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Ragnar lengthens his stride. I jog to keep up. “Well I haven’t been here too many times, have I?”

I wouldn’t know. “You seem pretty confident knowing your way around the castle.”

He grunts.

Such a verbal guy.

Eventually, we step out into a large, open hall I recognize from the very first night I arrived. The large front doors loom ahead. Ragnar nods to the Oksvakt as we pass. With each step, my fingers tingle with anticipation.

I may only have one shot at escaping. This could be it.

“Halt,” one of the guards commands as we approach the door.

“I have permission to take the Starwatcher into town for two hours before the court dinner.” Ragnar hands him a note sealed with the Jord Lord’s red wax.

He inspects it, scowling. “Very well.”

Both giant stone doors swing open simultaneously to a vast, dark chamber beyond. A skinny bridge stretches ominously over what appears to be an endless drop.

Ragnar grabs my wrist. “Stay close.”

A click reverberates across the expansive cavern as cold metal clenches around my wrist. A cuff with a chain that connects to Ragnar.

White hot fury bubbles within my core like molten lava. He chained me with a fucking leash!

Ragnar tugs me out of my stupor.

I had stopped in the middle of the bridge.

This is impossible. How am I going to escape tied to Ragnar? The metal bands are tight around my wrist, leaving no option for sliding my hands out either. I have to convince him to take these off. “We cannot go into town like this. What will the villagers think of their future lady in chains?”

Ragnar just shrugs. “My job is to escort you to the village and back.”

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Nope. Not going to work.” Tugs on the chain.

“When—not if—but when I eventually get out of here, I am going to take deep pleasure in turning you into the Watch. That is, if you survive long enough from the piles of rubble you’ll be buried under. When At—” I stop myself, not wanting to give away my relationship with the other Underworld Lord. “When all of my friends find out what you’ve forced me to endure, you’re done. Dead.”

“Good.”

He doesn’t rise to my baiting. Maybe I just want to fight, or maybe—though I hate to admit it—conversation of any sort is keeping me sane, regardless how much I despise Ragnar for what he did.

I will never forgive him for this. Never. Not if I escape, and not if I’m trapped in here for eternity.

At the other end of the bridge, a carriage awaits. The driver stands near the open door, holding a lantern that glows brightly within the expansive cavern. I squint my eyes and duck into the space.

We ride for a few minutes, turning this way and that down barely marked tunnels until the road widens and more light brightens the cavern. I push my head against the glass of the carriage and tug my cape around myself. Every so often, a beam of light shines down, as if the Jord is open to the sky above.

But how could that be? Wouldn’t the humans find a way in here through those holes? Or maybe they are in such discreet places that no one would think to look? Ahead, the town sits nestled into the reddish rock face. Bridges connect different levels to one another; shops and carts are mingled throughout the streets. Most houses are clustered together, and some larger ones seem to be carved into the rock itself.

The carriage stops, and Ragnar opens the door. He doesn’t offer a hand.

A soft whooshing noise fills the air, like a hundred snakes are hissing in the distance. Sand sprinkles from the ceiling like a waterfall, leaving heaps of burnt orange sand in piles throughout the city. Kids giggle and play at the base of the dune, flicking sand at one another and making structures.

It’s like we are in a desert but freezing cold instead.

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Ragnar tugs on the chained cuffs toward a small stand full of blown glass figurines. An elderly lady sits behind the table with glasses that had to have been self-designed based on their odd shape. The frames rest on her nose and curl up to her eyebrows, where the frame ends.