Page 88 of The Half King
The hunting party returned with a mule deer slung over each of their saddles, along with a new appreciation for Blue’s predatory instincts. General Petros said that Blue had scented not only the deer but two rams that had escaped capture. Blue seemed to sense the praise. He held his head high as he proudly loped to Cerise and then dropped a lifeless jackrabbit at her feet. The dried blood around his mouth hinted that he had already consumed several rabbits of his own.
“You saved one for me?” Cerise asked. She rewarded him with a hug and a well-deserved scratch behind the ears. “Thank you, my sweet boy. You’re still my hero.”
While Blue curled up in the shade to take a nap, the rest of the group worked together to carve the sand melon, butcher the deer, and hang the thin strips of venison over a low fire to smoke. Father Padron cast a protective enchantment over the camp to block the scent of meat from carrying on the wind, and right before sunset, Cerise cast the runes. She had just read the rune’s instructions when Kian vanished into the shadows and took half of her heart with him.
At dinner, Cerise pretended to drink her usual sip of arrowroot syrup, but she had no intention of falling asleep. When she retired to her tent, she sat on her blanket pallet and waited as the hours passed, listening to the quiet chatter and the scrape of utensils, then to the rustle of canvas that told her Father Padron had returned to his tent. She waited until she could hear his soft snores before she untied her tent flaps and crept out into the night.
The moon hung in a sliver against a backdrop of stars. The evening air was cool and crisp, scented by the cook fire, which was still smoking. Cerise peered around the darkened camp and found that all but two sets of tent flaps were tied shut—hers and Nero’s.
It had to be tonight. There was no time to waste.
She signaled for Blue to stay, and then she strode around the fringes of the encampment to look for Nero. She detected a whiff of burning herbs and followed the scent until she found him sitting against a tree stump, puffing on a wooden pipe and staring beyond the protective enchantment.
With a glance at her, Nero offered his pipe and whispered, “Hoya leaf. Calming to the nerves, if the general’s drink wasn’t strong enough.” He sniffed in amusement. “Though it won’t make you drunkenly profess your love for the world.”
She sat down beside him and waved away the pipe, but then she changed her mind. Her Claiming Day seemed like it had lasted for a year. And yet time was still running out, even faster now that they had to go back to the palace to break the curse. If her nerves had ever needed calming, it was tonight. She sucked in a mouthful of smoke and let it roll over her tongue. It tasted sweet, but it burned her lungs when she inhaled.
She coughed, her eyes watering as she returned the pipe to Nero. She imagined what the Reverend Mother would say if the woman could see her now: sitting on the cursed ground of the blighted mountain, dressed in pants, sweat-dried dirt on her face, blood beneath her fingernails as she smoked herbs with a heretic.
Most unladylike.
“Why are you awake?” Nero asked. “Is it bad dreams? My aunt taught me how to interpret dreams…or she tried. I’m not very good at it.”
Cerise shook her head. “I want to talk to you about something. But first, can we go inside the mountain like we did before?” She darted a glance at Father Padron’s tent. “Time passes slower there. We can stay gone for as long as we want, and no one will hear us.”
“The Below,” Nero said. He chewed his pipe in thought. “Yes, there’s a way inside near here. But if someone wakes up and finds us both gone…togetherin the dark?” He slanted her a look. “What would your Half King think about that?”
Cerise resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Nero almost sounded jealous. “Considering we’ll only be gone for a few moments, the king would probably think I’m disappointed.”
Nero tried to stop from smiling, but a smoky laugh broke free. “Then let’s not get caught. No man wants a reputation for that.”
He stood up, offering his hand, and then he pulled her to standing as easily as the wind lifting a feather. He set off with his pipe tucked between his teeth and led the way out of the protective barrier. They continued for a few more paces to a cluster of trees that half concealed a stone wall. Unlike other slabs of stone, this one bore a streak of exposed mineral that sparkled in the moonlight. Anyone else might mistake it for ordinary crystal, but Cerise recognized the distinct shimmer of the Below.
Nero held aside a branch for her, jutting his pipe at the stone as if to say,You know what to do. She waited for him to explain. It didn’t bode well for his teaching skills that he expected her to know something she’d only experienced one time.
“You’reumbra sangi,” he reminded her. “You can do this on your own.”
“But how?”
“Your blood is the key.”
“How much blood?”
“A few drops,” he said. “A few more if you bring someone with you.”
She thought back to the first day of the journey, when he had transferred her out of the cave and into the secret cavern. She remembered him cutting his palm and pressing it to the wall as he grabbed her by the wrist. She also remembered the sick sensation of falling afterward. This time, she would be prepared for that.
“One other thing,” Nero added. “You have to envision where you want to go. The Below is a vast place with many chambers and passages to explore. Do you remember where I brought you? What the cavern looked like?”
She nodded. “I remember.”
“Then take this,” he said, giving her a small dagger. “And we’ll go together.”
Cerise worked up the nerve to nick the tip of her middle finger. She returned the knife to Nero, and they joined hands. Then she imagined the cool, dim cavern where he had taken her before, picturing its glowing walls and its moss-carpeted floor, recalling the babble of water in the background and the electric scent of magic in the air. She held the sensations in her mind and pressed her finger to the stone wall. Gravity gripped her stomach, and one heartbeat later, she and Nero were standing in the cavern.
She smiled as she caught her breath. “I did it!”
Nero took another pull from his pipe. He didn’t seem impressed.
