Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 769(@200wpm)___ 615(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
At that, Frevella laughs, a drawn-out, peculiar sound that makes me cringe. Slowly, the smoke disappears and reveals a woman with frizzy, stark white hair and sepia skin. She wears layers of robes in dark colors—black, brown, green—and all swim around her feet. A black snake is draped over her shoulders, its beady, glowing eyes examining each of us.
But those things aren’t what surprise me most about her.
It’s the fact that she has no eyes. They’re simply two thin slits, as if they’ve been gouged out and the eyelids stitched. The sight of her should terrify me, but instead, I brew with curiosity.
I wonder what happened to her eyes. Why is she in this dark, lonely cave, so closed off from the rest of the world? Who did this to her?
“The Shallows are not for the weak,” Frevella informs us.
“I don’t take them for weak,” Kelrean replies, voice firm. “My father sent me here with his request. A favor to allow them use of your Kelvanite Sphere.”
Frevella scoffs. “Why would I give my sphere to a group of travelers I do not know?”
“They’re willing to pay.”
“Do they know the price?”
I notice Kelrean’s throat bob as he glances at Rynthea. He comes to her side and whispers something in her ear. She frowns at him before focusing on Frevella again.
“Secrets?” Rynthea repeats.
Frevella’s wrinkled mouth twists into a sly smile. My curiosity about her fades as a cold feeling slithers down my spine.
“Fine.” Rynthea bobs her head. “We’ll tell you whatever you want to know if it means we can use your sphere.”
“Oh, not you.” Frevella gives her head a subtle shake, then lifts both arms and points her index fingers directly at me and Thane. “Them.”
My heart plummets as all eyes turn to us. I look at Thane, and his jaw is clearly clenching behind his mask.
“Only them. No weapons.” Frevella turns away and disappears in another cloud of smoke, leaving us no room to object.
I know we have no choice but to follow her. She’s made up her mind. There aren’t any other options.
Kelrean starts for Thane, but Rynthea stops him. “I’ve got it,” she says.
Approaching Thane, Rynthea sticks out a hand with a dim smile. “Algar and I will hold on to your weapons.”
Thane eyes her and Algar, who offers him a hand, too. Clearly annoyed, Thane pries off the leather straps holding his swords, then removes his vest, shoving it all into Rynthea’s hands.
Before he can reach the cave, Algar clears his throat. “Forgetting something?”
Thane halts, and with a low growl, he yanks the dagger out of his boot and another from beneath the sleeve of his shirt, dropping them in Algar’s hand.
“All right. Now you can go,” says Algar.
I feel my chest constrict. What if I go inside and never make it back out? What if she has a collection of eyeballs and wants to gouge ours out just to add to it?
Oh Orvena. This isn’t at all what I expected.
“Good luck,” Algar calls as Thane and I approach the tunnel.
“We need that sphere, Zaira,” Rynthea says when I give them one more look over my shoulder. “Tell her whatever she wants to know. And make sure the sorcerer doesn’t fuck this up for us.”
Chapter 29
My feet shuffle over rocks and piles of dirt as I scurry through the tunnel to keep up with Thane. I stumble and end up bumping into him because I keep glancing back at the mouth of the cave, which is now just a pinprick of light in the distance.
“What did Frevella mean by secrets?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Thane grumbles. “But I know elder sorcerers like doing things the old-fashioned way. They don’t care for debts. They just want to mess with your head.”
He says that like it’s a good thing.
When we reach the end of the tunnel, it feels twice as warm. I spot more flames flickering in the distance, but those are normal, not purple. We walk down three stone steps and round a corner, entering a room shaped like a half-circle with rocky gray walls peppered in silver. The silver catches the fire blazing in the hollow of one of the walls. The only sounds are crackles and pops, but there is no wood for the flames to scorch.
It smells like so many things at once—fish, spices, sulfur, flora, a corpse. I shudder at the idea that dead bodies could be hidden in this cave…and how easily we could be joining them. But hey, at least there aren’t any eyeballs floating in glass jars.
I spot Frevella to our left, standing next to a table that’s been built from alvanite. She slaps a thick book closed, startling me as she faces us. That snake of hers slides off her shoulder and slithers in our direction.
I draw in a breath as it coils around Thane’s ankle. He doesn’t stir, even as it creeps all the way up his body and winds around his shoulders. When it makes its way back down, the snake roams over my foot and slides up my leg. I fight a tremble as it circles my waist, then slinks to my chest with its tail wrapping around my ribs. It moves back so its face can hover in front of mine, eye to eye. I hold my breath, staring into its glowing red eyeballs.