THE DEPTHS

  PENELOPE BARSETTI

  HARTWICK PUBLISHING

  Hartwick Publishing

  The Depths

  Copyright © 2026 by Penelope Barsetti

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  CONTENTS

  1. Hanne

  2. Morco

  3. Hanne

  4. Hanne

  5. Morco

  6. Hanne

  7. Morco

  8. Hanne

  Prologue I

  Prologue II

  Prologue III

  Prologue IV

  Prologue V

  9. Morco

  10. Hanne

  11. Morco

  12. Hanne

  13. Morco

  14. Morco

  15. Hanne

  16. Hanne

  17. Morco

  Prologue VI

  1

  HANNE

  With my wrists bound together, I was secured inside the carriage with the door locked.

  Vulgaris wouldn’t allow me to ride horseback, not when he knew I would do anything—and I mean anything—to get out of this. The carriage rocked back and forth when one of the wheels rolled over a rock on the path. The journey began in the morning and was mostly unremarkable. I looked out the window through the bars to try to determine where we were, but all I saw were trees and more trees, nothing to give me any indication where we were.

  Hours passed.

  I was given no water or food, treated like a prisoner instead of a queen.

  When the sun had begun to lower over the horizon and the sky turned into a beautiful collage of orange, pink, and purple, the carriage came to a halt.

  This was it.

  The door was unlocked, and the guard grabbed me by the arm to yank me out of the carriage.

  I shoved him off. “I’m cooperating, asshole.”

  The other came up behind me and cut the bindings that secured my wrists.

  Vulgaris dismounted his beast of a horse, midnight-black with a matching mane, a war-horse. His cape floated behind him in the breeze. He was dressed in all black, but the darkness of his uniform couldn’t match the evil in his eyes.

  They were blacker than the Depths.

  He stopped before me. “Leave us.”

  The guards all stepped away, out of earshot.

  So he could incriminate himself freely. “I didn’t want it to be this way⁠—”

  “Yes, you did.”

  He shifted his eyes back and forth between mine, cold and calculating as always. Whatever he was going to say would have been rehearsed and sterilized. “I warned you. All you had to do was look the other way and keep your head down.”

  “Well, I’ve never been good at either of those things.” This was the moment when I should beg for my life, to plead for any affection he might have for me in his heart. But I was too damn proud for that. They told me a woman couldn’t be queen of a kingdom, but I faced my death with more courage than any man would in my place. But that didn’t matter. He’d taken the crown and the keys—had stolen everything from me.

  He raised his arm and gestured to the massive hole fifty feet away, a crater with no bottom, pitch black even at the surface. “After you.” The opening was the size of a small village itself, a physical manifestation that even the brightest minds couldn’t explain. Most assumed it had been placed by the gods.

  I knew he would go nowhere near the edge because I would push him into it—or take him with me. A gust of wind blew through the grass then hit me. My light brown, nearly blond hair flew behind me, and my cobalt eyes stung with tears. “My father is rolling in his grave right now.”

  He said nothing to that, completely emotionless. “Try to run, and you’ll be shot.” He looked past me, to the guards he’d brought to escort me here.

  I turned, seeing two of the guards step out of the line and put arrows to their string before they pulled them back, making the string taut with pressure. The tips of their arrows glinted in the light, and I could easily picture my blood dripping from the point.

  “Go,” he ordered, fully prepared to never see me again, to sleep soundly that night, guilt-free. His cape flapped in the wind that rushed over the open plain, and not a hint of reservation was visible in his ruthless eyes.

  I took a step away and then another, turning my focus on the massive black hole in the center of the grass. Its existence was an abject mystery, and some people attributed it to ancient sorcery. Another gust of wind blew by me, and my hair whipped up and smacked me in the face before I turned into the wind to get it out of my eyes.

  Vulgaris watched me with a ferocity that bordered on hatred.

  I stepped closer to the hole, close enough that I could peer into the center. I expected to see the bottom, expected to see some kind of texture or light or substance. But it was sheer black, no sign of light, like the hole connected all the way to the other side of the earth.

  This was the option I’d chosen, but now that I was face-to-face with that decision, I faltered. I’d never seen one of the chasms this close, never contemplated jumping into one to my death. Now my feet halted as the fear gripped me and I second-guessed this whole thing, but the alternative…was to have my head cut off.

  A palm hit me hard between the shoulder blades, and I flew forward, stumbling at the very edge with too much momentum to resist. One foot slipped, and then I slid over the edge into the black abyss. On instinct, I pushed off the side and projected myself toward the center, afraid I would hit my head on the side on the way down.

  In just a second, I was consumed by the darkness. Couldn’t see my arms as they flailed about me, couldn’t see my feet as I kicked wildly, falling like a stone into the center of the earth.

  I didn’t realize I’d been screaming until I stopped. My lungs wore out, and my throat went bone-dry. The seconds of free fall continued, and they went on so long that the urge to scream vanished.

  I fell for what felt like minutes, like an eternity, so long that the initial terror passed, and I just waited…waited for my body to hit the bottom and break.

