They ran their horses ragged through the night and well into the next day until Kestrel deemed them far enough from the city to slow down. Only then did they allow their horses to walk.

“Do you think they followed us?” Seraiah asked, glancing over her shoulder at the road behind them and then to the forest on their left. She couldn’t see or hear anything other than the crashing of the waves on the beach below them. They’d hugged the coastline instead of heading into the woods.

“Not if Eryx was able to hold them off,” Kestrel said. Pain and worry laced through her words.

“What are we meant to do now?” Seraiah asked.

“We wait, and hope Kai meets us,” she hesitated a beat, then added, “and if he doesn’t, we go to the Cave of Faces on our own.”

Seraiah pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to argue with Kestrel, but she wasn’t convinced Kai would be joining them.

They followed a trail down the cliffs to the beach, where waves frothed on the sand.

“We’ll wait here for Kai,” Kestrel announced, stopping in front of a cave. The opening was little more than a crack in the cliff face and appeared to be the only access point.

Seraiah wouldn’t have looked twice at it.

“How will he know to find us here?” she asked.

“Because it’s our safe place,” Kestrel answered, looking out over the water. “When we were children, this was where we would come to get away from the city.”

“And he’ll remember?”

Kestrel swung down from her horse. “He has to.”

Seraiah joined her on the sand, and they walked their mounts single file through the narrow entrance. Kestrel used her magic to create a ball of light to illuminate their path.

Once inside, the passage opened up to a small room. The air was damp and smelled vaguely like fish. A trickle of water ran down the back wall, feeding a small pool.

Kestrel cursed as her light gradually dimmed and then went out altogether, leaving them in semi-darkness. The bit of sunlight filtering in from the entrance was just enough for Seraiah to make out the frustrated look on Kestrel’s face.

“Is something wrong?”

Kestrel scowled at her hand. “I can’t even summon a ball of light. I must have used what little magic I had left when I burned the rope back in Nyrene.”

Seraiah remembered what Kestrel had said about the portals failing without their queen. It wasn’t just the portals. “You’re losing your magic without Sterling.”

Kestrel nodded.

“How long have you known?”

“A while,” she admitted. “I’d hoped we’d have longer before it completely failed.”

“We should have left sooner,” Seraiah murmured, “as soon as I woke from my vision.”

Kestrel didn’t answer as she unsaddled her horse.

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They didn’t light a fire as to not draw unwanted attention to themselves, and the cold crept in around them when day turned to night. A storm was brewing over the water, and the setting sun lit the clouds ablaze in bursts of oranges, pinks, and purples. Seraiah would have thought it pretty had she not been so worried about the people they’d left behind.

After tending to their horses, they settled in to wait.

They sat side by side near the mouth of the cave and watched a fork of lightning light up the night sky over the water. The waves that were once smooth and rolling had turned choppy and rough, reaching higher and higher up the beach as though the sea were seeking to pull them in.

The adrenaline from their mad dash out of the castle had faded, and Seraiah’s body felt heavy. She craved sleep—her body was clamoring for it after two days without, but her brain refused to oblige.

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As the scent of the ocean wafted over her, her thoughts turned to Kai. Regret filled her as she thought about their last conversation, and how she had let her jealousy and anger get the best of her. She should have asked more questions. She should have demanded to know what Virelai had told him.

But she had done none of that. She’d let him walk away.

Seraiah hugged her knees to her chest as she stared out at the water. She hoped more than anything Kestrel was right, and he was coming to meet them.

She glanced over at Kestrel, who sat next to her in almost the same position, with her arms wrapped around her knees, her chin resting on them as she stared out of the cave at the sky. She looked lost in her own thoughts and judging by the lines on her face, they weren’t good ones. Seraiah tentatively touched her shoulder, and Kestrel jumped.

“Anything you want to talk about?” she asked.

Kestrel sighed and pressed her forehead into her knees, but didn’t say anything. It was strange to see her this upset. Seraiah was used to her being the strong one, with a flippant remark for everything.

“I’m sure he will be fine,” Seraiah said. She gently rubbed Kestrel’s back, like she used to do for Sterling when she was upset about something.

Kestrel lifted her head and when she looked at Seraiah, there was a sheen of tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know if I believe that,” Kestrel said, blinking back the tears, “but thank you.”

