Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

“She’s given me no reason not to trust her, so until she does, I’ll take her at her word.”

Wilson just sighed and shook his head. To be fair, I couldn’t blame him for his skepticism—it’d kept us alive in the past, so I couldn’t hold it against him. But he wasn’t the one in the room with her. He didn’t hear her story.

We walked down even more steps, the air growing colder and the cleanliness worsening as we walked to the deepest level of the castle, stopping at a large iron door. The metal door to the dungeon was rusted with age and damp with moss. This level of the castle was underneath Lake Gloom, and the moisture sunk into the stone along with our lungs with every breath. Mold and rot.

The iron wailed as we shoved the door open, entering the room. There were four cells in the small room, two on either side of the walls. While the room itself was in disrepair, Gil periodically forged new iron bars and gates for the cells whenever they rusted. It had been some months since the last time, and the iron was looking worse for wear, reminding me that we would need to replace them soon.

There was only one occupant in the room. She huddled on the mildew stained cot in the corner of the first cell; her knees pushed to her chest, and her arms hugging them while her large black eyes stared straight ahead, vacant and unblinking. Not looking at anything.

Back in prison, so soon after escaping. She didn’t so much as stir as we entered and walked over to her. Wilson stood by the gate, looking at her with distrust.

“Open the door,” I commanded.

Her eyes went wide at my voice. She shot up from the cot and stared at me with nothing short of hope in them. “Duran! I wasn’t sure you’d come back.”

I gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll have you out in a second.”

“I advise against this D. We should leave her here till we determine if she can be trusted.”

“Do it.”

“D—”

“Now, Wilson.”

He whirled on me, fire in his eyes. “For once in your life, would you please listen to me? You gave me the job for a fucking reason!” His shoulders slumped over as the heat left his face. “You’re one of my oldest friends. We can’t afford another loss right now, and I don’t want you to end up like Alistair.”

He had to go there; he knew I felt responsible for Alistair’s death. I sighed. Any other time and I’d have listened to him. Much as he thought I didn’t, I never shirked his advice, but I didn’t always take it, either. He was right about the girl, but I wasn’t about to leave her here to rot.

“The door.”

He rubbed his eyes but didn’t fight me, pulling the key from within the pocket of his vest. I wasn’t budging, and he knew it, but that didn’t stop him from trying one last time to get me to see his reason. “You don’t even know this girl’s name, and you’re still going against me?”

My migraine worsened. Blood, too loud in my ears, my head heavy, a phantom itch in the back of my mind. I snatched the key from his hands. “Her name is Eris.”

I unlocked the door, it swung open to rattle against the iron bars. She rushed out in a flash and ran over to me, wrapping her arm around mine.

Giving me a smile of gratitude, she turned to Wilson. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I hope to prove you wrong about me.”

Wilson’s frown deepened, his crow's feet sharp against his gray eyes as he furrowed his brow and gave her a curt nod. “Doesn’t seem like my opinion matters regardless.”

He walked past us out of the room, only stopping long enough to say one last thing.

“Guild meeting, tomorrow morning, nine o’clock.”

His footsteps thumped sharply against the stone as he stormed out.

I leaned on the cell. “Best give him a minute. I don’t want to run into him again tonight, not while he’s still upset.”

“That’s probably wise. He doesn’t like me,” she said, leaning against me. “So…Eris, huh?”

My face flushed, and I grinned down at her. “Yeah, sorry. It just came to me.”

She hummed to herself for a few seconds. The beginnings of a song I’d never heard before, but it was soothing. “Eris, Eris. I like it.”

“I’m glad,” I said, and we stood there for a few more minutes in comfortable silence, though even with her next to me, the cold and damp was working its way into my lungs, and I was ready to leave. “All right, I think that's enough waiting. Let’s head up.”

Eris nodded. “Yes, let’s. I can’t stand this place.”

We exited the basement and headed up to the bedrooms on the third floor. Eris trailed behind me, staring at the decorations on the walls as we wound through the halls. We didn’t run into anyone else out at this time of night, so it made the trip up the floors quick.

I walked past my room as we exited the stairs and to the very end of the hallway. We had a few unused rooms that were designated guest rooms, even though we never actually had guests over.

The door was unlocked, so I opened it and motioned her inside. “There's a small bath in the far corner of the room with hot water, and there should be plenty of clean clothes in the dresser. The restroom is down the hall, and if anyone challenges you, give them the phrase: ‘to the king who walks in shadow,’ and no one will bother you.”

“Okay…”

“I’m in the first door before you reach the stairs. Just come