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Stepping through the doors of the ancient palace was like stepping into a tomb.

The city had been silent; except for our own footsteps and muted voices and the shuffling, undead thing, there had been no

sounds as we made our way through the empty streets. But walking into the palace of the Deathless King felt like stepping

into another world. The very air was oppressive, heavy with the stillness of time and laced with the scent of death. The chamber

we entered was huge, with enormous pillars marching down either side. Statues stood in every corner, though many were shattered

and lying in pieces on the floor, only the feet and calves still upright on their plinths. Rubble was piled along the walls

and strewn across the floor, and bones were scattered throughout, bleached and white. I caught a glimpse of a forearm with

a skeletal hand lying smashed beneath a column, and shuddered.

“There are your people,” I whispered to Halek, who gazed through the door with a solemn look on his face. “At least some of

them.”

“Probably the guards who lived in the palace,” Halek muttered. “Take a look at what they were guarding.”

I followed his gaze and drew in a slow breath.

A massive throne on a raised dais loomed against the far wall.

It was made of marble laced with gold; even from across the chamber I could see it glimmering faintly around the back and arms. I had never seen a throne before, but this throne did not seem like the seat of a mere human.

Perhaps a god had sat there once, gazing down on their tiny subjects below.

A pair of statues flanked the throne, and though nothing remained but their legs, I could imagine their stony faces glaring down, warning the unworthy to keep their distance.

The entire chamber had been built to impress and intimidate, and it did that well. Goose bumps rose along my back and arms,

a tremor creeping up my spine.

As I took a cautious step forward, a cold wind hissed through the chamber and a billow of thick dust rolled toward us out

of the gloom. It flowed over us, heavy and choking, clogging my throat and stinging my eyes. It smelled... awful. Like

bones and grave dirt and ancient, rotting rags. A whisper slithered through my head, wriggling in my ears and causing every

hair on my body to stand straight up.

Leeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaave .

The wind faded, the dust cloud dispersing in the air. Halek was bent over, one sleeve held to his nose, coughing violently.

I sucked in a labored breath, feeling like my mouth was coated with ashes and my throat had been scraped dry.

“Ugh.” Halek coughed once more and straightened, shaking his head. “Agh. Well, that was unpleasant. I’m assuming you heard

that whisper, too?”

I nodded. “Something definitely doesn’t want us here.”

“And that’s likely our only warning,” Halek agreed.

He dusted off his hands, and a cloud billowed from his palms and drifted to the floor.

“In tombs and ancient places like this, you usually get one indication that you should get out,” he went on.

“After that, things get intense.” He paused, glancing at the shadow-cloaked halls beyond the chamber, and gave me a sober look.

“I don’t know what you’ve come here for, but I won’t think less of you if you decide to turn back.

I’ve heard the stories. If this is truly the palace of a Deathless King, anything is possible.

We’re talking ancient magic, after all.”

I swallowed the scratchy dryness in my throat. Even if I wanted to, the Circle wouldn’t let me abandon the mission. My choices

were simple: succeed; die here; or forfeit not only my own life, but Vahn’s as well.

More than that, I would not fail Vahn. I’d promised him I wouldn’t. “No,” I told Halek. “I can’t turn back. It’s not an option.

I have to keep going.”

Halek grinned, and for a moment, his smile lit up the room. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He gestured toward the throne.

“Shall we?”

We picked our way across the rocks and shattered stones. The air was heavy and stale, as if it hadn’t moved in thousands of

years. I felt eyes on me and glanced over to find the head of a statue staring up at me from the floor with a flat, stony

gaze.

We came to the foot of the throne and stopped at the edge of the dais, gazing up at the huge marble chair. Not only was gold

laced in intricate patterns through the white, but bits of turquoise and gemstones winked at us from beneath the layer of

dust that had settled over everything.

Halek shook his head. “These Deathless Kings certainly liked to show off,” he murmured. “Look at this. There’s enough coin embedded in this chair to make you a merchant prince.”

If thieves were allowed to become such things , I thought, staring at the throne. My fingers itched at the amount of wealth just paces away. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies,

turquoise, and, of course, gold. What I could do with a literal fortune. I could finally buy my way out of the guild. Maybe

secure passage aboard a sand strider and travel to the other side of the Dust Sea at last.

