Thwack! The sound of the arrow hitting its mark echoed in Seraiah’s ears. She wanted nothing more than to turn away—to move her feet, to turn her head—but she couldn't. She was locked in place just as she had been on that day, forced to watch as the scarlet spread with every beat of her heart. Forced to watch as with each passing second, the life drained from her friend. The once glowing light in Lonan's eyes extinguished forever.

This couldn't be happening.

Not again.

Not—

"Seraiah. Seraiah, wake up." Kestrel's voice penetrated her consciousness and released the dream's grip on her.

“You’re back,” she said, rubbing the side of her neck. She’d fallen asleep in a chair while she waited for Kestrel.

Kestrel nodded, nothing in her expression giving away what the Summer King might have said. “Did you see something? When I came in, you were screaming. I haven’t heard you do that since we first met.”

“No, it was nothing like that. It was only a dream this time. A nightmare, really.”

“You’re sure?”

Seraiah nodded. “Positive. This event already happened. I’m just being forced to relive it.”

“Ah, I understand. It will get better eventually.”

“I hope so. Anyway, what did you learn?”

Kestrel moved to the bed and took a seat on the end. “Nothing really,” she said, kicking off her boots. “According to the Summer King, he doesn’t have spies on the inside of the city. I’m not sure I believe that, but then again, it’s not like he can lie. He said there are heads decorating the walls of the city and that there has been movement in the woods involving humans and elves.”

“Humans? Like mages?”

“He couldn’t say. I suspect it would be mages, considering Gavaran has worked with them before. The necromancer could be making contact with them now. So we may have an idea of what is going on there soon.”

“Assuming he is truly on our side. He could very well be colluding with them. What about the other issue?”

Kestrel flopped back onto the bed with a sigh. “He said no. Or more accurately, he told me if we could bring him more information and prove this will be a problem in the future, he would consider it. For a price.”

“It’s always a price,” Seraiah grumbled. “Did you offer him the same as we offered the gnomes?”

“I did. I didn’t want to, but I did, and he still rejected it.”

“What did he want, then?”

“Don’t know. I didn’t ask. Whatever it is, it can’t be worth paying. We are not that desperate yet.”

“Are we not? We have no allies. No one is willing to help us.” Seraiah scooted to the edge of her chair.

“We have Sterling. What more do we need other than our queen?”

“But her magic—”

“I know. I know. She isn’t supposed to use it or risk feeding the shadows, or so Ren says.” Kestrel sat up. “What about you? Did you learn anything helpful?”

After Seraiah’s visit with the Summer King, Maescia had brought her to this room where Kestrel had been waiting and whisked Kestrel away before they had a chance to talk.

“What do you know about the Summer King’s sister?” she said slowly.

“No. Oh no. We want nothing to do with the Winter Queen.”

“You’ve met her, then?”

“I have not. I’ve only heard the stories. You think the Summer King is awful? His sister is so much worse. We are lucky she doesn’t tend to leave the Unseelie Court. I can’t imagine seeking her out on purpose.”

Seraiah frowned. “Well, I may not have a choice.”

“Of course you do,” Kestrel said. “You can stop using your visions. As long as you aren’t bringing them on, the madness won’t be a problem.”

Seraiah held Kestrel’s gaze for a long moment. “He told me he spoke with my mother—my mother, who I thought was dead. Did you know your court seer was my grandfather?”

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Kestrel’s mouth fell open. “I had no idea, though I admit I never spoke to the man. I was still very young when he died and had little interest in what was going on in the court at the time.”

“Kai gave me his journal, but even I didn’t know as I was reading it. The Summer King said that my mother came looking for answers to the same questions I had, but he couldn’t give me any answers. Then he told me to seek his sister instead and gave me a riddle for how to find her.”

Kestrel wrinkled her nose. “It’s never easy with them, is it?”

“I don’t know what I will find there, but I have to go.”

“What about Sterling? We told Kai we would confirm it was safe on this side of the portal and send a message to them. We’ve already done more than that. They’ll be wondering what happened to us.”

She’d thought about that too. She didn’t want to take her sister to the Winter Court, especially if it might be dangerous. It would be better to complete this errand first. “What if we have Ren carry our message to Kai and Sterling?”

“Ren, as in the necromancer, you don’t trust?”

“Yes. He could fetch them from Daralis, and they could wait at his cabin. He said himself that no one would be able to find the place with the wards. While he does that, we—or I, you don’t need to come with me—will go to the Unseelie Court. Then we can all meet together at Ren’s cabin and plan our next move.”

Kestrel stared at her for a long moment. “You’re serious about this? You believe the Winter Queen will be able to give you a way to continue to use your seer abilities and are willing to rely on a mage to reach your sister?”

