Paoli is tall and lithe, with sleek black hair and slanted eyes. Her tongue had been cut out years before, and, like Abi, she has a scar stretching across her face. It's a cruel reminder of the life before, not unlike the scars etched into my arms.
When Paoli joined our laundry group, she and Abi became fast friends—true friends—despite their differences in disposition.
Abi is sparkling wine. Paoli is aged whisky.
I look away from the women as Estela, another woman who called me friend, steps forward.
"How is everyone?" the queen calls in the human tongue.
Some of us respond weakly, others loudly, but we all gaze beyond her to the gleaming golden door leading into the mountain. Shockingly red veins swirl around the doorway, like swathes of red fabric stored within the mountain's stone.
"We’re going to enter now. Though most will be sleeping, some may still come to greet us. Remember, you need not speak with anyone you don't wish to. They will be curious, not aggressive. And I will be there the entire time."
I huff a short laugh. She looks at the women as if they are less eager than their expressions. I don't see a single face that isn't at least a little excited.
Not for the first time, Estela truly looks like a queen—prim and proper and full of firm reassurance. It's not bad. I just don't know if it's necessary.
I let her have her moment as the men move about. When we start walking again, there's a palpable energy in the air—a sweet vibration that starts in the ground and moves through my boots. We fall into a line, and the hunters stand behind us, casting uneasy glances at the shadowy forest to the right.
I take a sharp breath when we approach the cave’s entrance.
A thick smell of damp stone and soft sulphuric fumes hits me square in the face. A faint, rhythmic pumping sound also pounds in the back of my skull.
It's a peculiar place, to be sure, but I smile. Estela had once described golden carvings and large crystals. We haven't seen the crystals yet, but gold lines the hallways as we move down into the city.
I lose sight of Ra'Sa just as Estela stops halfway down the tunnel. She continues greeting and ushering us, but there's a hollow look to her face. When I pass by her, I take her hand.
"Well done," I murmur, drawing her out of her intense focus.
She pauses and looks at me with a broken sort of smile. She urges me forward as her mate, the king, nods at me and wraps his hand around her waist.
Just as I leave the hallway, a song begins to play around us. It feels like what a dozen cascading stars might sound like. When I move, it clings to my skin, engulfing me like water. Iam disoriented as blue beings emerge from their neatly designed houses in the distance.
I'm too entranced as my head naturally tilts backward, hungry to take in every detail. Glinting surfaces cause a thrumming in my chest—something hungry for adventure wrapped up in gleaming surfaces of rich purples, blood red, springtime green, and every shade of marvelous blue. The cavern is massive—easily a hundred times larger than any Enduar, as they like to call themselves.
Up to this moment, they were still trolls to me. Ancient, lethal, eerily observant, sure. But also hunters banished deep beneath the earth to hide their bloodthirsty ways while they mine their valuable diamonds.
Now, seeing the way the crystals grow out of the rock and hearing the song of their home solidifies Estela’s stories. These people are the heirs to a rich unseen legacy—one they are inviting humans to join.
For the first time in years, my eyes burn.
It feels safe here. Peaceful. Gentle. It is exactly what I was looking for.
This could be a home for my family, once I get them.
People have started swarming around me, guiding the humans away from the massive bridges and walkways that magically move by themselves. Many go directly for Teo and Estela, but I am left on the fringe.
It’s time to find the man I’m meant to seduce. But before I can look for Ra’Sa, someone grabs my shoulder. A woman with red hair pulls me back.
Her skin is paler than most humans, and freckles dot her nose and cheeks. They continue all the way up to the thick, curly hair spilling out of a style arranged atop her head. When she smiles, there's a warmth that can be felt throughout my entire being.
"I'm Arlet," she says sweetly. "Welcome to Enduvida."
Chapter 4
RA’SA
Upon arriving in the caves, I was carted off to a meeting with the king and queen.