If I was willing to pry it off the throne of a Deathless King.

The gemstones twinkled in the darkness, seeming to mock me. Setting my jaw, I unsheathed one of my daggers and, before I could

think too hard about what I was doing, inserted the point beneath the edge of an emerald set into the throne.

“Sparrow, wait,” Halek hissed.

I dug the blade beneath the gem. The stone came loose, popped out, and clinked to the floor as the echo of Halek’s warning

died on the air. I bent down and grabbed it, then held it up to my face The gem was cool between my fingers, glittering with

its own inner luminance. A breath seemed to echo through the chamber, wafting along the ceiling and dispersing into the unseen

rooms beyond.

I held my breath and waited, but seconds ticked by and nothing happened. After a few heartbeats, Halek let out a puff of air

and relaxed.

“Whew, okay,” he breathed. “Looks like we’re in the clear. Just be careful. You never know what will happen when you touch ancient treasure. I’ve heard stories of people who were struck down or cursed just for opening the wrong door.”

I glanced at the gem in my palm. It seemed like a small, foolish thing to risk my life for now, but I closed my fingers around

it and smirked. I was a thief. This was what I did, and not even the treasures of the Deathless King were off-limits. “I guess

we got lucky.”

“Seems that way.” Halek ran a hand along the arm of the throne and shook his head. “At least the Deathless King isn’t too

touchy about his throne.”

A hissing sigh rippled through the room, swirling dust eddies into the air. Along the wall closest to the dais, something

moved.

I backed away, the emerald still clutched in my hand, watching as a bundle of rags and bones slithered over the rubble pile

and spilled onto the floor. It wriggled for a moment, then started to rise. Bony hands emerged from the cloth, a rib cage

gleamed through the rags, and a humanoid shape staggered forward on slender leg bones.

My stomach twisted so hard it felt like I’d been stabbed. The head beneath the tattered cowl was the bleached skull of some

kind of canine, its narrow muzzle filled with sharp teeth. Hollow eye sockets fixed on me, and the jaws opened in an eerie

parody of a howl, though no sound emerged.

Halek and I staggered back, as scraping, slithering sounds echoed all around us. More skeletons were crawling out of the rubble,

dragging themselves across the floor before rising slowly to their feet. Bony jaws opened and closed with snapping, gnashing

sounds that echoed through the chamber.

Halek grabbed my arm. “There!” he gasped, pointing across the room, where an open doorway had once stood. It was half covered by a large rubble pile, but I could see the gap beyond. Unfortunately, there were also two skeleton creatures between us and the open door.

With a rattle, one of the skeleton creatures near us lunged, coming at me with jerky, almost frantic movements. A bony claw

swiped at my face, and I leaped back with a yell.

“Go!” Halek cried, and we sprinted across the chamber. Skeletons lunged at us, but they seemed disoriented from being reborn,

their movements sporadic and confused. We reached the doorway; the two creatures guarding it gnashed their teeth when they

saw us and leaped forward with gaping jaws. I spun aside, barely dodging the fangs that snapped shut inches from my ear. Halek

dove forward as the second skeleton raked at him, hitting the ground with his shoulder and rolling to his feet behind the

guard. We darted through the opening into the darkness of the hall beyond.

The skeleton creatures chittered behind us. Sprinting down the hallway, we turned a corner and ducked into the first dark

room we could find. At one point, it might have been a small library, perhaps filled with forbidden scrolls and ancient tomes.

But part of the ceiling had collapsed, and books were scattered everywhere among broken shelves and rock. Halek and I squeezed

under a bookshelf leaning against a corner and waited, listening to the scrape and scrabble of bones in the hall. None of

the creatures came into the room, but we huddled there, our hearts pounding together, until their snarling faded away and

silence throbbed in our ears once more.

Halek drew in a slow breath, cautiously poking his head out from beneath the shelf. “I think they’re gone,” he whispered.

I slid out behind him. My hands were shaking, but my fingers were still curled tightly around the gemstone. The thing that

had apparently triggered the rising of the skeleton creatures. The meaning was very clear. Do not touch the king’s belongings . Even in death, he had cursed any who would attempt to steal from him.

I slipped the emerald into my satchel. No use in putting it back; the damage was done. We would have to avoid the skeletons