Page 157 of Scars Beneath a Serpent’s Scales

“The cave led to some tunnels, and I’m pretty sure they’re probably connected to…” He trailed off, both their gazes darting ahead. Cirre purred happily as if they were looking at her, but the dread he’d felt on the race over here returned. Roremar swallowed. “You have a dagger on you, right?”

Emmeline swallowed. “Always.”

“Good.”

He’d known these tunnels were here for years. Cirre liked to explore them, but he’d never gone this far. When Darcy showed him the precise location of the cave they found the drawing in, Roremar hypothesized they all connected.

The thought of Emmeline being anywhere near where they’d found evidence without knowing it had driven him crazy when he got her note. He’d hoped she’d at least figured it out and wasn’t walking in here blind. The Fates weren’t that kind.

“Want to see what we find?” Roremar asked.

Emmeline didn’t hesitate. She followed Cirre deeper into the tunnel, clamoring over piles of collapsed rubble and up a slight incline. His eyes peeled apart the shadows with every step.

“I went to the Mezzanine after Isle Guard,” Roremar continued. The tension rolling off Emmeline at the mention of the gambling hall was palpable, but he smirked. “Finally got our snake friend to see me.”

“What do you—” Her gaze dropped to his bloodied knuckles. “Roremar! Please say you didn’t…”

“I told you I was going to question him.”

“You didn’t say you were going to fight.”

He shrugged. “Just a few good hits and some broken fingers so he’d remember how disgraceful his past is.”

Emmeline’s jaw dropped. His smile was all smug pride.

“Reckless,” Emmeline whispered, but he grinned wider. He didn’t always mind being reckless.

“Never thought you’d be fighting for me,” she teased as he hopped down a three-foot drop in the floor and turned to help her.

“Never thought I’d want to.” Though they both knew she was capable of jumping down the short distance herself, Emmeline slipped her hand into his. “And you’re right, the Snake Charmer isn’t involved in this.”

Fates, he wanted to drop his lips to hers so desperately. Her shiver as the temperature in the caves plummeted sent every nerve in his body on high alert.

“Thought so,” Emmeline murmured, gaze on his lips. “How far do these tunnels go?”

“No idea,” Roremar answered, gaze flicking between her eyes and her mouth. “I’ve never come this far.”

“So innocent,” Emmeline teased beneath her breath.

He knew they were both trying to diffuse the fear of what they’d find. Following her lead, Roremar scoffed and nudged her down the tunnel. “Don’t tempt me to prove how wrong you are, or we’ll never get out of here.”

“Never?” she joked as she ambled ahead. “That’s quite the stamina.”

“Challenging me, Huntress? This place seems pretty private, but it would be very thoughtless of us to test that.”

She cleared her throat. “Entirely witless.”

He rolled his eyes but spent the next few minutes silently not remembering how she felt pressed against him.

“Metrina sent you here?” he asked, voice gravelly.

“Yes,” Emmeline recounted. “I don’t know why. Her simply wanting me to find my ring is too…”

“Caring?” Roremar added.

Emmeline pressed her lips together, nodding. It sent nerves twisting through his gut that the Fates had a hand in them being here, but they continued after Cirre. If it hadn’t been for that panther, Roremar would have dragged Emmeline out the moment he found her.

Finally, the tunnel widened, much larger than anything he expected to exist down here. It curved around one edge, and Cirre sat at the corner, light ebbing from whatever waited beyond and gilding her sleek frame.