Damn Elias for being right.

Inari paused and adjusted the light backpack on her shoulder. The beam of her flashlight illuminated Elias’s blond hair, which he’d pulled half back away from his face, and the dark clothing that covered him throat to toe. He, too, wore a pack, but his sagged with weight. Water, food, maps, and other gadgets had been stuffed inside before they’d departed Kallaster Castle. He’d insisted on carrying the bulk, leaving her with a lighter load to haul.

None of that mattered at the moment.

What mattered were the tiny beads of sweat collecting on her brow despite the bone-cold temperature, and the rock walls closing in. Not literally, but it sure felt like it to her. The tunnels were only wide enough to allow a single file procession, which meant she sometimes brushed her shoulder or elbow against the stone. Now and then the corridors widened a little, but even then there was not a lot of room to maneuver.

“Elias, wait.”

He paused and turned around. The headlamp on his helmet swung in her direction.

Thankfully, Elias didn’t blind her with it. “I’m sorry. I need to stop for a second.”

“Getting to you, isn’t it?” he asked, walking back to the place she’d paused.

“I just need a moment, that’s all.” She loathed admitting that the tight confines were getting under her skin. “How much farther do you think we’ll go?”

So far, they’d found nothing. No rooms or caves or even a hint of a hidden cavern. This particular tunnel seemed to be just that: a tunnel. No place to sit, not even a deep enough niche to take the weight off her feet. They certainly hadn’t found another dagger on the ground, or papers, journals, weapons . . . nothing.

“As far as you can stand to go. You’re sweating, and it’s cold down here. You need to go back now?” he asked.

There was just enough light for Inari to see Elias’s frown under the edge of his hard hat. She wore a hard hat, too. Just in case.

“No, I don’t need to go back. I’m just curious.” It sounded lame even to her own ears.

“There’s nothing wrong with turning back. I did mention that walking these tunnels is difficult.”

She absolutely wasn’t giving up now. “I’m fine.”

He shone his light down at the map he held in his hand. “In another hundred feet or so we’ll come to a fork in the tunnel system. That’s as far as I got when I discovered the dagger. I don’t know what’s beyond, or which tunnel leads where.”

Of course, the moment Elias mentioned undiscovered territory, Inari wouldn’t have dreamed of stopping the search. “Let’s keep going.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

And they went. Elias led the way, as it had been all along, his broad shoulders barely squeezing through a few tight spots. Inari followed, sweeping her light along the walls, ceiling and stone floor so they didn’t miss anything.

At the end of the tunnel was a small cavern, perhaps twenty to thirty feet wide, with two more tunnels forking off at two- and ten-o’clock angles. Here, there was a little more room to breathe.

Elias marked the tunnel wall with a piece of white chalk, an arrow pointing back to the tunnel they’d come from.

“Which direction should we go?” she asked, flashing her light to the rightmost tunnel then the left. Both appeared equally dark and similar in size.

“I don’t know. Which direction, Inari?” Elias asked as he appeared at her side. He tucked the chalk away and pulled a different map from his backpack.

“Left. Let’s try the left.” She was not afraid to make decisions.

“Left it is. We’ll go slower here. I’ve investigated everything behind us pretty good, as well as this cavern.” He flashed his light over the rough stone walls. “From here on, though, we might find anything.”

The prospect of undiscovered territory was as exciting and invigorating as when he’d mentioned it the first time. It helped distract from the overwhelming feeling of being buried alive. “I’m ready.”

Elias took the lead. He penetrated the mouth of the leftmost tunnel, the ten o’clock route, as she thought of it, and flashed his light everywhere. The floor, walls, ceiling. He paused to make a note on his new map with a flat pencil, used the chalk on the wall again, and then continued.

She, too, dove into the search, examining the walls for niches or crevices or possible hiding places. They found a few stones tucked against the base of the tunnel and the wall, nothing large or unusual. Elias used the toe of his boot to move them aside nonetheless before moving on.

The excruciating pace, slower than a snail, allowed them to thoroughly investigate. Inari discovered a whole lot of nothing. The walls seemed thick and sturdy, with no hidden doors and no crevices in sight.

Fifty minutes later, Elias paused and leaned his back against the wall. “Thirsty?”

Inari rubbed the back of her neck and leaned nearby. “Yes, actually. Very thirsty.” After a brief pause, she said, “I don’t know how you do this. It’s so time consuming. Exciting . . . except when it’s not.”

He laughed and passed her a bottle of water, which she took and opened immediately.

“Patience, grasshopper. Isn’t that what they used to say in the old days?” He had a drink from his own bottle of water.

“I want to find something. It’s thrilling to look, to not know what’s around the next proverbial bend, but still.” It would be ten times as thrilling to locate another dagger or something like it.

“More than likely, this tunnel will produce nothing. Most of the time that’s how it goes. A hell of a lot of searching with little reward. I’m adding to my maps, however, and I’m pleased enough with that.” He tucked the water away and straightened from the wall.

Inari took her cues from him and handed her bottle back. She hitched the pack higher on her shoulder. “There’s got to be something else down here.”

