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NEVE

The door to the mine creaked open, sending the scent of dirt and dust up my nose and a shiver down my spine.

Humans toiled down there, mining gold. And from the looks of her ragged, dirty clothing and gaunt face, she worked hard and didn’t get out of the mines much.

My mother told me to come west. I’d assumed that she wanted me to journey west to confront Roar and obtain closure. Perhaps also to gather information on the Hallow too, though I was fairly certain that House Lisika had lost that.

But could she have sent me here for something else entirely?

Why would he use humans? Because they’re free labor?

While that made a bit of sense, dwarves would still be far more effective and knowledgable when it came to the mountains. Stars, even faeries would be a better choice. All races of fae were stronger than humans and got moredone in less time. And as much as I despised Roar, he was not stupid.

He had a reason for breaking the rules and running his mine as he did and something told me it wasn’t all about gold.

The moment I stepped into the mine tunnel, motion-activated faelights flared to life. Good. Excellent vision aside, I didn’t want to fall down a mineshaft. And though I hadn’t let on, I worried about Anna’s mobility in a place with such an uneven ground.

Gagged, the woman eyed me sidelong. We’d debated leaving her outside, tied to a rock, but Caelo had brought up the fact that these mines were very old and likely very maze-like. The human knew where to go, so we’d gagged her and told her to lead the way to Roar.

“Take us to your High Lord.” I patted the sword at my side—the one I’d taken from my father’s room. I had no intention of using it on the human. She was too helpless, but I would threaten to get her to do as I wished.

She reached to the side, patting the rope attached to the wall that miners used as a guide if the faelights went out. The motion saidfollow me.

And we did. Down a wider entry tunnel that progressively narrowed until we walked two by two. The human remained at the front, Vale beside me and Anna and Caelo at the rear. Though my best friend had not trained in weaponry, I’d given her one of my daggers. Better to be safe than sorry.

Faelights continued to ignite as we approached, but somehow the tunnels grew darker and darker. Ishuddered. How could anyone work in these conditions? Let alone live down here as the woman had confessed before we’d gagged her . . .

The human stopped, and I nearly bowled her over. She twisted and glared at me.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

With a sharp thumb, she gestured right.

Ah, she’d told us about this. The mines spun outward like a spiderweb, but it all began with a T, an initial breaking off point.

“Closer and single file,” I said to the others. Vale slipped behind me, and I waited until the other two got into position before facing the human again. “We’re ready.”

The woman grabbed the rope and continued on.

Within minutes, another split occurred. The woman reached back and took my hand. Vale gripped my hip, saving his hand for Caelo, and Anna hung on to Caelo’s cloak. Just as discussed. Three more splits in the tunnels later, and we remained connected, though I was feeling far less confident.

What if the woman is tricking us? What if?—

The tunnel we’d been trekking down opened into a great cavern. I exhaled.

“Bleeding skies,” Vale whispered right after me as we stared down into the bowl below. On the edges, homes had been carved into the rock, and in the middle, larger buildings of stone dominated the space. “It’s as if a city built by dwarves crumbled.”

I could see how this would resemble the ruins ofdwarven cities. Though there were stark differences. A great lacking in this place that made me shudder.

Greenery grew in the dwarves’ cities because dwarves, like fae, could have earth magic. Though most of them used it to shape metals, a few would be trained to work with plants to grow food. If there were enough of them, and a few limiters, fae with the power of sunlight, people might survive within the rock and never see the surface.

Humans, however, didn’t have magic to help them survive under mountains, and I did not see healthy cascades of green. Just black and gray stone and the odd faelight or torch. Most of the buildings were in desperate need of repair too.

The woman waved us forward, and we descended steps cut into the stone. At the bottom, I took a moment to scan the surroundings. Carved into the walls of the mountains with open doors and open windows that allowed us to peek inside the homes was evidence of lives being lived. Blankets spread out on the floor and basic cookware littered their stone tables.

Though I was appalled by the conditions, the woman remained unaffected. She kept walking through the city, passing two larger, nicer homes built of stones. Through the windows, which were made of real glass, I spied a bed and other amenities that the other homes could not boast.

I pointed. “Are those overseer’s places?”