Chapter 20
Twenty
ALLETTE
The floors in this inn are far too creaky. Each time one of us places a foot down, it’s like a bloody siren wailing. My heart pumps like mad in my chest as we make our way down a tight, turning stairwell to the bustling kitchens. Braith, the angel that she is, went down ahead of us to clear the path.
Workers stop dead to gape at us. Do they know the princes’ true identities? Do they suspect? Aeron glamoured his hair a dull copper and they both have their hoods drawn, but their stature alone might give them away.
Senan’s breaths come in ragged gasps, but he refuses his brother’s offers to help him walk. Stubborn, prideful man. I love him, but right now I could throttle him.
Through the kitchens we go, into a storeroom filled with sacks of grain, potatoes, and root vegetables. Braith waits with a key, her expression sullen as she watches us enter and tells Aeron to close the door. He grumbles about being given orders but follows them all the same.
“What you are about to see is never to be spoken of,” Braith says in a whisper. “I want you to swear it to me.”
My nerves settle like sediment in my chest. “I swear.”
Once the men repeat the vow, Braith turns to the shelf, grabs the corner, and rolls it toward us, revealing a wooden door. After unlocking the door, she hooks the key on a nail fastened to the outside of the frame.
The area on the other side of the door is black as pitch. Braith presses a stone on the wall, and orange fae lights illuminate the tiny space. The term tiny is generous. The men will have to walk sideways to fit their shoulders through.
“Ready?” Braith asks with a gleam in her eyes.
I’m not sure what I’m agreeing to, but I follow her, descending into a damp basement where water weeps down the walls, blackened from time and moisture. It smells as if the sea itself is seeping through the mottled stone floor. A few colorful curses later, Senan and Aeron reach where we wait at the edge of the lit path.
Braith presses another button that switches off the lights above and behind us, illuminating instead another five or six fae lights along a slanted path angled downhill.
After ten minutes of walking, we emerge in a cavern as large as the one beneath Kumulus Castle. Like the castle caverns, there is a river. The only difference is that, in this river, there are boats.
Braith climbs into one, offering me a hand to help me board as well. Aeron follows, but Senan remains on the shore, looking downright terrified.
“What is it?” Braith asks after a glance around at the boat.
Senan swipes his hands down his thighs. “I don’t like the water.”
Aeron chuckles. “He’s afraid of fish. Always was. Used to be terrified of baths as well.”
“I’m not afraid of fish,” Senan shoots back.
“Come on, my love. You can sit beside me.” I pat the wooden bench. “I won’t let the mean fish get you.”
He takes my hand in an iron grip, squeezing until my fingers go white. “Sure. Make fun of the dying man. That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
The poor man really is scared; I probably shouldn’t poke fun. “I’ve got you,” I whisper.
Before Senan can settle, Aeron rocks the boat, and my love screeches, throwing his arms around me, clinging tightly. Aeron’s booming laughter echoes across the cavern.
I suppose the man can smile, after all.
Senan’s death grip slowly loosens, but he doesn’t fully let go. “I’m going to fucking murder you,” he says to his brother, shooting him a deadly glower.
“I’d love to see you try.”
These two. Honestly. Do they ever stop goading each other?
Aeron takes a seat on the back bench, between two oars. “Whoever owns this boat won’t be very happy about us stealing it.”
Braith lets out a heavy sigh. “Fear not, Prince Pleasant. The boat belongs to my sister. I’ll send word and have my brother return it by the weekend.”
Senan chuckles, and Aeron kicks him in the shin.
“I swear, if the two of you don’t stop rocking the bloody boat, I’m going to throw you both out.” I might not fear fish, but it’s cold down here, and if they end up capsizing us with their antics, I’ll be the one doing the murdering.
With the princes properly cowed, Braith explains that the underground waterways lead just about anywhere in Kumulus you’d like to go.
Still clinging to me, Senan peers over the side of the boat. “I didn’t know these waterways existed.”
Braith unhooks the thick ropes and uses one of the oars to push off the bank. “You have your ways to get around and we have ours.”
A good point, to be sure. We never would have needed the river if Senan and I could still fly.
Aeron insists on taking the oars from Braith and rowing himself. Although she rolls her eyes, I catch her gaze drifting toward Aeron’s biceps on more than one occasion.
Perhaps she doesn’t dislike him as much as she lets on.
Not that there is any hope for them. He is married to the Princess of Stratiss and they are expecting their first child together.
Still, I suppose there is no harm in looking.
Speaking of looking, even unwell and marginally terrified of water and fish, Senan’s countenance seems brighter than before. Each stroke of the oars brings us another step closer to healing him and saving his brother.
My prince’s head drifts to my shoulder, and he promptly falls asleep.
Braith nods toward Senan. “What’s wrong with him?” she mouths.
This doesn’t feel like my story to share, but Braith already knows about Senan’s struggle with stardust. When I tell her, understanding lights her eyes.
“There’s been a lot of talk lately about tainted dust,” she says. “Some believe they poisoned it on purpose.”
We were always taught that stardust could be lethal—mostly because it can make you hallucinate and do reckless things. But to think of someone making it deadlier on purpose is abhorrent.
