“Take this,” Kestrel pressed something into Seraiah’s free hand, “and wait here.”

Before Seraiah could figure out what Kestrel had given her, she was gone, leaving Seraiah with only the sphere of light for company.

She couldn’t help but notice the light didn’t appear as bright as it used to be, and the dark seemed to press in around her. When she examined the object Kestrel had given her, she discovered it was one of her many knives. The blade was plain and short, but wicked sharp.

Seraiah gripped the handle tight. It was better than nothing, even if she didn’t quite have the skills to use it.

Kestrel had left the door open a crack, so she crept forward, getting as close to it as she dared.

First, she tried listening, but when she couldn’t hear anything, she decided to risk looking out. Nudging the door with her foot, she opened it a little wider.

There was no one in the circular room. It was as empty as it had been when they’d entered it the first time.

But where did they go?

Seraiah pulled back into the dark tunnel. The safe choice would be to listen to Kestrel and wait for either her or Kai to return. However, a part of her wanted to go find them. She hated the idea of waiting here in the dark alone, and she didn’t like standing around while Sterling’s kidnappers ran free.

It was the distant crash of two swords meeting that made up her mind.

Seraiah slipped out the tunnel door, careful to leave it cracked in case she needed to return, and made her way across the room to the double doors. The torches along the walls still burned if a bit lower than they had before. The shadows that previously had appeared menacing now seemed to wave her forward.

At the doors, she stopped to listen again, but there was nothing. They were too solid for her to make out the sound of conversation, and she could no longer hear the clash of swords.

Seraiah hoped it was her side who had won the fight, and she wasn’t walking into a trap.

She eased one door open, ready to slam it at the first sign of danger, but yet again, she was met with emptiness.

When the opening was wide enough, she slipped through and into the hallway. Now, without the barrier of the door, Seraiah heard the quiet murmur of voices as she crept to the stairs. At the top, Kai’s voice reached her clearly.

“Tell us who you sold her to,” he demanded.

The response was muffled.

Seraiah rushed down the stairs but stopped short from reaching the bottom, surprised by the sight that met her.

In the narrow corridor, which was barely wide enough for one, Kai and Kestrel had trapped a man between them. Kestrel held her sword to the man’s back while Kai’s was leveled at his neck. An old chipped sword lay abandoned not far from them.

Seraiah’s attention returned to the man. She recognized him from her vision as the one who had yanked Sterling out of her cell. She remembered the way Sterling had cowered away from him. He must be the one who had hurt her. All reasonable thoughts left her head and anger burned hot through her veins as she imagined Sterling’s pain.

Then she was running, knife lifted.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A strong arm wrapped around her waist, hauling her backward before she could reach him.

Seraiah dropped the light ball to claw at the arm that held her. She had to get to him. She had to make him pay for what he had done.

The arm tightened, drawing her into a chest.

“Don’t,” Kai said softly. His breath tickled her ear. “It’s not worth it.”

“You don’t know what he did,” she snarled, still fighting Kai’s hold.

The man on the ground was staring at her like she was a wild animal.

“Seraiah.” She could feel the vibration of Kai’s voice. “Let me handle this before you do something you will regret.”

“He deserves to die for laying a hand on my sister,” she said, letting venom slip into her words.

“I-I did no such t-thing,” the man stammered, avoiding her gaze.

“Then how did she break her nose?” she hissed. “Where did those bruises come from? They didn’t appear on their own.”

“H-How do y-you know?” He trembled under her gaze. If he shook any harder, he was likely to impale himself on the end of Kai’s sword. “Witch,” he accused, before spitting at her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Kai warned, brushing the tip of his sword ever so slightly against the man’s neck.

The man fell silent as the tiniest drop of blood appeared on his broken skin, glittering like a ruby in the light.

Some of the fight went out of Seraiah at the sight of blood, and she lowered the knife as logic returned. What exactly had she thought she would do? Stab the man? She’d never in her life lifted a hand against someone, much less a knife. She wouldn’t be any better than him if she used a weapon against someone who was defenseless, no matter what they may have done.

“Fine,” she relented.

Kai’s hold loosened, but he didn’t let her go like he was afraid she may change her mind and go charging again.

“I promise I won’t stab anyone.”

Kestrel snickered, but Kai finally released her, shoving her behind him.

“Stay out of the way,” he ordered.

Seraiah crossed her arms over her chest, mindful of the knife blade in her hand. The light ball she’d dropped had rolled close to the man, but no one made a move to retrieve it.

“Now where were we,” Kai said.

“I believe he was going to tell us who he sold Sterling to,” Kestrel said. She nudged the man in the back with her blade. “Isn’t that right?”

“I don’t know nobody named Sterling,” he grumbled, flinching away from her blade.

“Then who was it?” Kestrel asked.

“Some girl—a princess or something. Said we’d know her by her strange silver hair.”

“Then tell us about this girl,” Kai said, “and who you sold her to.”

The man was silent for a moment, but another warning poke from Kai got him speaking. “We saw her in Ratha and grabbed her. Then we brought her here, where we were to trade her for our reward. We never saw the people who wanted her,” he said sullenly.

“Then who did you hand her off to?” Kestrel asked. “You didn’t leave her in an empty room, did you?”

“They were wearing robes with hoods. I never saw their faces,” he insisted. “They didn’t even speak.”

“What happened, then?” Seraiah asked. Kai had told her to stay out of the way, but he hadn’t told her she couldn’t speak.

The man glared at her but continued answering. “We met them in that circular room with the girl. One of them cut her with a knife and then . . .” he trailed off.

Seraiah scowled. Whoever that person was who cut Sterling would pay for it. “And then?” she prompted.

“And then he put her blood in a bowl where it sizzled. After that, another of them handed over a bag of coins, and we left. That’s all I know.”

“How did you find out about the job?” Kestrel asked.

The man jumped a little at the sound of her voice. “My partner told me. I had nothing to do with it.”

That’s what had been bothering Seraiah.

There was only one of them, but she remembered hearing another man speaking from outside Sterling’s cell, and Kestrel had said she heard two people arguing.

“Where is your partner now?” Seraiah asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know. We were only working together for this job. Then we were splitting up.”

“Did you see the other one?” Seraiah asked Kai.

He flipped his sword, using the hilt to knock the man unconscious before answering her. “He took off before we could grab him.”

“Do you think—” She hadn’t finished the question before Kai was already nodding.

“Undoubtedly, headed back to Baromund.”

To tell the mages their whereabouts if they didn’t know already.

“We need to get to that portal as soon as possible before they catch up to us.” Kai sheathed his sword, stepping around the man’s unconscious form.

“What about him?”

“Leave him,” Kai answered.

“And if he wakes up?”

“That will be awhile, and by then it won’t matter. We should be long gone.”

Seraiah couldn’t argue with that, but she still thought he deserved more of a punishment. She kicked him hard before stepping over him. “That’s for Sterling,” she whispered, as she followed Kai and Kestrel, leaving the man to the dark.