It amazed her, as it never would the unfeeling ground, that an element she’d grown so close to in so short a time was partly responsible for these deaths. She was surprised by her depth of feeling. If these crimes had been discovered by someone who’d believed a lie about a sinkhole, it wasn’t as if they could put the ground on trial or injure it with slanderous whispers.

  As much as she felt moved by the earth’s history, what she’d come to think of as memory, the stone that all the world rested upon was not alive. She had to be the closest to it out of anyone, taking comfort from its power and security, but she could not fool herself into thinking that it cared.

  Even so…she cared for it.

  Thana looked awed again as Sylph created a stairway down into the darkness. She was glad someone else could feel emotional about her power. Maybe one day, her magic might be understood.

  “What do you think we’ll find down there?” Sylph asked. “Besides the culprits.”

  “Answers, I hope.” Her face creased with concern. “For all we know, the source of the crystal might not be far away. Will you be all right?”

  Impossible to know. Even the feel of unworked crystal at the academy had her flailing, desperate to latch on to any pyramid. “I have this,” she said, looking at her stone pyramid. “It holds much the same power. I can only promise to try to keep my head.”

  “That’s all anyone can promise,” Thana said with a snort. She stared at her feet. “I want you to know how proud I am. Of you,” she added, speaking quicker after the heartwarming words. “I know that sounds awkward coming from someone that you…” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I wanted you to know. I mean, I don’t want to sound like a parent or your aunt or anything.”

  Sylph grabbed her hand. “Thank you.” When Thana smiled and went to pull away, Sylph tightened her grip. “No, you have to understand, to hear the words I’m not saying, like you did before.” Shame burned in her. “No, wait, I want to try.” She lined the words up in her head, everything she’d tried to express during every clumsy attempt. She didn’t want to blather on about holes in her heart or other organs. She wanted it to be true and right.

  And to her surprise, Thana didn’t blush and turn away or make a joke to fill in the silence. She waited.

  Sylph breathed deeply, feeling as if she’d just taken the stage. “You are…I am…” She fought a stab of frustration. “We’re friends. Right now. And whether we are ever more or not, I will always cherish all the moments with you. And I look forward to my future moments because no matter what we will be to one another, every moment spent with you feels like a gift. If that’s love, then that’s what I feel. I don’t know if it’s the love of a friend or if my ever-present desire to kiss you means it’s more, but it sits inside me like a light, and I never want to see it dim.”

  The words that had started as a trickle became a flood, washing away her mask as they came, so she had no idea what her face was doing, nor did she care.

  Thana’s eyes sparkled like black jewels, and she practically leaped into Sylph’s arms, burying her head in Sylph’s shoulder. “You said you weren’t good at words, but you are,” she said around her sobs. “You’re good at everything, and it’s not fair, and I’m sorry I thought of you badly at times, even when you deserved it, and I feel the same way, and if you die in this hole, I will be so angry with you.”

  The muffled rant tickled her, and she laughed through her tears, kissing Thana’s head. She heard another small sob and glanced over to see Dina crying, though she had the decency to look away. Prince Gunnar stared at something in the distance, but he was blinking rapidly and had his arms crossed as if holding his emotions inside.

  He cleared his throat after several moments of silence. “Come on, you two. No time like the present and all that.”

  Thana pulled away, sniffling, and Sylph had to look away before she wiped her face with her sleeve again. Love and such was well and good, but some things just weren’t done.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Gunnar caught Thana’s shoulder as they lined up for the stairs Sylph had created in the rock. He leaned in to whisper, “That was beautiful, Than. I’m so happy for you.”

  She grinned, too pleased to even kick him for eavesdropping. Still, she had to get herself together. They had business to take care of. “Easy,” she said. “We’re not engaged or anything. Get your mind on the task ahead.”

  But then, by the spirits, she and Sylph would find some time to be alone. That was her plan for the future.

  He winked as he pushed to the front with Dina. He carried his sword in hand, and Dina had hers as well as a shield she’d retrieved from her horse. They’d both covered their riding clothes with studded leather armor.