  And then, I struck cold water, instantly submerged, my feet hitting first and then my body sinking with a momentum so powerful, I couldn’t push against it. I screamed on instinct, and then the water poured into my mouth and I started to choke.

  My body finally slowed, and I strained my arms as I pulled myself to the surface, drowning at the same time, the water already in my lungs. If I wasn’t close to land, I might drown even if I made it to the surface. I stroked my arms and kicked, having no idea where the surface was in the pitch darkness. I behaved as if I was always just a foot away, so close, just within reach.

  Then I finally broke the surface and gasped for breath, coughing and spitting out water, still having to tread water at the same time. My body shuddered as I spit out more water. When my throat was finally fully clear, I gasped for air for seconds, my lungs still devoid of enough of the air I needed to replenish what I’d lost.

  I looked around for land, and that’s when I realized I could see.

  I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I could make out a bulb of light somewhere on land, looking like a rose that hadn’t bloomed yet. It was aglow with such brilliance, illuminating the surface of the dark lake—and a structure in the distance.

  I could see several buildings, which seemed to be constructed of stone and clay and thatch. A fence built of wood surrounded the encampment, but the gaps between the slats allowed me to make out few details.

  I couldn’t see a person, but the territory must be inhabited by someone.

  I searched for the closest section of shore and began to swim, anxious to get to land so I could take a full breath at rest, so I could take a second to process what had just happened and the next part of my exile.

  I finally reached the edge and climbed up the bank before I collapsed there, tired from the swim, tired from the adrenaline that flushed through me. My heart continued to pound in my chest, so hard I could actually feel it. Sand stuck to my wet cheek as I lay there—and I felt the hand against my back.

  He’d pushed me.

  A man I’d considered family, a man my father had trusted, had fucking pushed me.

  I rolled onto my back and looked up at the hole I’d fallen into—except I couldn’t see it. Above me was just a black abyss, endless and depthless. It was so high up that the light from the flower couldn’t even reach that far. “Fuck.”

  I finally got to my feet and looked at the structure in the near distance. I’d fallen from the sky without food, water, or weapons, so my only choice was to make friends. But a warning burned in my heart because I had no idea what awaited me there. Would I find friend…or foe? I’d been a queen above, but I could easily be a slave down below. My royal name and privilege wouldn’t get me shit in a place like this—but I wouldn’t have ended up here in the first place if I actually mattered.

  The gate started to open, fifteen feet high, and it slowly shifted to the side.

  The vegetation was different down here from up above. The dirt had a blue tint to it, probably because it’d never been exposed to sunlight. The trees were straw-like and leathery rather than hearty like those on the surface. There were large gaps in between the vegetation, like growth was far sparser down here in these conditions.

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  I moved behind one of the trees to peer into the distance. Even with the light from their rose, I had a hard time making out details, my eyes still used to the full intensity of sunlight from the surface. But I could identify figures outfitted in black, moving across their compound as they prepared for something.

  It was hard to see their features from this distance, especially when they were fully covered from head to toe, even wearing hoods over their heads. Distance was impossible to gauge in this new world. They seemed to have the height of humans, but perhaps that was a trick of the light.

  Had they seen me?

  Had they heard my screams?

  Had they heard my body splash into the water?

  Surely they must have.

  In this new world without light and resources, I wouldn’t survive long. There was water from the lake, and hopefully there were fish too, so I might be able to fend for myself once I figured out how to catch something. But I was defenseless against predators without a sword.

  I rose to my feet and stepped out of the tree line.

  But then, someone grabbed me out of nowhere and yanked me down. “Do you have a death wish?” It was the deep voice of a man, and his grip was as vicious as his tone.

  I gave a gasp and automatically tried to twist out of his grasp.

  But he was so strong, it was like being surrounded by a snake. I couldn’t move my arm at all, couldn’t resist his strength. My eyes took him in, dressed in all black, a hood over his head to blend into the darkness. With dark hair and eyes the color of the abyss I’d just fallen through, he looked like he was born of this place. “Who are you?”

  He turned to the gate and assessed the situation. “They’re aware of you—which means they’re about to be aware of me.” He finally released my arm and moved away, farther back into the other trees. He disappeared from my eyes when he blended into the dark background.

  I glanced back at the gate and saw something that made my skin crawl.

  Wolves. Enormous wolves.

  Wolves big enough to be ridden by a full-grown man.

  Saddles were secured to their backs, and the beings started to mount them like they were about to leave on a hunting raid…and I was the fox. I had only a split second to decide which way to go, to join the horde of wolves or follow the stranger who had twisted my arm.

  I made my choice—and pursued the man who had just warned me.

  I ran through the trees in search of him, but he was already gone. I searched the trees and the bushes, and he was nowhere in sight. I did find his trail in the dirt, so I followed that, walking along the path around an enormous rock that⁠—

  “Hoooowwwwwlllll!”

  I stopped in my tracks. “Oh fuck.”

  Other wolves followed suit, howling like they could see the full moon.

  “Where the fuck did he go?” I continued to track his footprints into a cluster of trees, and by then, there was so much vegetation covering the ground that I lost his trail. “Hey!” I ran into the forest, hoping to see the man in the hood reappear.