What about all those people who don’t have access to the antidote? Who is going to save them?
Aeron nods toward a split in the river. “Which way?”
Braith gestures to the lower cavern of the two, where a bunch of stalagmites shoot up from the dark water. “Left, then when it splits again, take a right.” Braith leans toward me, bracing her elbows on her knees. “How are you handling things?”
Honestly? I don’t even know. The last few days have been such a whirlwind, I’m only now beginning to think straight. “It’s been rough.”
Her hand falls to where mine twist together in my lap. “I’m so sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you’re back. The castle isn’t the same without you, and Jeston has become an unbearable prick altogether.”
He was always a bit of a prick, if you ask me.
“The night they took you, we were all down in the caverns and may have had a little too much to drink. I did what you said, told him that he should kiss me, and he did.”
“You did not!”
“I did.”
“Well? How was it?”
The boat jerks as Aeron steers us around an enormous stalagmite, barely missing the thing.
Braith shoots him a stern look before leaning closer to me. “It was good, but…I don’t know. It felt like there was something missing. I’ve been dreaming about kissing him for so long and I didn’t even feel one spark.”
“Maybe he isn’t the one for you.” Personally, I think she could do so much better.
“Maybe. Regardless, everything fell apart that night. First Mari, and then you being hauled away. Then Jeston met with the king and has been a different man ever since. After meeting the bastard myself, I can understand why.” She shudders.
Wait… the king already met with Jeston?
If that’s the case, Boris must have asked about the princess’s whereabouts. Did Jeston lie or does he not know what happened to her? And if he doesn’t know, what the hell are we going to do?
“Is there any news in the caverns regarding the Princess of Nimbiss?” She might have heard some detail that seemed innocuous at the time but could point us in the right direction.
“Just that she and Prince Senan left for their honeymoon—which was clearly a lie. Beyond that, I haven’t heard any gossip. Then again, I’m not assigned to the family’s tower, so maybe one of the other maids has more information.”
Where could she have gone? People don’t just vanish into thin air.
The king has been looking for weeks and has countless resources at his disposal. What makes us think we can do any better?
No. I refuse to go down that rabbit hole. We need to remain positive.
We will find the princess. We will save Senan and Prince Kyffin.
We will .
I give Braith’s knee a reassuring squeeze. “I am sorry things didn’t work out with Jeston.” Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to speak a little more on the matter without an audience.
Braith shrugs and says, “Fate doesn’t care about what we want.”
The cavern’s landscape changes with every new passage. Fae lights guide our way like shining stars, the ones beneath the water making the surface glow a beautiful turquoise. We fall into an easy silence. Senan’s even breaths. Aeron’s labored. The steady swish of the oars meeting the water. Other boats pass, their occupants offering friendly nods or the occasional wave, but everyone seems to be minding their own business.
Eventually, we reach a cavern larger than the one we first left, with docks lining both shores and colorful boats bobbing atop an underground lake.
Braith leaps onto the dock with the rope in hand, pulling our boat until it bumps into the post and tying an intricate knot to keep the thing from floating away.
I wake Senan with a small shake.
He blinks at me with a sheepish smile, swiping a hand across his jaw. “Sorry for falling asleep. I hope I didn’t snore.”
“Only a little,” I tease. “I’m glad you finally rested.” He slept more peacefully than he has in weeks. “You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t see one fish.”
Aeron stands and stretches his arms toward the ceiling. “No fish, but there were a few eels. Big, slimy ones.”
I smack the bastard’s knee. “Stop that right now.”
Senan cups my chin, his eyes still glazed with sleep. “Don’t worry, my love. I will get my revenge when he least expects it. Aeron has an awful habit of falling into Toxicodendron.”
“You mean you have a habit of putting it in my fucking bed,” Aeron grumbles.
Braith waits on the dock, hands on hips, watching the princes through narrowed eyes. “You two act exactly like my brothers—and they’re fifteen.”
I must agree—not that I have any brothers to compare them to. Although it’s nice to hear them teasing each other. To see Senan smiling again.
“Where are we now?” my prince asks on a yawn.
Braith points to the far wall. “The entrance to the burrows is through there.”
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a gate carved into the reddish-brown stones. Twisted vines and whimsical woodland creatures line the arched entryway, as fine as any of the sculptures I saw at the palace.
“You expect us to go into the burrows?” Aeron scoffs, making no move to climb onto the dock.
Braith folds her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowing into slits. “That’s where Jeston is.”
“Then you can go in and get him for us.”
“Oh, can I?”
“Yes.”
My legs tingle from sitting for so long. When I stand, I press a hand to Aeron’s shoulder. “Calm down.”
“You expect me to calm down? This madwoman wants to bring my ailing brother to the breeding ground of the wasting.”
“ You’re a breeding ground of wasting,” Braith shoots back.
Senan chuckles, seeming unbothered by the rising tension. Am I the only person with a level head today?
“What Prince Pleasant is trying to say is that we have heard the burrows are infected with the wasting,” I say. “And with everyone living in such close quarters, it might not be safe for Senan.”
Braith’s grin returns. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”