Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One, R Nicole [top romance novels .TXT] 📗

simply as I uncovered more of the object. “Wow, would you look at that?”

I took a little brush from him and dusted over the exposed ceramic, revealing the design painted and pressed into the fired clay. Three yellow crowns inside a blue shield—the Pendragon coat of arms. It was a simple cup, but it was from the time of Arthur and the cataclysm. Someone had held this almost a thousand years ago, maybe even on the night the rift opened.

Aiden chuckled and sat back on his heels. “Now do you get it?”

I looked up at him and nodded. “I’m sorry I called you a bunch of nerds.”

His chuckle turned into a full belly laugh. “Welcome to the fold, honorary nerd.”

* * *

After a few days working on the dig, things were getting better.

I was careful not to go to Aiden with every little question to avoid the jealous women who had crushes on him. Instead, I asked the other archeologists how to do things and shared what I found—I’d since added some silver coins to my cup. I showed interest in their work and said nothing personal and soon, I’d become just another face in the Camelot dig.

Two other Naturals joined me the day after I’d begun work inside the inn. Carly from the Los Angeles Sanctum and Heath from the Edinburgh outpost. They were cordial enough towards me, but not openly hostile, so we worked in amicable silence for most of the day.

What surprised me the most was how I was treated outside of the security detail. There was less hostility in the air, and I could breathe for the first time since I was a teenager.

Unearthing the hall was slow going. Now I’d learned the intricacies of the job, I understood why so little of Camelot was uncovered. Too heavy a hand and something of great importance and value could be accidentally destroyed.

“Hey!” A woman leaned though the doorway and waved to the others. “They’ve found something up at the castle. Everyone’s going to check it out.”

She vanished as soon as she appeared, and I glanced at Carly and Heath. They began to chatter excitedly, then stepped out of their squares.

I hesitated. My settings were still on isolation mode and I wondered if I should go, too.

As if she’d read my thoughts, Carly paused at the door and turned back. “Madeleine,” she said with a good-humoured sigh, “are you coming or not?”

I grinned and dropped my trowel. “For sure.”

Excited to be included—even in a small way—I followed them through the lower city. Soon I was turning into a large thoroughfare that led up to the inner castle of Camelot. It was a new section I hadn’t been to before—a more posh part by the looks of it. I tried to remember some things Aiden had taught us in history class back at the Academy. How the poorer people lived on the outer edges, then the higher ranked and their sacks of gold, followed by the nobility, and then the kings and queens. It was a theme that still presented itself in modern cities all around the world.

I followed the other Naturals up a flight of stairs and almost crashed into a crowd of fifty or so people at the top. Cursing, I edged around them, standing on my tiptoes to see what they were looking at.

“Can you believe it?” someone said. “Hidden right beneath our feet this whole time!”

“I know, right?” a woman replied. “Can you imagine what else is hidden here?”

Finally, I found a gap between the excited archaeologists. There was a huge hole in the middle of another square that sat against the immense outer wall of Camelot’s inner castle.

Aiden and his team had partially dug out a freestanding building that appeared to have sunk into the earth hundreds of years ago. It sat well below the original paving as if someone had hidden it—by what or who, it was impossible to tell. The walls were plastered and painted, though the colours had faded and the stone underneath showed through.

From what I could make out, the design was Druidic. Runes were woven in reliefs depicting a woman in a flowing gown with stars in her hair. Was it the Lady of the Lake? It was difficult to tell with so much of the structure still buried.

“I heard Aiden say it looked like it was intentionally buried.”

My ears pricked up. I turned so I could listen to the archeologists’ gossip.

“There’s power in the ground here, can’t you feel it?”

“It’s a chamber,” the woman in front of me said. “This part of the city was fortified, which means it was important. We’re inside the walls of the inner castle, you know.”

“What do you think it is?” the man asked. “A treasury?”

“Maybe. It seems untouched by the Dark. Can you believe it?”

Nausea rippled through my body and I leaned against the stone wall. Why did I feel so sick? My Light should… It was then that I realised it was my mutation reacting to something.

I glanced around, but no one was looking at me. They were all excited about the strange building buried underneath the city. But the longer I looked at it, the more I knew it should probably be left alone.

Who knew what secrets the Naturals had buried under here, let alone what the Dark had twisted into the shadows? It was one thing to dig up a cup and some ancient coins, but quite another when it came to secret buildings.

Spotting Aiden by the wall, I tried to move forwards but the excited nerd brigade pushed me back.

I scowled and craned my neck so I could see deeper inside the hole. Maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t get close.

The Dark had been after me from the beginning, but the creatures who’d taken me were from Camelot. What if they were looking for something they’d left behind?

Suddenly, I had a sick feeling that the Balan demon had planned to turn me into a