Page 83 of Spar of Hearts

“I think I see a loon.”

Anya shoved him playfully. “It’s a kind of waterbird, you dunce. They migrate to the north shore of Eteross every winter.”

“I know. I couldn’t resist.”

Trem-o-lo~

Hoo! Hoo!

Trem-o—

The call abruptly died on the heels of a howl that sent a shiver down her spine.

Awooooooooooo!

There was a layer of speech beneath the deep howl, but she couldn’t understand it. Wolves? Weres? She had to know more. She took two steps forward before Roderick darted in front of her, blocking her path.

“I cannot believe I am the one saying this to you, but we have to make a plan. We can’t go charging headfirst into the second dark cave we see.”

Nope. She wasn’t waiting another moment. She waited weeks on that ship for confirmation that everything Marg said was true. She zipped past Roderick and into the cave. The mouth of the cave became just a pinprick as the space became darker and inkier, until she was swallowed into true darkness. Roderick’s barefoot run echoed behind her. The space was so dark, devoid of every sight and sound—until she turned the corner.

Damp plant matter squished and glowed beneath her feet. Her skin crawled at the unexpected sensation. She jumped back to the cold stone, then pressed a pensive toe to the moss again. It glowed a faint blue, then dissipated slowly.

Roderick’s footsteps slowed as he turned the corner. “What in the Divine’s name is that?”

Anya took a hesitant step, then another. The moss lit up around her feet, fading and intensifying as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

Roderick came up beside her, brushing a hand on the cave wall. A thin line of sapphire luminescence trailed after his fingers.

“This is incredible,” Anya breathed. She’d never seen anything like this before. Once in a blue moon, auroras would dance across the sky over Eteross. They were hardly noticeable to the naked eye most times, but if the auroras aligned perfectly with the new moon, she could catch a glimpse of the striated ribbons. Now, she could practically hold them in her hand. She pressed her palm into the wall, letting the aqua light seep between her fingers.

Roderick rested his scarred hand next to hers and rolled his fingers. How could hands that had seen so much battle and pain have been the same ones that softly swept away her tears, and now indulged in a moment of childlike wonder?

This man was truly an enigma. But she did enjoy a good puzzle.

They removed their hands from the wall and watched their prints slowly fade away before continuing on.

The tunnel steadily narrowed until Anya could brush both sides with her fingers as she went. Roderick trailed quietly behind her. Despite going deeper, it wasn’t getting colder as it should have been. In fact, the slight goose flesh that had covered her arms outside had disappeared, and the bone-chilling ache from the icy Aquillan waters was now a distant memory.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Anya dipped below a low-hanging passageway, pressing her hand to the ceiling.

“Watch your head,” she cautioned, grasping Roderick’s hand to goad him down a touch.

“So chivalrous.” He chuckled, ducking low.

The bottleneck gave way to a large cavern. Every drip of water and skitter of small creatures in this place bounced off the walls—unnaturally so. She ran her fingers along the walls in hopes of finding more moss, but instead traced over unnatural stony paths and grooves, some jagged, some curving and connecting. These were deliberate. When she pressed the pads of her fingers into the divots, little bumps attested to a chisel tapping over and over at some point in the distant past.

“Someone carved these,” Anya murmured. “But why?”

“Maybe this will help.” Roderick held a ball of glowing moss out to her.

“Perfect!” Anya squeezed the moss, letting the moisture drip between her fingers. Light flared from the ball. Roderick ripped another strip off the ground and surveyed the other side of the cavern.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

“I think this is an Elvani,” Roderick said, holding his moss close to a carving. Anya squinted from afar. An elegant figure with long, tapered ears stood like a stone sentry beside the passageway they’d come from, holding a staff that split from the stem into a circle. Smooth swirls erupted from the staff, then disappeared into the shadows.