Kingdom of Ash

other possibilities did still remain.
The reek from the subterranean chamber
reached Dorian long before he soared down
the winding stair, the dim passageway
cavernous and looming to his fly’s senses. It
had been the safest form for the day. The
kitchen cat had been on the prowl earlier, and
the Ironteeth witches hurried about the keep,
readying for what he could only assume was
an order to march north.
He’d been hunting for the key since dawn,
Maeve occupying Erawan’s attention in the
western catacombs across the keep. Where
those spider-princesses tested their new
bodies.
He’d never gone so deep under the keep.
Beneath the storage rooms. Beneath the
dungeons. He’d only found the stair by the
smell that had leaked from behind the
ordinary door at its top, the scent detected by