Wicked Deal (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 2)

I strode to the iron door and pushed on it. With a shrieking creak, it swung open.

“Who’s there?” a rough voice sounded.

Shite.

I shoved my lightstone back into my pocket and let my night vision take over. I’d lost my ability to see color when I’d been turned, but I could see in the dark, which compensated for it. Fortunately, I hadn’t lost my night vision when I’d regained the full spectrum of color.

Behind me, the team was almost silent as they crept from the tunnel down below. I strode quickly down the hall, searching for the voice.

Near the front of the dungeon by the stairs where they’d kept Carrow, four members of the Council were locked in a cell.

My brows rose.

“You,” Ubhan hissed. “You’ve done this.”

“Hardly,” I said. “We’re here to help.”

“You’re being an idiot, Ubhan,” Mateo said. “He wasn’t there when they came.”

“We’re here to stop them. How many are there?” I asked.

“Get us out of here,” Ubhan demanded.

“I’m looking for a key,” Mac’s voice sounded from nearby.

“Me, too,” Carrow said.

“It’s at the end of the hall, in the alcove!” Ubhan shouted.

I turned to Carrow. “There should be a pair of powerful Magicuffs there. They’re reinforced with Elvish steel.”

Mateo’s gaze met mine. “You want the Elvish cuffs?”

“For their leader. He’s immortal. Impossible to kill, even with trauma.”

“They should be hidden,” Mateo said to Carrow. “A stone box in the back right corner.”

“I’ll find them.” She disappeared.

I turned back to Mateo. “Tell me what you know about them.”

“There were over two dozen men that we saw,” Mateo said. “Scattered throughout the church, setting up a spell of some kind. The leaders said something about the alcoves off the main room.”

“I got the cuffs, but we couldn’t find a key,” Carrow said.

“And we need to get a move on,” Mac said. “I feel the dark magic growing.”

She was right. It pulsed like an oily sickness, polluting every breath.

“There’s a key in my office, on the second floor,” Ubhan said.

I looked at my guards and pointed to James, a wolf shifter. “Go find it. Let them out.”

Ubhan scowled. “You’re sending just one?”

“We need every person we have to fight Ivan.”

“You know he’s right,” Mateo said.