Chapter 64: Property
"How long is this back hallway?!" Alina hissed, looking back over her shoulder.
The narrow passage felt like it was closing in on them, swallowing their shadows whole. She was starting to think they were just walking in circles underground.
"We're almost at the main level. Don't worry," Turman said, giving them a quick nod as he kept moving toward the bright gap of light up ahead.
Under the sconces, his face looked completely washed out.
Beside him, Wan shuffled along, his long arms swinging low, basking in his brother's presence like he was afraid Turman would disappear if he looked away.
"We stop here," Turman whispered, coming to a halt before a heavy wooden panel.
He turned around, biting his lower lip until it turned white. "Listen to me. If she catches us out in the open, we're dead. None of us can fight her head-on."
Nuri stepped up, planting a firm hand on Turman's thin shoulder and giving it a quick squeeze.
Turman let out a shaky breath and relaxed his shoulders.
He pushed the panel open.
Finally.
This was the door out. Turman had spent months staring at the ceiling, dreaming about stepping through it. His chest rose and fell fast, his pulse hammering against his ribs. He hadn't felt his heart race like this since the night he found Wan in the lower cellar.
They slipped out into the corridor.
The house was dead silent.
It wasn't just quiet, it felt completely abandoned. Not a single footstep echoed down the halls. No servants carrying trays, no brooms scraping the floorboards.
Turman frowned, looking back at Nuri and Alina. "Was it this empty when you came in?"
"No... I mean, it was quiet, but not like this," Alina muttered, her hand dropping onto the pommel of her spear. "Feels like someone cleared the building on purpose."
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Turman shook his head. "Doesn't matter. We don't linger to figure it out."
Wan didn't wait around for the rest of them. The moment he smelled fresh air coming from the end of the corridor, he broke away.
"Wan, stop!" Turman yelled.
It was too late. Wan was already limping full-tilt down the hall, his boots banging heavy against the floorboards.
"Damn it!" Alina swore, taking off after him. Nuri and Turman sprinted right behind her.
They rounded two sharp corners and burst straight into the grand entry hall.
Nuri skidded to a stop, his boots sliding on the polished stone. "How did we end up back here?"
The massive foyer was completely barren. No guards at the double doors. No servants sweeping the rugs.
Wan didn't care about the empty room. He made a straight line for the front doors, his twisted frame lurching forward as fast as his legs could carry him.
Turman let out a quiet laugh, following right behind his brother with a smile spreading across his face.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
The voice was quiet, icy, dropping straight down from the grand staircase above.
Everyone locked up.
Talia stood at the landing, looking down at them like bugs on a floor.
Turman's hands balled into fists at his sides, his shoulders trembling. "Why... why can't you just let us go?"
Talia's eyebrows pulled together in faint annoyance. "Watch your tongue. I am your mother."
She picked up a small porcelain teacup from a side table and took a slow, deliberate sip. "You belong to me. I do as I please with my own property."
"Property?"
Turman let out a sharp, nasty laugh. "A human life isn't property!"
He glared straight up at her.
Beside him, Wan dropped his shoulders low, a dangerous, low growl rattling in his chest as he stared up at the woman who locked him away.
Talia set the teacup down with a light clink.
For the first time, her eyes slid away from Turman and landed directly on Wan.
"Since you're so eager to run away," she murmured, "I suppose I'll just have to break your legs."
Her eyes narrowed to slits. "I can't have rumors spreading outside these walls."
She drew her blade.
Dark, suffocating mana burst from the steel, black flames licking up the length of the sword and scorching the air around it.
Before anyone could scream, Talia dropped off the landing, her boots barely touching the steps as she lunged straight at Wan's throat.
Clang!
A flash of silver cut her off.
Alina was already there, her heavy spear locked against Talia's flaming sword, sparks spraying across the marble floor.
"He's not your property!" Alina snarled, throwing her weight forward to shove Talia back.
She didn't wait. Alina spun the spear shaft, driving the tip straight at Talia's ribs, pushing the offensive before the woman could reset her stance.
Alina could hold her own, her raw push for freedom resonated with her god, keeping her feet planted.
Nuri, though, couldn't stop staring at Talia's sword.
That black, burning mana... that was the brand of the God of Sacrifice.
Nuri's brain short-circuited. She cursed the exact god she gets her power from?!
She literally spat in the face of the deity she prayed to, and then wondered why her kids ended up cursed!
She's completely out of her mind! Nuri thought, stepping back as the shockwave of steel hitting steel rattled his teeth.