  “Hoooowwwwlll!”

  “Hoowwwwllll!”

  It sounded louder than it had a second ago. Now I just ran, ran because I knew those wolves would follow me here exactly as I’d followed that stranger. I cut my cheek on a branch I didn’t notice, the darkness growing the farther I ran from the light. My boots caught on a root system that jutted out of the ground, and I hit the dirt before I tried to untangle myself. But somehow the vines had wrapped around my ankles into near knots. I twisted and kicked, the sound of hooves suddenly audible as they approached the forest.

  “I should leave you here.” The stranger returned with a dagger and cut through the vines in a single slice. “Stop following me.” He pocketed the dagger and took off again.

  “Wait, you helped me.”

  He spun back around. “I asked if you had a death wish. That is not an offer of help.” Now that we faced each other upright, I could see he was tall and muscular, the dark clothing unable to hide the definition that strained the fabric around his arms and over his shoulders. “Now, stop following me.” He turned away again and continued on his journey.

  I watched him go, a gut punch because those fiends on wolves were coming for me. “Wait. Please.” I ran after him, catching up to him a couple seconds later. “I was pushed into the chasm. I have no sword, no supplies. I don’t know this world or how to leave it. Please…” I’d never had to beg for someone’s help before. People at the castle jumped at the opportunity to do anything I asked. I’d thought I was alone at the castle, thought I was alone when Vulgaris betrayed me, but this was true loneliness.

  When he looked at me again, his eyes were more unkind than Vulgaris’s, like he was capable of equal depravity. He clenched his jaw, flicked his eyes back behind me, and then released a barley contained sigh. “Hurry.” He took off again, moving through the dense trees like he knew the way even in the dark.

  I did my best to keep up with him, knowing my life depended on it. Another branch cut my cheek, but I continued because it was life or death. Once the wolf captured the fox, it would break its neck.

  “Hoooowwwwlllll.” They were closer now, moving through the trees and picking up on our scents.

  We broke the tree line and crossed a plain without grass, just dirt, and ran to a rock face that stretched up into the darkness and disappeared. I could see a crack in the rock, narrow enough to slide in sideways, and when he reached it, he immediately angled his body and sidestepped deep inside until he was gone.

  I did the same, moving quicker because I was smaller.

  Then he grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me so hard I hit one of the walls.

  There were others with him, and they rolled a large boulder until it covered the crack.

  He threw his hood back and straightened his spine as he caught his breath, his full profile visible for the first time. A hint of sweat was on his brow, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.

  The three other men stared at me like they didn’t know what to make of me, if I was a human or a rat or a three-headed dog.

  “Morco.” Without taking his eyes off me, one of the guys addressed my savior. “Who’s this?”

  He turned to me, furious, as if I’d somehow betrayed him in the last ten minutes since we’d left the forest. “Ask her.” He stood in line with them, an invisible divide in the cave between us, like I was their enemy.

  This was the first time I’d felt somewhat safe since Vulgaris had sentenced me to the Depths, and somewhat was a bit of a stretch. Maybe these guys were the better option than the wolves that chased me…but how much better?

  The guy who had saved me seemed to be in charge. He had this commanding air to him, the aura of a king or an executioner. He was the tallest, the most muscular—and the best-looking. He possessed a beard on his jawline, a subtle rage to his dark eyes, beautiful skin that reminded me of the olive oil I enjoyed with my bread at dinner, and thick, dark hair that looked unkempt after the chase through the woods.

  The leader looked me over slowly, not in a seductive way like he found me attractive, but like he couldn’t determine my identity based on my clothing and appearance. “Your name.”

  “Hanne.”

  “You said someone pushed you in. Who?”

  It was hard to answer, to accept the horrible truth even though I’d watched it with my own eyes. “King Vulgaris.”

  His dark eyes retained their hardness, no hint of empathy. “Why?”

  Whoever these people were, they didn’t know the kingdoms or the people. They knew nothing of my world. “Because he wanted to be a dictator, and I tried to stop him.” This man hadn’t rushed to my aid, wasn’t the type of guy to care about a damsel in distress, so I knew he wouldn’t care about my tale—just the highlights. “He discovered my treason and banished me here.”

  All four of them stared with equal intensity.

  “Who—who are you?” I took in each one with my eyes. They all seemed to be the same age, one with black hair like midnight like Morco, one with lighter brown hair, and another with blond hair that was lighter than mine. They were all dressed similarly, but their clothing didn’t sport a crest of a kingdom, not that I would recognize it anyway.

  Morco disregarded the question and addressed the others. “We’ll figure this out later.” He passed me and stepped farther into the narrow cavern. Across his back was a heavy sword, the hilt black and reflective. He kneeled down and lit a torch by making a spark between a flint and a rock and then stood upright, the flames immediately illuminating the cavern, all the jagged edges and the deep pockets of shadows. “Let’s move, just in case the dogs smell us.” He turned back to us, looking over his shoulder. “Put her in the middle.” He faced forward and began the journey through the cave, his cape behind him. “Kill her if she tries anything.”