“Yes. You keep telling me he is our ally, and we need to trust him. Fine. I will trust him. If you think it better if you go retrieve Kai and Sterling, then you could go instead.”

“Absolutely not. Kai would tear my head off if I showed up without you. I would rather take my chances with the faeries.”

“Then it’s settled. We go to the Winter Queen and Ren goes to Kai and Sterling.”

Kestrel scrubbed her hands over her face. “Alright. Tell me this riddle.”

----------------------------------------

The Summer King graciously provided them with a pair of horses and in exchange, they were required to stay the night in his Court. Seraiah didn’t like the idea of more wasted time, but Kestrel was quick to point out the journey would take them much longer on foot.

So while the music played on outside, the two of them stayed in their designated room and planned their journey.

“Based on what the Summer King said and other stories I have heard, I think the Unseelie Court is somewhere around here.” Kestrel tapped her hand-drawn map. She’d labeled Metrius, and Seraiah had added the dragon’s cave near the top of the same mountain. “This valley is shaded from the sun by all these mountains. Except for a few hours around midday, it remains in shadow. I have heard the snow never melts there so it would make a perfect home for the Winter Queen.”

Seraiah frowned at the map, remembering how high up the dragons’ cave had been. They would have to climb that high and then back down the other side. It might take them weeks. “Where would be the best place to cross, do you think?”

“Well,” Kestrel bit her lip as she stared at the map. “If I remember right, there is a trail that starts over here.” She pointed to a spot north of the gnomes’ mountain. “I’m not sure it will go all the way over the range, but I believe it’s not as high if we were to pay a visit to the dragons.”

“I still think they might be helpful in getting to the Winter Court faster,” Seraiah said. “They could fly us directly there.”

“But at what price? They’re immortal, just like the faeries. They only helped you with the Summer King's quest for their own entertainment. You’re the first I’ve ever heard of coming back from a visit to them.”

“The others must have gotten lost because Riv and Isaour were nice to me, and they said they didn’t eat people.”

Kestrel raised a brow. “Oh, they said, did they? Unlike the faeries, they are free to lie. Do you know how to tell when a dragon is lying to you?”

“All right. Fine. We will leave the dragons. First we go here,” Seraiah dragged her finger to where they estimated Ren’s cabin was, “and then we go here.”

Kestrel nodded. “And hope we don’t freeze to death along the way.”

When morning arrived, Maescia presented them with their horses, who Seraiah was relieved to find were regular horses and not a faery trick, and left them to find their own way out of the Seelie Court.

A few hours later, they rode up to Ren’s cabin. True to his word, he’d changed the wards to allow them through with no issue. Seraiah noted she didn’t see Ren’s horse anywhere as she mounted the stairs and knocked on the door.

“Let’s just go inside,” Kestrel said, reaching for the knob.

Before Seraiah could protest, Kestrel was walking into the cabin.

“Oh, Necromancer,” she called. “We’ve come to visit you. Are you home?”

There was no response.

“Maybe he’s only out for the day,” Seraiah said, looking around the small room. Unlike the previous visit, there were now ashes in the fireplace and books and papers scattered across the table. “Or we can check for a note.”

“I’ll look in here,” Kestrel said, heading into the bedroom and leaving Seraiah to sift through the piles on the table.

Many of the pages appeared blank, but a few of them had cramped writing. None of which appeared to be a message to them. Seraiah lifted another stack of blank pages and revealed an open book. It was turned to a section on shadows and featured an illustration of what one might look like.

Seraiah touched her neck as she scanned the words. It was a theory on what the shadows were. The author seemed to think they were an entity that fed on magic but couldn’t say where they originated from.

Fed on magic.

She didn’t really think of her visions as magic. They’d always been dreams to her, but she could not deny that while she’d been trying to summon visions over the past few weeks, the shadows Ren had placed on her had grown. Were they the reason she hadn’t been successful? They could have been feeding on whatever it was that allowed her to dream. Ren had passed the shadows on to her, so did that mean they were like a contagious disease that one could never be rid of?

The floor creaked as Kestrel came back into the room, and Seraiah returned to the blank pages to where she had found them. It would be something to ask Ren about the next time she saw him.

“Nothing in there, but it looks like he was here maybe as recently as this morning,” Kestrel reported.

“There’s no note here either.”

“It could mean he didn’t intend to be gone long. We can wait and see if he turns up,” Kestrel said.

Seraiah shook her head. “It’s going to take us long enough as it is. I’ll write a note, and then we can move on.”

“As you wish,” Kestrel said. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Seraiah pulled out a chair from the table and began penning her instructions to Ren.