The next thing Seraiah knew, she was in a cave.

For a moment, she thought she was back at the underground lake near Metrius, but a quick glance around told her that wasn’t the case. This cave was much larger.

Seraiah turned to the wall at her back. It appeared to have some sort of design on it, but it was hard to make out in the gloom. She brushed her fingers over the surface. It was rough and pock-marked, like the rock had been molten at some point. As she studied it closer, she realized what the shapes reminded her of—faces.

The wall had faces.

Skulls with empty eye sockets stared back at her.

Seraiah dropped her hand and scrambled away from them. They certainly looked like real skulls, the mouths open and screaming as though they had been trapped in the stone.

A noise on the other side of the cavern distracted her from the macabre discovery.

She tilted her head, listening. It sounded like footsteps—two sets of them—and they were headed in her direction.

Seraiah had a brief moment of panic before she remembered this was a vision. In all likelihood, whoever it was wouldn’t be able to see her, even if she was right in front of their face.

Nonetheless, she stepped back into the shadows along the wall, just in case.

She forced herself to crouch down with the skulls at her back, despite the fact it felt like they were watching her. Then she waited for the source of the footsteps to make itself known.

The sound stopped, and Seraiah held her breath. For several tense seconds, there was nothing.

Then a voice came floating out of the dark.

“What is this place?” Sterling asked as she stepped into the dim light, where Seraiah could see her.

Her face was turned back toward the way she had come, but her silvery hair glowed in the darkness. There was no mistaking who she was. Her companion stepped forward a moment later and said something in a low voice that Seraiah couldn’t make out.

Sterling turned toward Seraiah, giving her a glimpse of her face. It was enough to see that Sterling was healthy. The bruise that had bloomed across her cheek the last time Seraiah had seen her was gone, and her face had filled out as though Sterling had been eating full meals. Her hair was loose, cascading over her shoulders in a silver waterfall.

She looked good.

She looked happy.

This was not at all what Seraiah had expected to find, especially given how she’d last seen Sterling in the prison.

She eyed the other figure with her sister. They hid their face beneath the hood of a dark robe, twin to the one Sterling was wearing. Whoever this person was, they were taller and broader than Sterling, making Seraiah think it was likely a man. From her position, there was not much else she could discern about them.

Seraiah sat back on her heels.

The movement knocked a rock loose from the wall. It skittered across the floor, stopping near Sterling’s foot.

She froze as Sterling and her companion traced the path the rock had taken.

The other figure stepped forward and lowered his hood, revealing a dark-haired young man around her own age. He stared intently at the spot where Seraiah was crouched, but didn’t come any closer. It was almost as if he could sense her, but wasn’t able to see her.

Sterling wandered over, her head tilted back as she studied the cave just as Seraiah had done not a moment ago. If she could sense Seraiah like her companion had, she gave no sign of it.

Sterling traced a finger around an open mouth that looked like it was screaming in agony. Unlike Seraiah, she didn’t seem disturbed by the likeness. She turned to her companion, who had stopped staring at Seraiah’s hiding spot and come up behind her.

“It feels like they are watching me,” Sterling said to him.

“That’s because they are, but don’t worry, that’s all they can do now,” he reassured her, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder.

His words sent a shiver down Seraiah’s spine. She didn’t like the way he rested his hand, so familiarly, on her little sister’s shoulder and the way Sterling smiled at him freely.

In some ways, it was worse to see Sterling happy and healthy like this—like she had completely forgotten about her family.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Sterling,” Seraiah called softly, hoping her sister could hear her like she had in the prison.

Sterling turned toward the sound of her voice, looking confused.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

Her companion shook his head. “No, it was probably a breeze. There’s an opening to the surface over there.” He pointed up into the dark.

“But I thought I heard someone call my name.”

“I did,” Seraiah said. “It’s me.” She tried to brush the edge of Sterling’s robe, but her fingers slipped right through it.

“People think they hear a lot of things in this cave. Some say the faces talk to them.” He shrugged. “None of it is real. Anyway, we should head back.”

He tried to lead Sterling away, but for a moment she resisted, still staring at Seraiah before giving a little shake of her head and letting him pull her out of the cave.

It was clear Seraiah would not make contact with Sterling, not with this man here, at least. She’d have to follow them and hope to gain more information about where Sterling was that way. If she was lucky, she might catch her sister alone and have another chance to speak to her.

She moved to follow them, but the floor dissolved beneath her feet, and she felt herself fall into the darkness.

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

Seraiah woke with a start. There was an unfamiliar ceiling over her head.

She pushed herself up on her elbows. She remembered coming back to Nyrene and meeting with Kai before drinking the vial the Summer King had given her, but this was not her bed, nor was this her room.

Her eyes landed on a chair next to an empty fireplace. Kai was stretched out there, his eyes closed. She took a moment to study his unguarded face. He looked younger and much more vulnerable than she’d ever seen him.

