Page 140 of A Sea of Fate and Starfire

“And.” I ground my teeth. “He’s the same Naiad who sent Kye to Perpetuum.”

“Back again?” Aras smiled at me as I stepped into the office of the Guard. It flattened as Cebrinne and Kye stepped in behind me.

“Yes.” I must have walked into some sort of shift change. The office was full of guards, some of them half undressed, rubbing oils over swords and knives, shining their boots with grease. A few of them tossed familiar words back and forth with Kye, who had regularly trained with the Guard until the King named him a commander, asking when he’d be back to spar or whether he’d spoken to Aren since his accident.

“I have a prisoner release signed by the King.” I let my eyes divert to the pair of dungeon keys hanging next to the Captain’s desk.

Aras’s gaze followed. Flitted back to me. “I’ll speak to you outside.”

Five minutes later, we followed him down the dark tunnels under the City of Towers. Cebrinne fiddled with her thumb and forefinger, eyes pointed forward, her mind far from us. Kye studied the walls and ceiling with interest, so casually I wondered whether he was avoiding speaking to Aras or if he’d never been down here before, a fact that I somehow doubted. His cheekbone puffed, red and raw from training with Aegir.

In the lowest level of the dungeon, wailing greeted our ears. The guard on duty perked at the sound of our scuffling steps, and Aras held out the release, Emilius’s signature forged by Hadrian’s hand.

The man nocked his head toward the far wall. “He’s in the last one.”

Aras’s gaze shifted from Kye to me. He held the keys for my hand, then turned and left us in the near-dark.

The wailing grew louder as I crossed the hall. Steps thundered across the stone, a gate rattling on its hinges as a body threw itself across the iron. Fingers spread across my lower back, Kye pressing into my side, a barrier between the cells and myself.

We stopped outside Kazimir’s cell door.

61

Maren

The Naiad peered up at us with steely eyes. Another rattling crash as the nearby prisoner flung himself into their door. I’d anticipated it, but it made me jump all the same. The wailing grew louder. Cebrinne moved toward the other cells, humming under her breath, and I made a mental note to check the guard before we left.

All fell eerily silent.

Kazimir’s eyes didn’t leave mine. I held his release, letting it unroll, Emilius’s wax seal and signature embellished near the bottom.

The Naiad straightened. His eyes narrowed. A steely scent tickled in my nose, metallic and almost peppery, not quite piercing enough to be anger.

Suspicion, perhaps.

“Do you know what this is?” I asked.

“Why is he here?” he countered, hair wild over his face, stringy with oil and dirt.

In the corner of my eye, Kye nudged his shoulder blades against the wall, crossing his arms and glaring down at Kazimir.

“Don’t worry about him,” I said, wishing Kye would have agreed to stay in the palace. I’d known Kye’s presence would rile the Naiad; it is why I’d come alone the first time. Standing across the iron gate, I could almost feel the rise in Kazimir’s blood pressure the longer Kye glared at him. “Look at me.”

Dark eyes flicked my way.

I lifted the release again. “This is your freedom.”

He cackled, the sound like air bubbles unable to work loose from his lungs. I wondered, briefly, if prisoners often suffered respiratory ailments down here. “And what would you like in return for offering me freedom, witch princess?”

“Information.”

He spat. It landed in a thick wad at my feet, Kye shoving from the wall as though the stone had burned him.

Calm, I warned him, my gaze locking into the Rivean’s.

“You expect me to commit treason against my crown?” Kazimir growled.

I tilted my head, surveying him quietly. There was something about him that was almost familiar just then, the cold irony in his voice, the twist of his mouth. But it quickly hardened into a glare before I could capture it. “Do you know who Thaan is?”