Yeah. Maybe he should’ve kept the mask off.
“If you’d like, we can secure their weapons.” Kelrean is speaking to her again. The smoke spills from the cave and rolls toward us, swimming around our feet. “They seek your help reaching the Temple of Elphar.”
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.Nowyou 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.
“Weneedthat sphere, Zaira,” Rynthea says when I give them one more look over my shoulder. “Tell her whatever she wants to know. And make sure thesorcererdoesn’t fuck this up for us.”
Chapter 29
