Page 41 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet #4)

FORTY

After Row and Yasen acquired clothing and provisions, it didn’t take long before they found themselves at the base of the mountains. Yasen scanned the peaks dusted with white as a shiver skated down his back.

“This way,” Row said as they trudged down a path, their boots crunching in the snow.

Row hadn’t said much since they’d left the castle. He’d asked Urvi more about Asha, and she’d led him to the spot where she’d directed Zarya days earlier.

But the tower had been empty. Asha was gone. Yasen had watched Row’s face and the conflict in his eyes as he wrestled between tearing down the castle brick by brick to search for her or going after Zarya.

“You’re sure about this?” Yasen asked over the howling wind.

In the end, Row opted for Zarya. He hadn’t shared his reasons, but Yasen knew it hadn’t been an easy choice.

Row claimed he once had contact with the mountain clans and hoped they would remember him. He also hoped they could tell him where Abishek had taken Rabin and Zarya.

“Pretty sure,” Row shouted back. Then he muttered under his breath, “It’s been decades, of course, but hopefully, they’re still around.”

They continued walking for hours as the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped. Yasen couldn’t feel his fingers or toes, and the wind’s incessant screams howling in his ears were enough to drive even the sanest man to the edge of reason.

Just when he didn’t think he could take another step, a light appeared through the curtain of snow.

“This way!” Row shouted, the relief in his voice unmistakable. They approached a tall, wide cave, passing into what must have served as an antechamber. A large fire crackled in the center, and Yasen immediately strode over to warm his hands.

It took less than a minute before a line of men dressed in furs and leather filed out from a branching tunnel. They all held spears and swords aimed at Yasen and Row, each one turning up a vicious snarl.

Yasen and Row shared a cautious look as they slowly raised their hands to indicate they meant no harm.

“I’m here to see Catana,” Row said. “We were friends a long time ago.”

The mountain men regarded Row with a skeptical eye before he said something in a language that Yasen had never heard before. A moment later, their weapons lowered.

The man in front approached Row, and they spoke for another moment before he turned around and disappeared the way they’d come. The others remained, still watching but with less open hostility.

“What happened?” Yasen asked.

Row kept his focus on the men. “They’re bringing Catana and believed what I told them.”

“What did you tell them?”

“We’re looking for the king of Andhera so I can kill him.”

A beat of silence filled the cavern.

“You okay, Row?”

He turned around to face Yasen, his mouth set in a firm line. “Many years ago, I left this place because I could not support the lengths Raja Abishek would go to protect his power. He was becoming a tyrant, blind to his own ambition. And I didn’t even know the half of it. He never told me he had six anchors, and I can’t begin to imagine what else he was hiding.

“I could have let it go. I did—I gave him little thought for many years. I moved on with my life and found other ways to occupy my time. Sometimes, I missed this place, but it was for the best.”

He paused as he looked around the cavern and the shadows dancing along the surface.

“But then overnight, I became a father and swore to protect a little girl with my life. I spent so many years living in fear for her safety. She hated me for it. She hated being caged to that shoreline, and who could blame her? She wanted to live. She wanted to see the world and all it had to offer. And all I could offer her were her beloved books. But it wasn’t enough. Sometimes, I wondered if reading about everything she was missing only made it worse.

“But then, one day, I couldn’t contain her any longer. The time had come. I had known it from the very beginning. I couldn’t keep her there forever. I didn’t know the rest of the prophecy, but I already knew that if she were indeed the bearer of this rare gift, then there was little chance our quiet life by the sea was all that awaited her.”

He stared into the fire, his expression pensive.

“But now he’s taken her, and I don’t know why exactly, but I will find out, and then I will do what I should have done all those years ago. I will repay him for everything she missed and for what he did to the woman I love.”

Row fell silent, a grim set to his features. A movement at the cavern’s edge drew their attention to a mountain man wearing even more furs and leather than the others.

“Catana,” Row said, striding over and bowing at the waist. “I’m sorry to barge in on you like this, but I need your help.”

“I heard everything,” Catana said, raising a hand. “I know where they are.”