The Lost Queen (Book 1 of The Lost Queen Series)

Chapter Forty-Nine

The next thing Seraiah knew, she was in a cave.

For a moment, she thought she was back at the underground lake near Metrius, but a quick glance around told her that wasn't the case. This cave was much larger.

Seraiah turned to the wall at her back. It appeared to have some sort of design on it, but it was hard to make out in the gloom. She brushed her fingers over the surface. It was rough and pock-marked, like the rock had been molten at some point. As she studied it closer, she realized what the shapes reminded her of—faces.

The wall had faces.

Skulls with empty eye sockets stared back at her.

Seraiah dropped her hand and scrambled away from them. They certainly looked like real skulls, the mouths open and screaming as though they had been trapped in the stone.

A noise on the other side of the cavern distracted her from the macabre discovery.

She tilted her head, listening. It sounded like footsteps—two sets of them—and they were headed in her direction.

Seraiah had a brief moment of panic before she remembered this was a vision. In all likelihood, whoever it was wouldn't be able to see her, even if she was right in front of their face.

Nonetheless, she stepped back into the shadows along the wall, just in case.

She forced herself to crouch down with the skulls at her back, despite the fact it felt like they were watching her. Then she waited for the source of the footsteps to make itself known.

The sound stopped, and Seraiah held her breath. For several tense seconds, there was nothing.

Then a voice came floating out of the dark.

"What is this place?" Sterling asked as she stepped into the dim light, where Seraiah could see her.

Her face was turned back toward the way she had come, but her silvery hair glowed in the darkness. There was no mistaking who she was. Her companion stepped forward a moment later and said something in a low voice that Seraiah couldn't make out.

Sterling turned toward Seraiah, giving her a glimpse of her face. It was enough to see that Sterling was healthy. The bruise that had bloomed across her cheek the last time Seraiah had seen her was gone, and her face had filled out as though Sterling had been eating full meals. Her hair was loose, cascading over her shoulders in a silver waterfall.

She looked good.

She looked happy.

This was not at all what Seraiah had expected to find, especially given how she'd last seen Sterling in the prison.

She eyed the other figure with her sister. They hid their face beneath the hood of a dark robe, twin to the one Sterling was wearing. Whoever this person was, they were taller and broader than Sterling, making Seraiah think it was likely a man. From her position, there was not much else she could discern about them.

Seraiah sat back on her heels.

The movement knocked a rock loose from the wall. It skittered across the floor, stopping near Sterling's foot.

She froze as Sterling and her companion traced the path the rock had taken.

The other figure stepped forward and lowered his hood, revealing a dark-haired young man around her own age. He stared intently at the spot where Seraiah was crouched, but didn't come any closer. It was almost as if he could sense her, but wasn't able to see her.

Sterling wandered over, her head tilted back as she studied the cave just as Seraiah had done not a moment ago. If she could sense Seraiah like her companion had, she gave no sign of it.