“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Can this get any worse? I thought I was going to be able to dry off for a bit.”
Deirdre curled her lip. “Thank you so much for alerting the entire castle to our presence, Gavin.”
Giovanni could already hear shouts coming from past the door. “Whatever stealth you had was lost when the water started leaking under the door, so whine away as long as you have some plan to get us out.”
“Well, in that case—”
“Yes, feel free to continue,” Jean said as he looked around the room. “Especially if you’re keen for Livia to know exactly who is breaking out her favorite prisoner.”
That thought seemed to shut Gavin up, and he also began to look around.
Deirdre said, “It’s exactly as he described. Gavin, I know you’re wet, but you’re going to have to fly me up there. Can you do it?”
Gavin scoffed and lifted Deirdre in his arms. The two vampires flew to the top of the chamber as Giovanni turned to Jean. “Why can’t we go out the way you came?”
Jean shook his head. “Very strong current and a nasty drop off somewhere just past this chamber. I have no idea where it leads. I could drag one person, but not three and none of you are strong enough to swim back upstream without my help. No, our contact said there is a large, empty chamber above this. He felt it.”
“Who—ah, I see.” Giovanni nodded. Ziri must have been able to get a feel for the surrounding space when he visited the chamber to see him. “And so Deirdre will break through the ceiling…” His eyes looked up to see Deirdre pushing against the stone, tossing pieces away and digging her hands into the solid chamber walls.
“If she and Gavin don’t kill each other. They’ve been bickering ever since they showed up in Le Havre.”
Deirdre had dug about a foot and a half into the rock when she motioned for Gavin to fly her down. The water was almost up to their knees.
“It’s very thick. I think I have another foot and a half to go. It’s dry set and mostly solid. Very few joints and very tight. There’s no soil here, so it makes it more difficult.” She was paler than normal, and Giovanni could tell tunneling into the river, then through the floor of the prison had tired her. She needed blood, but no humans were available.
Giovanni nodded and tried to push back the impatience that wanted to grab hold of him. “Deirdre, do you need—“
“Here.” Gavin stuck out his wrist, baring it to her face. Giovanni could see her fangs descend, and Deirdre almost skittered back. He knew without asking that she had not drunk from another immortal since her husband had died. Giovanni frowned at Gavin. For him to even offer…
“Here, woman.” The gruff Scot huffed and pushed his wrist closer to her face. “Don’t be stubborn, unless you want to die. I don’t, and neither do I plan on failing a job this simple.”
Deirdre hesitated another moment before she grabbed his wrist and dug in. Giovanni glanced at Jean, who was watching with interest, one eyebrow cocked at the pair. Gavin’s face was carefully impassive, but Giovanni saw him swallow once. After a few deep draws, Deirdre pulled back and Giovanni could feel her amnis flex in the air around them. She grabbed onto Gavin’s shoulders and the two wordlessly flew up to the top of the room again.
After a few more moments and a few more pieces of stone, the marble came crashing down, and Giovanni could scent the stale air as it rushed into the room. He and Jean were floating in the water. Someone was trying to push the door open, but they had tossed the loose stones against it. Between that and the press of water against the door, they were secure.
Finally, Gavin pushed Deirdre up through the passage she had made. Then, he flew down and pulled on Giovanni’s arm first and flew him to the top of the cell. He crawled through and lifted himself into an empty chamber that was even higher than the first.
“How deep was that room?” He looked at Deirdre as she walked around the second stone-lined room.
Deirdre said, “I’d estimate twelve meters? It was about three stories down. And it looks like I’m going to have to break through another—“
“No.” Giovanni’s eyes had spotted something up in the corner of the vaulted ceiling. He heard Jean and Gavin climb through the floor, but his eyes were glued to a tiny ledge and small door he had spotted. “My sire built this room, and Andros didn’t believe in one way out. There would always be an escape hatch. Always another way out. Look.” He pointed up and turned to Gavin. “Nice flying, by the way. When did that happen?”
Gavin only gave a roguish grin and a wink. “Handy, no?”
“Very. Can you fly up to that corner? I believe there is a door up there.”
Gavin nodded and flew up quickly before he dropped back down. “Well, yes, there’s a door, but it’s rather thick—maybe a foot or more of solid oak. Can you burn through?”
He frowned. “It’s locked?”
“Yes. Odd kind of thing. Not one I’ve seen before. Almost looks like a sundial with a—”
“Starburst along the outer edges and a kind of rippling channel that runs around it?”
“Not unfamiliar, then?”
Giovanni shook his head. Trust his father to use his most difficult lock to secure the door. He pulled the dagger from the small of his back. “Andros loved designing locks I would have difficulty breaking. He tried for years to find some design I could not master.”