I ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED A DUNGEON

Felix slammed Marisol’s front door wide open, chest heaving, breath ragged from pushing himself the whole way home at a dead sprint. "Did anyone come by? See anyone enter?"

"Once Kite came in. But then he left." Dune answered, watching as he dashed into the kitchen in one quick move. "Did you find Marisol?"

"I am about to." Felix checked the shelves fast. There was no fruit. There was less than half of the bread he had remembered before.

He backed out of the kitchen and settled in the center of the living room, checking all the walls and doors around him. Kite’s room. Marisol’s room. Bathroom. Kitchen behind him. Nothing there.

But between the bathroom and kitchen was the short hallway that seemed to end with the plain wooden wall.

Felix approached it, set his feet and stomped hard into the floorboards.

No echo was returned to him. Solid ground below the solid wood.

"What are you doing?" Dune cocked her head.

"There must be some hidden door in this house somewhere. And it should be underground. Marisol is most likely hiding there." He approached another room, touching the baseboards and floorboards as he checked them.

"There is one here. In Kite’s room."

"What? Where? Why didn’t you say that?" Felix turned around fast and started to cross toward her. "Tell me now."

"I did say it. You did not listen." Dune answered evenly. "I also wrote it down on the paper. You did not understand what I wrote."

"My bad. Genuinely, my bad." He got behind her, guiding her forward with both hands on her shoulders toward Kite’s room. "Just show me. Now."

"Yes." She stepped inside and turned to point her finger down at the floor near the right corner of the room, next to the door frame. "Right there."

Felix squatted down and tapped the wooden floor twice. There was a hollow echo. He touched the seams around but found none at first.

"How should I..." He put his hand flat against it and it gave way an inch under his weight. "Oh." He pushed it to the side and saw the hidden staircase.

"We’re coming for you, Marisol." He nodded at Dune once and started making his way down the stairs that led to the basement. "Be careful."

He pulled two cards and let them float above him. They gave off a faint bluish light which helped him see his surroundings. He noticed some bits of half-eaten fruits and some loose crumbs of bread.

"Food shouldn’t be wasted in such a manner," Dune said, walking behind him.

"Yeah." Felix continued his progress deeper into the darkness, approaching the far wall. "Just don’t touch it."

Then he saw something red that caught the edge of his sight. He speeded up a bit and found a woman leaning against the far wall, sleeping or nearly there. She wore a platinum necklace that hung around her neck.

"That’s Marisol." Felix approached her carefully.

The sound of footsteps was heard above but he paid no attention to that and went to Marisol’s side. Her clothes were stained dark, sleeves soaked through with dried blood, and a knife lay on the ground beside her, its blade smeared red, as though she’d tried, badly, desperately, to wipe it clean herself.

He turned his attention to the necklace again. The red stone caught his attention and some feeling from the depths of his mind. He reached out to take it almost without any conscious decision. His fingers touched it for less than a second before he yanked back sharply, gasping in surprise.

"What the hell?"

"What happened?" Dune asked.

"It’s—" Felix stopped himself, noting the yellow glow from above, footsteps approaching quickly. He straightened up, preparing himself, expecting Marcus’s men.

"You." He managed a flat response, surprised, as he saw a familiar face descending down the staircase.

"Why are you here?" Hakimi raised his voice, narrowing his eyes, two knights standing behind him, hands moving towards their swords.

"I’m looking for the kid’s mother. Marisol." He made space for them, pointing in her direction. "There."

"I’m here for the necklace." Hakimi crossed the room toward her, black gloves already pulled on over both hands.

"Necklace? Duke sent you for this?"

"Yes." Hakimi knelt and took the necklace away from her neck. "It is called Whisper Clasp. It is an artifact which affects the mind of its owner."

One of the knights returned with a black box, and Hakimi put the necklace inside, sealing the box.

"That’s not exactly what I was expecting." Felix let out a slow breath, looking back at Marisol, who began to move slowly.

"Careful." Hakimi assisted her to get up. "People, who were under this necklace’s influence don’t remember anything once they wake up, as if they just came from a dream. In the wrong hands, it might affect the mind of an entire family without anyone knowing it."

"That explains why Marcus wanted her back." Felix walked upstairs. "This is disgusting."

Hakimi stood outside, frowning. "Marcus Sterling is dead. He slit his own throat in his study an hour ago. He bled to death before anyone found him."

"No." Felix paused. "Why? Man seemed reasonable enough, in his own miserable way."

"He was going to be exposed for smuggling ore to the Kingdom of Tomorrow behind the Duke’s back." Hakimi remained calm. "For someone like him, death would be better than seeing his life being destroyed."

"What is a reputation worth when you are six feet under?" Felix rubbed his face, and at that moment, he noticed Kite and Carmen coming down the street with little Javier on her hip.

"MOM! MOM!" Kite bolted into motion, knocking into Marisol and wrapping both of his arms around her.

Hakimi and Felix exchanged a short look and moved even farther away to give them some space.

"Lady Dune," Hakimi looked over to her. "Never noticed it before, but that hairpin looks good on you."

"Yes, Leto gave it to me."

"Leto?" Hakimi’s eyes went sharp, looking at Felix.

"Physician, stayed with us two nights, passing through town." Felix considered mentioning the seal, the tattoo, all of it, and decided against it. "Guy was oddly attentive toward Dune the whole visit, for whatever reason."

Hakimi nodded slowly, his eyes lingering on her for a second too long. "Then I guess it is time for me to get going."

Behind them the door opened once again and Marisol appeared, looking at Felix. "You are Felix?"

"That’s me," he turned and saw Hakimi walking away down the street and reached for his pocket.

"Thank you very much," Marisol choked slightly on her tears. "Thank you for finding Kite’s, for finding me. I don’t know if I ever would have woken up on my own."

"That’s the job," Felix took out the earring from his pocket and held it out to her. "That earring seems to belong to you."

Marisol looked at the earring for a while and then down at her son and shook her head, gently pushing his hand back. "Take it with you. Consider it a payment for everything you have done."

"I would be more than glad to do that, but are you sure? It looks expensive."

"I am sure," Marisol managed a weak smile. "It is the only thing I have left to give you."

Felix looked back at Kite once again and nodded to himself. "Fine, then. I’ll keep it." He started to turn and walk away.

"About Mateo," Carmen came to stand next to Marisol, waiting till Felix walked away and leaned towards her. "Is he returning?"

"No," Marisol’s smile disappeared, her gaze dropped to the blood dried on her sleeves. "Mateo will not be returning."

Felix strolled down the street with his hands stuffed into his coat pocket. At this point, he was already able to put two and two together about who was lying and who was telling the truth about the whole situation, what had really happened to Mateo, why Marcus preferred the knife to being exposed, and, most importantly, why Marisol would end up holed up in her own basement and nowhere else.

Felix exhaled deeply. "Forgot to mention, I picked up fish for dinner."

Dune nodded. "I like fish."

Meow

A black cat hopped in front of them, its right leg bandaged up in a thin red thread. It studied Felix before going on its way unperturbed.

"Is it seriously understanding me when I said fish?"

"Cats don’t understand human language."

"Yeah, well. Kicking it out of my house if it comes around again."

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