The Underworld (Rhyn Eternal) Read Online Free Page B

Immortals and deities who didn’t think twice about killing and harming those weaker than them?
    All three left, and she sat on the table, fingers pressed to the wound in her arm. When the bleeding stopped, she stood and paced.
    Five minutes passed then ten. Too anxious to sit still, she went to the door and placed her ear to it. She heard no sounds from outside that indicated Harmony had left a guard.
    She tested the door. To her surprise, it opened.
    “I’m not a coward, Harmony,” she murmured, face warm with the idea she was trapped in a room that hadn’t been locked.
    Deidre peeked into the hallway. She heard and saw no one. The doors lining the dungeon were all closed, and she mentally kicked herself for not paying attention to how far they went. She wasn’t able to trace her way back to the cell where past-Death and the demon were.
    … go to the top floor, center wing. In my bedroom is a jewelry box. It’s there.
    What were the chances she’d make it out of the dungeon, let alone to the top floor of a place she’d never been before? Deidre debated, her heart racing at the thought of being caught.
    Then again, what did she lose if they threw her right back here in a cell?
    There are worse fates than death.
    For once, she was grateful for her ignorance about the Immortal world. Something told her she didn’t want to know what those fates were or how bad it could get. She definitely didn’t want to be there when Harmony returned to drain the rest of her blood.
    “I can do this,” she whispered. “Find Gabriel’s soul then come back here and rescue Deidre.” Not sure what to do about the demon, though. Was she obligated to help him, because they were both demons? Or did she just leave him to his fate, knowing he’d probably end up trying to kill someone on the way out? “First things first. Up.”
    Choosing a direction, she crept down the hallway then jogged. At the end was a stairwell. She saw no guards but heard people talking in a room near the end of the hallway on the basement above the dungeon.
    Lifting her skirts, Deidre ran on tiptoes up the winding stairwell. She paused at the first landing leading to the upper level of the two subfloors to peer down a long hallway before continuing up. The voices came again, this time from the stairs behind her.
    She ran faster, bypassing the second landing without bothering to look for any sign of danger. The stairwell dead-ended at the fourth level, indicating the palace was three stories tall. The voices drifted off, as if the dealers had exited on the second floor.
    Deidre crept down the hallway. There were muffled voices from behind the closed doors of the room nearest her, and she hurried by them and trotted down the hallway. Light poured in from windows in the center of the hallway, and she paused, startled by what she saw outside the palace.
    The forest was alive. Deidre stared at the trees with snakelike branches. They hissed rather than rustled in a chilly breeze, and some large creature with six legs was disappearing into the brush. She’d thought it early morning by the weak sunlight and was surprised to see the two suns full up in the grey sky directly overhead.
    And I thought Hell looked weird. She couldn’t take her eyes off the tree branches. The sound of some strange birdcall came from the forest.
    “I need to get out of here.” She eased back from the window and started down the hallway again. There was only one intersection on this level in the middle of the long corridor.
    Deidre turned down it, hoping she was following the directions. This hallway was much shorter than the other, but it was lined by two doors on either side, spaced far a part, and one door at the other end.
    She paused to listen then opened the door closest to her. It was a guest bedroom with everything covered in white sheets. Uncertain what past-Death’s room would look like, she decided to open all the doors before beginning to search in depth.
    The other three on