  Thana stayed just behind them, carrying a light pyramid and fighting her nerves. She’d changed back into her cassock and had her stolen satchel slung around her. Sylph brought up the rear. She’d changed into a gray coat and dark trousers. She carried her stone pyramid and Thana’s detection pyramid, which extended her already exceptional senses and would warn her of any traps.

  Of course, if they encountered any new crystal, it would captivate her all the faster.

  A chance they had to take.

  Sylph had to sift through the dirt until she found the tunnel, a narrow passage braced by wooden beams. Gunnar looked down it and frowned. It led in the opposite direction of Marienne, and he’d clearly hoped to follow the pyradistés and catch them as they worked.

  “If we hurry,” Dina said, “perhaps we can find where this crystal is coming from before we ride back to report.”

  Gunnar frowned but nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”

  Thana shivered. It was one thing to be brave in daylight, but anyone would balk at squeezing through that narrow, lightless passage. “We could collapse this part of the tunnel, but I guess that won’t do any good if they’re no longer using it.”

  “I was just thinking that,” Sylph said.

  Thana grinned. “Really?” She squeezed her arm. “Nice to know we’re so in sync.”

  “Yes, you’re very cute together,” Gunnar said. “Let’s get going before the ground gets jealous of you two and squashes us dead.”

  Dina barked a laugh as she took point. Thana glared as Gunnar followed, but she fell in behind him. They moved as quickly as possible, everyone but Thana having to stoop. Pebbles rained down whenever they had to squeeze, and she couldn’t imagine hauling crystal through the airless gloom. No wonder they’d encountered so few pyramids. If the pyradistés succeeded in taking over, they could travel overland, and Marienne would be flooded with this stuff.

  And pyradistés like Sylph would wreak havoc unless they were sent away. Or killed. She wondered which road the rogues would choose. Either decision would make them just like the people they rebelled against.

  The tunnel seemed endless, dusty and draining, but before Thana could ask for Sylph to make them a bigger space to rest in, they broke into a natural cavern. By the groans and stretches of the others, they were as happy to see it as she was.

  She held her pyramid high, illuminating jagged walls that stretched fifty feet end to end and ten feet high. Slender columns of rock connected the floor to the ceiling, and the slow drip of water came from one corner under a low-hanging ledge. A veil of humidity coated everything in a layer of dampness, and Thana wiped her face as the close air made her sweat.

  “No one dug this,” Dina said softly. “Do you think the pyradistés knew it was here and aimed for it?”

  Gunnar peered down several natural tunnels that ran off the cavern before pointing to one. “This seems the most traveled. The pyradistés probably used these caves to go as far as they could and only tunneled when they had to.”

  Sylph moved to the center of the cavern and stood with her eyes closed, holding her two pyramids. She seemed serene, and though Thana smiled to see that, she wished she could share it.

  “Are you all right?” Thana asked.

  “Such age,” she said. “Difficult to comprehend but strangely comforting.”

  Thana didn’t quite understand, but falling into a pyramid often made one slightly tipsy. For all she knew, communing with stone while underground could make one full-blown drunk. “I’m glad none of us is claustrophobic.” She tried to laugh as her skin crawled.

  Sylph opened her eyes. “You need never fear the stone’s collapse while I’m around.” Affection shone from her gaze, as if being underground let her emotions fly free. Or maybe it was because she was hidden from all but a few eyes.

  Thana squeezed her arm, glad no matter what the reason. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She cleared her throat, desperate to change the subject before she couldn’t resist kissing her. She nodded toward Gunnar and Dina, who were looking down the other tunnels, one of which would require them to crawl on their bellies.

  Spirits, it couldn’t be that one.

  “Do you think Gunnar is right,” Thana said, “about the tunnel we need to follow?”

  She expected Sylph to examine the tracks, but she closed her eyes again. “The memory of stone is tricky when it’s not been disturbed.”

