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‘What’s wrong with those?’ His grin was the usual raw, unrestrained one, and yet Nenya didn’t roll her eyes or shake her head in exasperation for once. Quite the opposite – was that asmiletwitching around the corners of her lips?

Ireallyneeded to ask Creon what in hell was going on between those two.

‘You should have figured out by now that wooden stakes do very little to bring a vampire down,’ Nenya said, incredulous laughter lacing her voice. ‘And I’m not going to behead him, just to be clear.'

‘Oh, I know,’ Edored said cheerfully. ‘But it would send a message if you were to slam a fucking log through the bastard’s chest, wouldn't it?’

Creon breathed a chuckle beside me, to all appearances utterly unconcerned about that cold-eyed glare Tared had just aimed at him.

Nenya let out a helpless laugh and said, ‘He’s my giver! I don’t even want to send him any—’

‘You could pass on a message from me?’ Edored suggested, his grin dripping with the intention of bloodshed.

‘You’reterrible.’ But a hint of colour had returned to her pale cheeks, and she finally slumped into the padded linen of her seat, no longer perched on the edge as if the infamous vampire king may storm into the room any given moment. ‘You’re all making far too much of a fuss about this. It’s only for a few days. I’ll be perfectly fine.’

Both Tared and Edored looked doubtful. I bit my tongue and kept my questions down – not the moment to ask what horrors Bakaru Sefistrim was capable of, if Nenya was about to go face all of them.

Beyla returned a moment later, carrying two giant baskets of food, the contents of which were quickly divided between everyone’s bags. Like Lyn, I was given an armful of lighter food: two loaves of bread, a bag of lentils, some dried apple strips. When Edored complained about the heavier packages of cheese, pumpkin, butter, and onions he’d been assigned, he was kindly reminded that no one had asked him to come along.

‘But can’t we just fade back and forth for—’

‘We will,’ Beyla interrupted, her fragile voice firm enough to shut him up. ‘This won’t last us a full ten days. But we have no idea how much wildlife survived the plague up there, and I’m not going to risk ending up with an empty stomach to the point where we’re unable to fade.’

Edored scowled. ‘But—’

With a sigh, Creon held out a scarred hand to the alf’s luggage, one eyebrow raised in an expression that said,If your delicate shoulders can’t handle a few onions, I’ll be happy to be a little more mature about this.

‘Oh, fuck off,’ Edored grumbled, yanking the onions into his own bag. ‘Do you have another pumpkin for me, Bey?’

Everything happened bewilderingly fast after that.

The last maps were consulted, the last water bottles filled, and then suddenly we wereleaving, as if this wasn’t some half-baked plan I’d thrown into their laps a day ago, as if it wasn’t some mission dreamed up by a little fae brat with ulterior motives. Tared faded away first, taking Lyn and Naxi with him. Beyla threw one look at Edored, then grabbed Agenor and Creon by the wrists and vanished – aware, presumably, that Edored might feel tempted to drop the two fae males in the middle of the ocean if he got the chance.

‘Bite him back,’ Edored told Nenya by way of goodbye as he clasped his hand around my shoulder and faded as well.

Nenya’s unconvincing smile was the last thing I saw. Then the familiar outlines of the living room distorted around us, giving way to a grim palette of black granite and the faint gleam of distant lights.

We emerged in a dark gallery of sorts, lit by nothing but a few watery flames hovering along the ceiling. To my left, a narrow staircase wound deeper into the earth, all but the first few steps shrouded in shadow. Before me, rows of sculpted arches marked the edge of this balcony, and behind that …

Nothing.

Edored let go of me, and I slipped closer to the balustrade, ignoring the rest of the group. Glancing down, I found what I’d expected but never fully comprehended – the central hall of the Underground.

From below, I’d never figured out just how deep the city lay; the height of the hall was hard to estimate with most of its upper half concealed by shadow. Now, standing on this gallery just below the ceiling, the circle of mismatched Council seats was a doll house’s interior below me, the few moving figures of alves and nymphs impossible to recognise at this distance.

I leaned over farther, squinting to make out the balconies and windows carved into the smooth walls. Behind me, Lyn sharply said, ‘Em?’

‘Coming!’ I yelled back, unable to tear my eyes away from the abyss. Had anyone ever measured the depth? It would take a damn long rope to get all the way down there; the anchor cables of Cathra’s fishing boats wouldn’t do. Perhaps if Creon were to fly down slowly, he could loosen and reattach a measuring rope a couple of times?

As if he’d heard me think, he appeared beside me, resting his elbows on the dark stone with that effortless fae grace.I suggest you try not to jump down, cactus.

‘Since you asked so politely …’ I muttered, and he chuckled. ‘How deep do you think it is?’

Third of a mile, roughly?He stood a little straighter, considering the matter.We could calculate it by dropping something.

I blinked. ‘Could we?’

Standard acceleration and all that.He had to spell the wordacceleration; we’d never needed a sign for the concept.Would need one of those very precise Phurian clocks, but if I chucked Edored over the edge and you measured just how long it took for him to hit the floor …