But there wasn’t. Not after an hour of walking and careful examination, not after coming to yet another fork in the tunnels. Just walls, hard stone floors, and the endless corridor. The longer it went on, the more suffocated she began to feel. The tight confines were starting to take their toll once more.

“Have you had enough yet?” Elias asked, as if he’d read her mind.

“Yes.” She didn’t bother to hide it or deny it.

He paused and turned back. Beyond him, once his light had ceased to penetrate the darkness, a great black void existed. Like it might seethe forward and consume him whole.

Consume them whole.

She needed to escape the tunnels.

“Let’s start back.” Elias stepped closer and started to squeeze past.

Inari pulled in a breath as their bodies brushed against one another.

“I can lead the way,” she said, suddenly thinking it might clear her head to have open space in front of her rather than Elias’s broad physique.

He stared down at her then used the hand holding the map to gesture. “All you have to do is follow the arrows.”

His eyes looked surreal in the stray light cast from the beam of her flashlight. The illumination washed nearly all the color out. Almost too pale blue, yet striking all the same.

Inari inched past and turned, taking the lead.

It was not as slow going on the return as it was to forge new ground. There was nothing left to look for, only to navigate the tunnels to the stairs. She felt his presence at her back with every step, a reassuring heat source she relied on when only darkness and a dank chill waited ahead.

By the time they reached the final fifty feet, she was ready to sprint up the stairs and be done with the subterranean space. Wanted to put the gloom and the sense of being buried behind her. Once her foot hit the bottom stair, she charged up the flight, breathless, and burst through the door onto the main floor. She inhaled deeply several times, as if she couldn’t get enough air. It was somewhat embarrassing, her total lack of control.

Elias’s hand landed on her shoulder a moment later, as if in sympathy, or to say, I tried to tell you.

She wouldn’t let the underground defeat her. Next week, or the week after, she would invite herself back again and follow Elias into the tunnels. One way or another, she intended to fight back against the psychological shutdown.

And, if they found another clue about the crest, all the better.

With her personal guards and Elias’s on their heels, they departed Ahtissari Castle for Pallan Island.

---

Elias admired the determination he saw in Inari’s posture despite the sweat on her brow and the haunted look in her eyes. He knew he had not seen or heard the last of her on the subject of the underground tunnels.

In truth, she’d gone a lot farther than many people would. She’d braved the subterranean hell and come out scathed but not beaten.

On the open water between the mainland and Pallan Island, Inari sat at the front of the boat and soaked up the springtime sun. She turned her face to it, basking like a cat might, though he detected tension in the line of her shoulders and the flex of her hands.

“Feeling better?” he asked, coming to lean against the rail next to her seat.

She cracked an eye open and looked up. He met her gaze with a straight face. This wasn’t the time to tease or joke about what happened in the tunnels.

“Actually, yes. The sun feels good, even if it is crisp out here.” She licked her lower lip then drew a small bit of it between her teeth. “Why doesn’t it bother you? Down there, I mean.”

“Because I’m used to it. I’ve been studying those tunnels since I was a child.”

“It seems that it wouldn’t matter the age, that something so . . . enclosed would bother someone if they were prone to disliking darkness.”

“I’ve never had a problem with darkness, even as a young boy. Nor being that far beneath the earth. I’ve always loved it, which grew into a passion as I got older. There’s a difference between going down there when you’ve done it hundreds of times, and doing it for the first time,” he said, looking out over the water. Pallan Island loomed large in the near distance. They would dock shortly.

“I’d like to come back and do it again. Go into the tunnels, I mean.”

Elias hesitated. Tunnel mapping and searching for artifacts was typically an endeavor he performed alone. He didn’t mind the solace and the darkness, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about having someone else along on a regular basis. Even his own father didn’t intrude on the underground excursions.

Yet he understood on a base level that Inari needed to overcome her reaction, to prove to herself that she could beat the fear that had gripped her. He wasn’t so locked into his routine that he couldn’t be flexible now and then with the schedule.

“All right. You’re welcome to come when you’re ready,” he said, standing straighter as the boat slowed and pulled up to the dock. Several men waited to secure the vessel while a handful of armed guards placed themselves in different positions between the dock and the parking lot where a limousine and an SUV waited.

Today he wouldn’t be driving back to the castle. Not with a future queen in his presence who’d recently had an attempt on her life.

“Thank you, Elias.” She got up from her seat. Her eyes gleamed suddenly, and she said, “Are you looking forward to the conference tonight and the gala after?”

He snorted, following her to the steps while the guards on the boat created a loose circle around them. “The conference, yes. The gala I can do without.”

“I hear from a few sources that you’re always quite sought after at the galas,” she said as she accepted a hand up onto the dock.

“Where did you hear that? It’s not true at all.” Elias smirked through the lie. He knew he hadn’t fooled her when she laughed outright.

“We’ll know the truth tonight. I’ll have an up-close perspective.”

“And don’t you sound delighted about that.” He laughed, but did not allow the easygoing banter to distract him from discreetly surveying the parking lot and surrounding area as they approached the limousines.

One couldn’t be too careful no matter how many personal guards accompanied them to the waiting car.

Moments later, tucked safely inside the armored vehicle, they departed for Kallaster Castle.