of his chest and his heart beating frantically against mine. As before when he’d held me, I couldn’t help but notice how cozy his arms were, how safe they made me feel. I nestled deeper into his hold with a contented sigh, and in his arms the panic and fear that had filled me moments before melted away.
He didn’t hold me nearly long enough before he suddenly yanked me from the library into the safety of the corridor. Moments later, the door vanished behind us, melting into the wall until it was no longer there. I stared at where it’d disappeared in disbelief before glancing uncertainly at Quinn.
“It appears we no longer have a library.”
Unsurprisingly, he found no humor in the comment. “Oh, Gemma.” His voice shook and I suddenly found myself back in his arms…not that I minded, a realization that was just as new as the sweet feelings I was only beginning to discover. “I never should have left you alone. I returned the moment the tower shook, only to find…”
He said nothing more, only squeezed me more tightly, a sensation that likely would have been uncomfortable from anyone else, but from him it somehow wasn’t tight enough.
