LOGINKade POVBy the fourth day, Moonstone Palace no longer felt like a home.It felt like a cage.Every corridor seemed to carry another argument, another rumor, another accusation. Wolves whispered whenever I passed them, and even when they lowered their voices, I could still hear enough to know what they were saying. Some believed I was too weak to rule. Others thought I was secretly protecting Victoria. A few had started saying that I was allowing Rashford's refugees to destroy Moonstone from the inside. And then there were those who had begun repeating my mother's words openly.Give the Chimera what they want.Give them Remi.End the war before it reaches our gates.I had spent four days trying to find an answer that would save everyone, and all I had managed to do was make everyone angrier.I barely recognized myself when I caught my reflection in the window that morning. My clothes hung differently around my shoulders. My face looked thinner. There were dark circles beneath my eyes
Nero POV“Tell me everything.”Caya had barely stepped into the firelight before I said it. She looked exhausted, her clothes covered in dust from the mountain, and there was a faint smell of smoke and something stronger clinging to her clothes, probably the ale the dwarfs had forced her to drink. Remi was already sitting beside me near the fire, the small lantern between us throwing a soft glow across her face, while I stood with my arms folded, waiting. I had spent the last hour staring into the flames and trying not to think about everything that could be happening behind us. The mountains were dark, the road ahead almost invisible beyond the circle of firelight, and somewhere in those rocks, a group of dwarfs was still digging. Caya dropped onto the log opposite us and rubbed her hands together before looking at me.“They're not looking for gold,” she said.My stomach tightened. “What are they looking for?”Caya glanced at Remi before looking back at me. “Another Moonstone.”For
Caya Pov Continued “Yes. Something I can offer you in exchange for information.”One of the dwarfs looked at me with a crooked smile. He leaned closer. “Something valuable under those skirts?”The others burst into laughter.My expression didn't change. Another dwarf looked me up and down. “Whatever you've got under there isn't worth much information.”“We could still pay her for it,” another added.The laughter became louder.I stared at them for several seconds.Then I smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile. “You've misunderstood me.”The head digger lifted his cup. “Have we?”“Yes.”I slowly reached into my pocket. “I wasn't offering you what's under my skirts.”The dwarfs quieted.“I was offering you something much more precious.”I pulled out the ring. The moment the diamond caught the lantern light, the atmosphere around the table changed.Every eye dropped on it.The diamond flashed brightly against the dim cavern. One dwarf stood.Another leaned across the table.The head digger'
Caya POV — Inside The Mountain“Wait here.”The dwarf pointed toward a wider chamber farther inside the mountain, then disappeared between two piles of stone before I could ask another question. I stood there for a moment, looking around. And then he came back.“You want to meet the head digger?” The dwarf who had led me inside pointed toward a large wooden table near the center of the cavern. “Then you drink.”I looked at the cup he offered me.The liquid inside was dark amber and smelled strong enough to burn the hair from my nose.“No.”The dwarf blinked. “You have to drink. There is no other option.”“I don't drink with strangers.”The dwarf's companion laughed. “Everyone drinks with strangers.”The dwarfs exchanged a look.The first pushed the cup toward me again. “The head digger doesn't speak to sober outsiders.”I glanced toward the far end of the cavern. “Then tell him I'm not an outsider.”“You're not a dwarf.”“I didn't say I was.”“You're a woman.”My eyebrow lifted. Sever
Caya POV“Easy. Just keep your damn foot where it is.”I muttered the words under my breath as the stone beneath my boot shifted and tumbled down the mountain. I froze, pressing my body against the rough wall of rock while the loose stones bounced into the darkness below. I waited until I could no longer hear them hitting anything before slowly lowering my other foot. “Wonderful,” I whispered. “Absolutely wonderful.” I had been climbing down this mountain for nearly half an hour, and every part of my body had begun to protest. The path was barely a path at all. It was a narrow trail carved between jagged rocks, steep enough that one careless step could send me rolling all the way to the bottom. My palms were scratched, my boots were covered in dust, and the cold mountain air had turned every breath into something sharp in my chest. Behind me, somewhere far above, Nero and Remi were waiting. I could almost imagine Nero standing there with his arms folded, watching me disappear down
Remi Pov“Something worth more than gold?”I repeated Caya's question, staring at her as she stood at the edge of the steep mountain path.She folded her arms. “That's what I said.”I glanced at Nero.He looked just as confused as I felt.Caya sighed. “The dwarfs aren't going to tell me anything because I ask nicely.”Nero reached into one of the pouches attached to his belt and pulled out a few coins.Caya barely glanced at them before shaking her head. “Those won't do.”Nero frowned. “You could at least pretend to consider them.”“They dig gold out of mountains, Nero.”He looked down at the coins in his palm. “Right.”I almost laughed.Almost. My fingers had already found the necklace beneath my clothes.The moment I touched it, the humor disappeared.I pulled the pendant out slowly and let it rest against my palm. The metal was warm from my skin, and for a moment, I forgot about the mountain, the dwarfs, Moonstone, and everything waiting for us beyond those trees.I thought of Isol