“We just have to get Sterling back, and we can return to Nyrene,” Seraiah said with more confidence than she felt. “Then everything will be fine.”

Kestrel shook her head. “I don’t think it will be that easy. They will have turned the city against us if this assassination attempt is any indication.”

“But not everyone sides with them,” Seraiah argued.

“They will imprison anyone who sides with us, and that’s if they are lucky.”

“And if they’re not lucky?”

“They’ll be murdered, which is what I am afraid is going to happen to Eryx. Standing up for us like that—blocking them from following. If he wasn’t killed in the sword fight, they would surely kill him after. It was a takeover, and they don’t intend to leave anyone who resists alive.” A single tear slipped down her cheek.

Seraiah didn’t know what to say. There was nothing she could offer as reassurance.

Kestrel dashed the tear away. “Kai knew this was going to happen and yet he didn’t say a word.”

“Nothing?”

“He had mentioned there were dissenters, but nothing like this.”

“Then how did you know to leave? You said someone wanted us dead. It seemed like you were prepared for it.”

Kestrel waved her hand. “It was all a guess based on what you told me about staying by your side. Something was going to happen. I just didn’t know what.”

Seraiah bit her lip and looked down at the sand. “Well, I didn’t tell you everything.”

Kestrel gave her a sharp look.

“It wasn’t anything I thought was important. I saw Kai meeting with Virelai a few days ago, and then he told me himself the last time I talked to him he’d gotten information from her.”

She still left out the part where she had been planning to set off on her own. It didn’t matter now.

“I warned him not to make a deal with her, and he did it anyway,” Kestrel muttered.

“There’s something else. When he spoke to me about leaving, he never said we would be going. He only told me to prepare. I don’t think he ever had an intention of going with us.”

Kestrel shook her head. “That self-sacrificing idiot. I should have known. Why else would he have wanted me to protect you? The only reason would be because he didn’t intend to be here to do it himself.”

Seraiah dug her fingers into the wet sand. “Always have to make sure the asset is safe, I suppose.”

Kestrel snorted. “That’s not why he’s protective of you.”

“What other reason is there?”

Kestrel gave her a sideways glance. “He wants you protected because he’s half in love with you.”

A streak of lightning lit up the sky, followed by the boom of thunder.

“W-what?” Seraiah was sure she must have heard wrong. “No, that’s not true.”

“Oh, it very much is.” Kestrel stood and brushed the sand off her pants. Then she held out a hand to Seraiah to help her to her feet. “But like the idiot he is, he’s too afraid to admit it to you.”

Kestrel headed back inside the cave as the first raindrops fell, but Seraiah was still rooted in place.

“You’re wrong,” she called after her.

Kestrel turned. “I’m not, and no matter if you try to deny it, I’ve been around the two of you long enough to know you feel the same way. Now come on. We’ll rest for the night, and then tomorrow we’ll head for the Cave of Faces.”

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The sound of hoofbeats startled Seraiah awake. She rubbed her eyes and searched groggily for the source.

Kestrel was already awake and tending to their horses at the back of the cave. It didn’t appear she had heard anything since she was still bent over, examining her horse’s hoof for rocks.

“Kes,” Seraiah hissed a warning.

Her head snapped up, and she let go of the horse’s leg.

She straightened slowly, listening. Her hand fell to the hilt of her sword, and she motioned for Seraiah to move away from the cave’s mouth.

“I’m going to look,” Kestrel whispered, crossing the cave and ducking into the narrow entrance.

She hadn’t ordered her to stay, so Seraiah slipped her dagger from its sheath and followed.

“You’re here.” Seraiah heard Kestrel say from up ahead. There was no sound of weapons. Whoever it was, it was someone they knew.

Heart in her throat, she hurried to catch up and see who it was, even though she had a feeling she already knew.

“Only thanks to Lonan here,” Kai said.

Shame crashed over Seraiah as she realized she’d completely forgotten about the gnome.

She pushed past Kestrel and stepped from the cave, getting her first look at Kai.

The dagger slipped from her fingers and landed with a thunk on the sand. “Oh no,” she whispered.

He was barely recognizable, his face so bruised and bloodied.

“That frightening, huh?” he asked. Then he collapsed at her feet.