Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 548

Chapter 548

Natalia’s POV

The stairs went down and down and down. The air grew colder, the scent of damp stone and under–earth stronger with each step.

I ran my hand across the wall, my knees trembling. At first, this felt like a good idea–like reclaiming something, facing my fears, and taking a leap of faith with my son.

But now, as we took the final step into the tunnels, I froze.

Was this a mistake?

“You alright?” Max asked, glancing back.

I swallowed hard and froze on the last step. Five more inches and I would be back on the same level I had been five years ago, when I thought I would never see the light of day or my children again.

Max stopped, turning to me, and held his hand out.

“It’s okay, Mom. I’m here.”

My stomach twisted. Max was only eleven, not nearly old enough to have to comfort his mother like this. But I took his hand anyway, inhaled deeply, and descended the final step.

The tunnels were just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The air shafts Petra had mentioned were visible every so often overhead, dark rectangles cut up through the rock with faint threads of cold air coming down through them. They made a difference, but I still instinctively pulld my shirt up over my nose and instructed MAX to do the same. He did.

Max walked with his torch held out in front of him, turning his head to look at everything. The walls, the ceiling, the side passages branching off at intervals. He was cataloguing it all, storing it away.

“Which way?” he finally asked, stopping at an intersection with three branches.

I hesitated, then pointed down the main passage. “Straight through. There’s a large chamber at the end. That’s where the pool was.”

Max nodded and kept walking.

The chamber was exactly as I remembered it.

That was the thing that got me when we stepped through the arched entrance and the torchlight spread out across the space. Every other part of this mountain had changed in some way, had been altered by time or by people or by both.

But the chamber was the same. The same domed ceiling lost in the shadows above. The same circular stone floor with pillars all around. The same pool at the center, although it was dark and still now, no longer steaming. The ventilation shafts must have cooled it somewhat, so the air wasn’t as cloying.

It looked almost peaceful.

Almost.

I stood in the entrance and could not make myself walk further in.

Damon had described the final moments with Andret in this room to me. How Andret had stood right here, naked and covered in blood, murmuring about destiny and inheritance. His eyes looked black and void of the life they once held, like he was merely a

puppet.

And then he’d walked into the water and just… disappeared.

Chapter 548

+25 Bonus

“Can I have a few minutes?” Max asked, looking at me.

I hesitated. The thought terrified me, but I knew Max could handle himself. Besides, there was something I needed to do.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll be just down the passage.”

He nodded once.

I backed out through the arch and stood in the tunnel for a moment, listening to the silence before I turned and walked along a path that I had never truly forgotten over the years.

Left, right, straight, left….

Petra’s scholars had clearly been busy. The passage was clean, the worst of the old damage held up with new wooden support beams. Up ahead, I spotted the double doors that led to the portion of the palace that had been excavated.

I pulled Celeste’s letter from my coat and read the relevant section again..

She’d been vague about the item I was looking for. Something left behind, she’d written. She believed it would be clear when I got there.

I folded the letter back up and moved slowly, holding the torch up and looking at walls and corners and the spaces behind things. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for. Something that would have been hidden deliberately, Celeste had implied. Something someone had wanted to keep.

Eventually, I approached the room that I had given birth in. I froze outside, my hand hovering in front of the latch. For a moment, I almost went in.

But I couldn’t. I would rather search the entire palace first than go in there.

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