  “The memory of stone?”

  Gunnar peered back at them, proving that he’d been listening in again. Thana might have to kick him soon. “How can stone remember?” he asked.

  Sylph opened her mouth, closed it, and shrugged. “I don’t know how to answer. You stand outside a gift I take for granted, and I know no way to describe it.”

  “A gift?” Thana echoed with a smile.

  Sylph chuckled. “Grudgingly admitted.”

  “You can speak with the rock?” Dina asked, her face alight with the chance for new knowledge. “Do beautiful stones know of the pleasures they give?”

  “I have received no indication of such,” Sylph said with a smile. “But the idea that we converse is erroneous. It is…” She waved vaguely. “Intuition, I suppose.”

  “And what does your intuition tell us about the right tunnel to take?” Gunnar asked, his tone a little teasing. Thana glared, hoping he saw the future in her cocked foot if he added poking fun to eavesdropping.

  He winked as Sylph shrugged again. “That tunnel seems as good as any,” she said. After another moment with her eyes closed, she nodded. “There are more caverns in that direction, and something is moving through the stone, sending vibrations.”

  Gunnar nodded, all business again as he took the lead. Thana’s heart thundered as they followed. They’d found someone at last. She supposed she should hope it was the pyradistés. The idea of “something” moving through the stone was unnerving, especially considering what slept under the palace in Marienne.

  * * *

  Sylph kept her senses open, keeping a link with her stone pyramid while the detector let her power flit before them. Though surrounded by stone, she felt freer than she ever had. Thana had been right. She couldn’t turn her back on this gift. That had likely never been an option, as much as she hadn’t wanted to admit it.

  And truly, there was no reason Thana had to know it now.

  Sylph smiled, tempted to reach forward if only to touch Thana for a moment. But something caught her senses. “Stop.”

  Everyone halted, and she focused. No traps glittered in these walls, but a tantalizing pull came from ahead.

  “New crystal,” she said. When Thana turned with a look of panic, Sylph shook her head. “Unworked. I can…resist it.” And it was easier. The stone at the academy had caught her attention, but she’d faced pyramids made from it since, and her stone pyramid granted her somewhere to focus.

  Thana’s presence didn’t hurt, either.

  Prince Gunnar peered back at them. “Thana, is everything all right?”

  “It’s okay,” Thana said. “Do you sense any other pyramids?”

  Sylph handed over the detector. She could resist the new crystal, but it still made her want to touch every pyramid within reach. There was no reason to tempt herself needlessly.

  Thana rattled off a few pyramids, mostly light, a few explosive, but no traps, no detectors, and no cancelation pyramids. They clearly weren’t expecting to have to defend themselves.

  “But,” Thana said. “If they were actively using any of those just now, there’s a chance they felt my detection.”

  Prince Gunnar nodded with a grim look. Unless they wanted to bury everyone, the pyradistés might not have a way to defend themselves. The ones in the forest hadn’t been armed apart from their pyramids. Arms and armor were expensive, after all.

  And pyradistés were peasants.

  For the most part.

  Thana’s people. And she wouldn’t want to see them hurt.

  Sylph shook her head. No, Thana was with her people right now. Anyone on the right side of the law who needed her help was one of her people. These rebels, who hated her, who didn’t seem to care who got hurt, were no one to her.

  Still, Sylph caught the tension in Thana’s shoulders, the worried look on her face. “We capture, not kill, right?” Sylph asked.

  Thana gave her a grateful look. Prince Gunnar tilted his head. “Of course.” He got a similar look from Thana, and Sylph hoped his assertion had been sincere and not prompted by her. She’d hate to begin thinking poorly of him now.

  They came on slowly and soon heard voices coming from ahead. As they turned a corner, the tunnel opened into another cavern. Prince Gunnar waved Sylph forward, and she squeezed past him to see light glinting from a number of pyramids scattered about the floor. One person kneeled near a crate, sifting through it, and she didn’t need to cast her power out to sense what it was. She tore her eyes away in case she fixated on the crystal and looked to the others in the room. Two stood to the side, near another tunnel, their voices echoing in the small space, distorting their words into noise.

