Maybe one day—but today, I would have to be satisfied with being humbled by my personal experience.
“Just follow me and stay close,” Niz instructed the others, his voice echoing in the cave’s entrance as Bastian and Kieran joined us, my gaze turning from our destination to my Beauty.
I could tell she was worried about Bastian, her brow furrowed as she watched him with a look of concern, but his vow to make Alfemir pay only bolstered my confidence in the dedication he had toward the cause. Considering what a crazy bastard he could be, it was often hard to tell where he stood on more serious matters, but he made himself all too clear this time.
As Kieran walked toward us, I didn’t resist the urge to offer her a hand, smiling as she stepped up between Niz and me, intertwining my fingers with her own. I could practically feel Steele’s glare at the action, but I didn’t entertain the other man’s possessive feelings at the moment. I didn’t like him but carryingKieran up here at fucking all, and I wouldn’t stand by quietly while he staked some imaginary claim over her like there weren’t four more of us involved too.
“Don’t be surprised if we’re stopped by guards on the way in—I’ll have to explain our situation a few times over,” Niz continued, sounding frustrated. Honestly, though, if explaining our situation and why we were trying to gain access to the wyverns was theworstof it, I would take it—I didn’t want Kieran in any unnecessary danger.
As we began our slow descent into the narrow mouth of the cave, I kept my free hand on the wall to stabilize myself, the floor covered in loose pebbles and stones. After several feet, the cave leveled out and the silence around us grew uncomfortable, the light from outside disappearing and leaving us in oppressive darkness. I wondered briefly if Niz had led us into the wrong cave. Kieran’s hand tightened in mine, clearly feeling uneasy as well?—
“Halt!” A loud, booming voice rang through the space, causing me to tense. Niz let out a sigh under his breath, and the exasperation in the sound was so familiar—something I was used to hearing from him in wyvern form when he was being particularly difficult—that I couldn’t help but feel some ease in the moment. Still, my hand loosened from Kieran’s momentarily before wrapping protectively around her waist, and her body melted back against my chest.
“I planned on announcing myself, but don’t worry—” Niz sighed before his voice boomed louder, “It is I, Nizuss, the crown prince!” I looked around with interest and a bit of caution, trying to gauge the type of space we were in considering the echo of both voices.
With a flicker of fire from ahead of us, the room suddenly lit up. I blinked against the unexpected light, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness. After a moment, Isaw that we were in a cavernous, circular room with the now-lit torches lining the walls.
“Wow,” Kieran murmured, her head falling back as I looked up, noting the stalagmites that pointed down from the high ceiling. They cast shadows along the walls and drew my eyes across the space to the front of the room where a massive door stood. It was a large, metal structure that appeared to be a permanent fixture in the stone that surrounded it.
“Your Highness!” My eyes narrowed on the individual approaching us, his words filled with deference despite his sword being drawn. I briefly noticed three other men behind him, all staring at Niz in surprise. “We didn’t realize you were coming back. We weren’t told to expect you, if we had known?—”
“At ease,” Niz commanded, and the man immediately shut his mouth. “I didn’t tell anyone I was returning.”
I couldn’t deny how fucking odd it was to see Niz in this light—in a position of power, commanding others. It caused me to feel a bit unbalanced, the reality of our situation countering what I knew about the wyvern.
“Of course, I shouldn’t have assumed.” The man bowed so low I worried he wouldn’t be able to get back up before he straightened and looked at the rest of our group with cautious curiosity. “Should we announce the arrival of your guests, or would you prefer them to accompany you unannounced?”
As Niz stood across from the soldiers, I couldn’t help but note their physical similarities—their height was nearly the same, with Niz standing slightly taller than them. They both wore dark armor with a crest in the center of it, long swords sheathed at their hips.
“The king and queen aren’t aware of my guests, so let’s not make a formal announcement just yet. We will, however, need an escort directly to the palace down the main street—time is of the essence.” It was clear that whatever patience Niz had wasrunning out, his entire posture tense and annoyance flashing in his gaze. I didn’t blame him—I could tell everyone was eager to move past this conversation.
“Right.” The man turned sharply and strode back toward the door. “Open the gate for the crown prince—immediately.”
“Crown prince. Howfancy,” Kieran murmured with a teasing lilt to her tone that softened the sarcasm of her words, causing a smirk to tug on my lips.
Bastian offered a retort under his breath behind us, but I was unable to hear it over the boots of the soldiers echoing on the rock beneath our feet. Instead, my attention moved to Niz’s expression he was trying to hide—one that was right there behind amusement at Kieran’s comment.Concern, sadness, and regret—an overall heaviness that seemed to weigh my friend down as we grew closer to the door.
The loud groan of the door opening echoed through the cavernous room as we neared the entrance—even more light flooded in through the doors, causing me to shield my eyes. As my vision adjusted to the influx of light and we stepped through the door, the passageway revealed what could only be described as anunderground world.
“Damn.” My murmured words were lost in the sudden noise of the bustling kingdom that laid before us, the doors having blocked out all signs of its existence until now.
The mountainous cavern around us—that had to be at least several hundred stories in height—housed an entire world within it. From where we stood, at the start of the stone pathway leading into the city, I saw so, so much—including how the land dipped into a crater in the center of the cavern.
The houses, marketplaces, and even the castle appeared to have been created in the process of digging into the ground, rather than building upon it. And while I couldn’t see exact details, it was clear the buildings were made of stone and mudbrick, but decorated in brightly colored paint. The colors were further illuminated by the gigantic torches that were mounted on the cave walls on all sides.
These weren’t normal torches—judging by the hulk of the figures flying past them, they were easily as big as eight or nine adult wyverns. Along the perimeter of the cave wall was a series of interconnected bridges, where individuals stood guard near the torches—no doubt, part of the effort to keep them lit.
There must have been hundreds of wyverns down here, the sky littered with them in numbers comparable to the city below. And at the center of it all was a castle made of black stone that stood above everything else. I was going to take a wild guess and assumethatwas where we were going.
“Just keep a straight path forward, try to not interact with anyone.” Niz strode forward confidently following his words, and we moved him with a group of soldiers on either side of us serving as an escort.
As we made our way down the stone path, the crowds on the street and in the marketplace turned to look at us in curiosity. Instantly, I saw confusion filling their gazes and it wasn’t hard to guess why—we didn’t look like the wyvern population here.
All wyverns we passed appeared to be tall with lean muscles, female and male alike, the first reaching around six feet and the later nearly seven. Their hair was brightly colored—to reflect their scale pattern like Niz, I assumed—and their skin was almost silvery in nature, probably in part due to the lack of sunlight. And while they wore plain clothing that appeared handmade, they decorated themselves with expensive jewels—even the children running by were adorned with them.
“Everyone is so beautiful, and the gems!” Kieran whispered, awe filling her tone as her voice carrying to Niz, who looked back with a look of understanding.
“This mountain is rich in minerals, including gemstones,” Niz explained to all of us, probably noticing the attention the jewels everyone wore garnered. “We occasionally will go into Alfemir, disguised to trade, in order to acquire more modern resources in return.”