“Welcome back,” Kestrel said.

Seraiah’s eyes snapped to the end of the bed, where she found the other elf perched. Kestrel must have seen her staring at Kai, but she didn’t say anything.

“How long?” Seraiah asked, her voice rough with disuse.

“Three days.”

It had felt like mere minutes had passed in her vision.

“I’m going to call for Neorah,” Kestrel said.

Seraiah searched her memory for the name. She recalled a kind face from the council meeting. Neorah was their healer.

Seraiah wanted to tell Kestrel she was fine and didn’t need a healer, but her aching body and the headache blooming behind her eyes said otherwise.

On her way out of the room, Kestrel touched Kai’s shoulder.

He snapped awake, his eyes going straight to her. A look of relief washed over him before he quickly hid it behind a blank mask.

“I’ll be right back,” Kestrel said.

It didn’t appear as though Kai heard her as he pulled himself from the chair. His clothes were rumpled like he’d been there a while. The top buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing a sliver of pale skin, and he’d pushed the sleeves up to his elbows. His circlet was nowhere to be found. Even on their journey here, he’d never looked so disheveled.

Kai crossed the space in two strides. He leaned over her, arranging the pillows behind her and gently helping her sit up.

“Thank you,” she murmured. She could have done it herself, but she didn’t tell him that.

His fingers brushed her cheek so lightly, she almost thought she imagined it.

When she looked up, he said, “Don’t ever do that again.” Unlike his touch, the words were anything but gentle.

“I’ll do whatever needs to be done,” she retorted. “Where am I?”

“My rooms.”

Suddenly, she knew why he’d been sleeping in a chair.

Because she had taken his bed.

His mouth twitched into the ghost of a smile at whatever he saw on her face. “Don’t worry. Only a few know you are here. Besides, I couldn’t very well carry your unconscious form through the castle for everyone to see.”

Before Seraiah could respond, Neorah and Kestrel came bustling into the room. Kestrel held a tray with what smelled like food.

Kai stepped away from the bed to give them some room, and Neorah took his place. “May I?” she asked.

Seraiah nodded, though her eyes were still on Kai, where he watched behind the healer.

Neorah placed a hand on either side of her face and closed her eyes, humming softly to herself. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and removed her hands.

“It’s just as I said earlier,” Neorah addressed Kai. “She is perfectly healthy. There is no trace of poison in her system. Any lingering effects are from not eating or drinking anything over the last three days. Start with simple foods, and she’ll be back to her usual self in no time.”

Kai thanked her.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Neorah dipped a curtsy and left the room.

“You thought I was poisoned?” Seraiah asked, as Kestrel placed the tray on her lap. It held a bowl of soup and a glass of water.

“What was I supposed to think? You fell unconscious, and I couldn’t wake you. You were barely breathing, and if I hadn’t felt your pulse, I would have thought you were dead.” A bit of fear had crept into Kai’s voice as he spoke.

“I’m sorry,” Seraiah mumbled, looking down at her soup. She did feel bad for putting them through that.

Kestrel cleared her throat. “What’s done is done. Now we need to hear what you saw.”

She heard the other question Kestrel didn’t voice. Was it worth it?

Seraiah dipped the spoon into the soup, attempting to delay the inevitable. They would hear soon enough that she hadn’t learned much of anything.

“The Summer King didn’t trick us,” she said between mouthfuls. “I had a vision of Sterling.”

Kestrel settled onto the bed next to her and motioned for Kai to stop hovering over them. He returned to the chair by the hearth, but Seraiah could still feel him watching every spoonful of soup she lifted to her mouth.

“I was in a cave, or at least somewhere underground.” Seraiah described the way the walls had resembled skulls. “Have you ever heard of anything like it?”

“It’s called the Cave of Faces—for obvious reasons,” Kestrel said. “Those were people once upon a time, or so the story goes.”

“Do you know where it is?” Her gaze darted between Kestrel and Kai. “Is it close?”

Maybe her vision hadn’t been as worthless as she’d thought.

“No, it’s not,” Kai answered. “But at least it confirms one thing.”

“What?”

“Mages control that area. No one else would lay claim to that haunted place. What else did you see?”

They listened intently as Seraiah described Sterling and her companion. “They only spoke about the cave. I tried calling Sterling’s name to see if she could hear me like in the prison, but the man told her it was nothing but the wind. I was going to follow them, but when I tried, I woke up. I’m sorry it’s not more than that.”

“It’s plenty,” Kestrel reassured her. “We know where they are now, and exactly who is holding her.”

“So, when do we leave?” Seraiah asked.

Kestrel looked back at Kai.

“You need to recover first,” he said, “and I will need to make plans. It won’t be easy to get her out of there. I need a few days, at least.”

“Fine, but just so you know, I will be going, so you can factor that into your plans,” Seraiah said.

Kai snorted. “I pity the mages. They don’t know what’s coming for them.”