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Thea’s knees buckled, her hand flying to her chest that suddenly felt too tight.

A heavy silence followed and Thea dug her fingertips into the wall, desperate to latch onto something that would keep her upright.

At last, Hawthorne spoke. ‘How do you know?’

‘Someone reported it. One of the younger shieldbearers broke the code. He said it was going too far, that it went beyond the usual shieldbearer hazing.’

‘And yet he couldn’t say where they’ve been taken?’

‘No. The others sensed his hesitation. They knocked him out cold. I only found him in the stables just now.’

Hawthorne swore viciously.

‘It sounds bad,’ Torj said. ‘But I haven’t the faintest idea where to start.’

Thea swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped around the corner, coming face to face with both Warswords. ‘I do.’

Hawthorne swore again, pinching the bridge of his nose and pacing a few steps away, but Torj turned to her.

‘Do you have something to do with this?’

‘You think I would ever hurt Cal and Kipp?’ The words flew out of her mouth in anger before she realised who she was speaking to.

But Torj was shaking his head. ‘No, no, I don’t… But you know where they are?’

As she’d been eavesdropping, Seb Barlowe’s face kept flashing before her. He was the main offender for everything, and he had apparent immunity because of his uncle’s relationship with the Guild Master. She had hardly seen him since their return, chalking it up to a silent truce between them. After all, she had saved his life from the reaper, some naïve part of her had thought he was exercising some humility. But she should have known that humility was not, and would never be, in Seb Barlowe’s nature. Instead, he had seen her actions as a form of humiliation, a questioning of his own warrior prowess… and had been biding his time ever since.

His words echoed in her mind now:‘A series of caves in the black mountains that flood every winter with the storms. Lightning isn’t supposed to strike the same place twice, but those caves… Lightning strikes there every season, in exactly the same place… There are dozens of skeletons up there… It's where the Thezmarrian warriors tied up the whores they no longer wanted.’

And that was exactly the sort of location he’d take any captives; a place he deemed an embarrassment, a place of death for lowly women and whores, not men. For whatever reason, Seb had been unable to get to her, so he had gone for the next best thing.

That bastard, she cursed.I should have let the reaper have him, I should have let him die. If her friends were hurt, that would be the fate that awaited him.

‘Althea?’ Torj prompted.

‘It’s a guess,’ she admitted. ‘But I think Seb took them to the caves in the black mountains, the ones that flood every —’

‘Winter storm,’ Hawthorne finished for her. He was already moving, Torj right alongside him.

Thea darted after them.

‘Gods,’ Torj muttered as they ran towards the stables. ‘It was me who gave them the fucking idea.’ He shook his head. ‘There’s two trails up to the caves. They could have taken either.’

Hawthorne nodded. ‘We split up. I’ll take the northern path, you take the southern and we meet at the caves.’

‘I’ll tell the Guild Master —’

‘No time,’ Hawthorne snapped. ‘Plus, the king is here. We don’t want him involved.’

Thea’s blood went cold as she chased after them. When she had first met Kipp, she had thought he would be her downfall, but it was she who would be the end of him if she didn’t get to those caves. It was hard to run with the world suddenly closing in around her, as every moment where she had antagonised Seb flashed before her eyes. This was her fault. Her friends could die because of her. And she could not,would not, allow that to happen.

She charged into the stables, close on the heels of the Warswords, only to be wrenched from the ground and slammed into the wall.

‘What in the name of all the gods do you think you’re doing?’ Hawthorne snarled, the front of her shirt curled in his fist.

Thea threw herself into action, disengaging his grip on her and shoving him back.

He looked almost surprised.