  “Can you trap them all?” Prince Gunnar whispered.

  “Easily.” The only problem would be to stop using her power once she started. The crystal pulled so strongly, she imagined she could hear it, a persistent hum that could only be banished by using her power. She could almost see it as a shimmer in the air.

  “Do it.”

  She sighed as she used her power at last, wrapping the three pyradistés in stone, leaving only enough room for them to breathe and leaving their heads clear. When the shouting began, she almost reconsidered leaving them room to speak.

  She forced herself not to act, though the presence of the crystal argued vehemently, even when Thana and the others burst into the cavern, telling the pyradistés to be quiet or be robbed of consciousness. Whether the threat was genuine or not, they complied.

  Still, her power said it wasn’t enough. She could make a prison for them, a fortress for the prince, a mountain, a pit to the center of the earth. The itch to use the stone became an ache, and she stirred the rocks, listened to the cavern groan around her, singing of all she could do. In such a place, with such abilities, she need never fear anything again.

  A touch on her arm made her jump. She’d nearly forgotten there was such a thing as flesh.

  “Are you all right?” Thana’s brows were furrowed, worry etched in every feature. “Maybe you should go back in the tunnel, away from temptation.” She looked to the open crate, to its glittering contents. The man who’d been kneeling beside it glared. Sylph sent him away on a ripple of stone, and he cried out. When she brought him to a halt, he cursed them, not stopping until Dina stepped to his side and had a word in his ear.

  Sylph didn’t realize she’d taken a step toward the crate until Thana grabbed her arm. “Sylph, listen to me. Go back to the tunnel.”

  Sylph could move her away as easily as she’d moved the man, but everything in her rebelled at that idea. She clenched her teeth, glaring at the crate now. She would not let it harm Thana through her.

  She turned, using all her will, and started for the tunnel, her legs like lead, and the crystal crying out behind her. She buried herself in her stone pyramid, letting her senses fill the other parts of this cavern, finding the crevices and corners, the paths cut long ago by ancient rivers, the long dead creatures entombed in the earth, little more than stone themselves.

  The vibrations of the pyradisté she’d missed.

  She turned, crying out, trapping the pyradisté in stone, but his pyramid was already falling and burst before she could form words.

  A boom shook the cavern, stealing her hearing in a burst of pain that rattled through her skull. The stone betrayed her, throwing her to the ground before tearing itself apart as if it was paper and swallowing one of the pyradistés she’d trapped. Bits of ceiling fell like rain, and dust clouded her eyes, her nose, the stone she’d come to love seeking to cut short her life. She screamed, or perhaps not, too deafened to hear, panicked and not just for herself.

  Thana.

  The crystal still called to her, this time as if to name her an idiot and say, “It is stone, yours to command.”

  Yes. She drew the ground around her, stilling it before moving it up the walls to hold back the ceiling. It flowed around her like water, carrying her to the cavern’s edge, and she fell deeper into the rhythm of it until she could sense the vibrations of all that stood apart from it, limbs slapping, breath coming fast, and the fragile beating of hearts. She grabbed them and carried them to her, all of them covered in dust that she could will away if she chose.

  But why bother? She could do so many better things. Her mind followed the branches of this cave system. It went on for miles, meeting other caves, dipping far into the earth to lakes that would never know the breath of wind, down rivers that carved the rock with the patience of millennia.

  Finally, her senses came to the mountains north of Farraday, a land filled with this new crystal. She sensed the hole where a glacier had slid away from its brethren, carrying some of the crystal close enough to be found by Farradains, but there was so much more of it about.

  And some of it lived.

  Beings made of pyramid stone? It couldn’t be. Yet she sensed them as they scented the wind as if feeling her touch. It had been a long time since something had commanded them. They’d missed that. They were ready to destroy at an order for those with the right tools.