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“…so you see why we need the help.”

Lyriat stared at a glittering pile of rubble in the largest part of the cave system—damage Magnus told him on their first trip was caused by Brand—and tried to slow his breaths.

Thad used their winding trek into the earth to paint a picture of the Westrealm that was bleak at absolute best. Hearing that his own warriors were making it worse because they were loyal to him, to his mistrust, was both comforting and concerning. But if it was hurting Lyriat’s chances of finding Bal and Nyri, something needed to be done.

He just didn’t know what.

“I do see,” he said. “You have a responsibility to your realm, as I have to mine. Do what you must for your people, Thaddeus. Don’t worry about me.”

Yes. Good. A kingly answer to cover the burning temptation to roar to the cavern ceiling.

“I…” Thad gripped his nape. “I wanted you to know so you can prepare yourself. It’s not the beasties that are bad. We’re used to that. It’s whatever’s happening to the land. I’m not saying for sure because we don’t know how it’s going to go tomorrow, and we’re hoping the Nachthellians will help us end it quicker, so it’s not too bad, but the food⁠—”

“As I said, my friend—do what you must.”

Mag was conspicuously silent, sniffing at the tunnels they had yet to try like his life depended on it, doing his best to seem like he was ignoring them. Lyriat was glad for it. They had a bloody job to do.

“Anything?”

“We have some options that seem promising,” Mag answered, pointing at a few different offshoots. “The air isn’t quite as rank down those ones. Maybe even a hint of fresh, but that’s a bit of a stretch.”

Thaddeus went to each in turn, then nodded to the largest of the three. “That one, I think. It isn’t fresh, but it’s closer to the dankness of the breeze above than the other two.”

“Good enough for me,” Lyriat said, diving in.

He held one of his light stones ahead of him, Solyrian’s golden glow strange on the smooth cave walls as they traversed the depths. It didn’t illuminate as it should have. Didn’t land in the cracks and crevices the right way. The sight of it twisted in his gut. But the burn in his thighs and back, the toe-first hit of his feet on every step, said they were traveling upwards.

Lyriat measured the time by the small pebble in his other hand, its heat slowly fading. He didn’t even need to look at it to know that minutes turned to an hour as they ascended.

“Do you see that?” Thad asked.

“Aye.”

Lyriat didn’t see a damned thing. “What?”

“Put the damned stone away and let your eyes adjust,” Magnus teased.

The idea of voluntarily plunging himself into utter darkness was repulsive in the extreme, but Lyriat resented Mag’s smug tone more, so he bloody fucking did it anyway.

It was like shutting his eyes. A spike of panic landed right between his ribs and he immediately stumbled, the arseholes chuckling at him for it. He was thinking the whole thing might’ve been a prank when he caught the first silvered glimmer in the darkness ahead.

“Ach, we’ll make a wolf of you yet,” Mag murmured, bumping his shoulder and scaring the shite out of him.

Fortunately, Lyriat didn’t need a wolf in order to pick up his pace, just shy of outright sprinting towards that distant flicker of hope. And when they reached it—when Lyriat found himself staring up at the predawn sky through the jagged hole above, holding back a bellow of triumph—that flicker turned into a flame.

“Let’s find another,” he breathed.

Three words. Brand wrote three words.

I will try.

In some ways, it was the best possible answer. Lunara poured everything on to that page, hoping to get through to him, and it seemed to have worked.

In others, it made her want to tear her own hair out.

You’re lucky the Greater agreed at all. Three whole words is probably an achievement.

Yes, but she was hoping for a response that tamed the worst of her nerves and convinced her this wasn’t a colossal mistake. For a handful of his usual poetic words to soothe the overwhelming feeling that someone had dug her heart out with a rusty spoon and left her chest cavity gaping.