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Lothaire shrugged. “One way to find out.”

“Which we will not risk.” Adham started toward her. “We’ll have time for shock later. For now, let’s leave this foul place behind. Do you still detect the scent of the mortal realm?”

“I’m struggling to pick it up in the midst of all the putrid slime.” The cavern walls seemed to ooze more sickness, the rocks weeping it. “But I think we need to head deeper into this cavern.” She glanced at Lothaire for confirmation—the king’s senses were strong—and he nodded.

Adham took her hand, and the group hastened onward. He kept his sand at the ready, his tornadoes tightening.

Gaze alert, she said, “I sense other sentries concealed all around us. Yet I can’t see them.”

Lothaire muttered, “Stay sharp, and do not run if you can help it. Running just makes them frisky.”

As they passed an opening, Mina cast a glance into another soaring cavern, and her steps faltered. “Oh, gods.”

A multitude of huge greenish-yellow eggs covered every inch of the ground and walls, and more sacs dangled from the ceiling. The quakes had dislodged a number of those. As the group watched, one sac plummeted to the ground to burst in a splash of slime and half-formed limbs.

Lothaire gave a thrilled laugh. “Howrefreshing. Just when you think you’ve seen it all!”

Another quake rumbled, intensifying. Boulders crashed all around them before the aftershocks quieted. In the dust and confusion, Mina had to yank her hand from Adham’s—to grasp the monstrous one that had clamped her neck.

Comprehension struck, and Mina swallowed against the chill pressure. Camouflaged in sickness, emerging as if from the very wall, the primordial had struck.

And she has me in her clutches.

Forty-Nine

The mother of ghouls stood behind Kosmina, a nine-foot horror.

Adham’s sand was useless when this female could rip off his mate’s head without blinking. A single graze and Kosmina could succumb again. Her eyes, now so clear, were stark, but she somehow held herself still.

More sentries skulked from tunnels into the cavern, readying for a battle.Standoff.

Adham was crazed to defend Kosmina. Yet this queen was no ordinary monster; only cold logic would prevail here.

Movement out of the corner of his eye.

Lothaire tensed to attack with his bare hands.

“She’s a primordial. Do not dare,” Adham commanded him. He would take Lothaire’s own head before he allowed anyone to jeopardize Kosmina.

“What does she want, sorcerer? She’s sentient. To a point.” That earned Lothaire a hiss from the queen.

Yes, Adham spied somethingknowingin her gaze. At length, she nodded at his palms.

Kristoff murmured, “She wants your sorcery. For what . . . ?” He trailed off as another quake rumbled. The mountain groanedand seemed to adjust its position. “Ah. I finally scent what she’s after.”

Lothaire turned his attention to a spot in the distance. “A couple of miles away, there’s a crack in the far wall of this cavern.” Adham could barely make out a fracture about two inches wide. “I scent the mortal realm just beyond it, but it’s too small for a monster and her army to escape. She must know what the sorcerer did to those boulders and wants him to pulverize her way out of here.” Lothaire added, “See, Kristoff, as I said: if an entry exists, then an exit will as well.”

He snapped, “Is this really the time?”

Adham grated, “Will you two stop bickering?”

Kosmina dared to whisper, “She wants to reach her twin brother and mate. He went to the mortal realm, but he got trapped there.”

“Yeah.” Lothaire sucked his teeth. “About her mate. So a certain witch broke into a certain wizard’s haunted house?—”

“Ahh-wooooooo,”sounded from somewhere within the hive.

Lothaire’s head swung around. “We know that sound. The hellhounds are crashing this party.” Growls joined those howls to make an undead chorus. “Revenants and wendigos too. I think everyone’s gotten the memo that Nightside has been canceled—and that there’s one way out.”