Terena flapped a hand at Croak as another roar sounded, fainter this time.
“What’s going on?” Cassandra whispered.
“It sounds like someone dying,” Orry mumbled.
Terena prowled to the door, her heart palpitating. She leaned out and looked up and down the corridor.
“Maybe it’s coming from outside,” she said. Terena opened one of the mullioned windows and leaned out.
“No,” Cassandra said as she sat back on her heels. Her hands were planted on her thighs, twisting to look up at Terena. “I think it was coming from beneath us.”
“Inside the castle?”
Cassandra shrugged. “Somewhere beneath us.”
“Helpful as always,” Croak groaned, shifting his arms so one of them was now across his eyes. “Have you ladies found it yet? If not, I think I’ll break in this bed. How about it, Cas?”
“It’s ‘Cassandra’ to you, and I wouldn’t sleep with you if it was the only way to save your sister by doing it.” She held out her hand to Terena. “Sorry, Ren.”
Terena and Migela exchanged a grin.
“We’re wasting our time,” Croak muttered.
“He’s right,” Cassandra sighed as she got to her feet. She cringed and put her hand to her back. “It’s not here.”
“Fine. Then we leave for Metilai.”
“No!” Croak cried out as he shot up from the bed. He stared at Terena with his mouth open. “We get Sonah first!”
“Right,” she said. “That first.”
Terena held up a hand when it looked as if Cassandra might object. She motioned to the seer with her head and when the woman drew closer, Terena lowered her head and whispered in her ear. “I spoke with Daris. I think I convinced him to break the bond.”
Cassandra reared back with a gasp but Terena pulled her back. “Shh! And, because you weren’t very reassuring about its success, I asked Hermes to make Daris immortal.”
The seer’s mouth formed an O.
“Secrets, secrets, are no fun,” Croak called out, tossing a pillow their way. “Secrets always hurt someone.”
“Child,” Orry snorted.
Cassandra crossed her arms, a perplexed look on her face. “Good. Good. That should help. He should be fine now, although I’m not…” She shook her head and stared down at the floor.
“When I concentrate on the commander now, I see nothing but black. That’s never happened before.”
Terena gripped Cassandra’s arm. A low ringing buzzed in her left ear, but she shook her head to clear it. Didn’t work. Migela prowled closer, her gaze swiveling between them.
“What could it mean?”
Cassandra cupped her face in her hands and groaned. When she pulled her hands away, she blinked owlishly at Terena. “I don’t know. I don’t understand. First, my vision about the amulet was wrong, and now this. I’ll try again tonight to see if perhaps it’s just me. Sometimes when I get fatigued my visions are fuzzy.”
“But you just said you’ve never had this happen to you before. Where you see only black.”
“Should we find the commander?” Orry asked. “Just in case?”
“Ugh, no,” Croak said with his arm across his face. “If you ladies go hunting for him, he’ll get an even bigger head.”
“Shut up,” Terena groused as she tossed one of the discarded pillows at his face. When he grunted at the contact, she strode out of the room, still rubbing at her chest.
