The next morning arrived with a restless sky and the scent of storm clouds thick in the air. Despite the overcast light, the palace was alive with motion, guards training, messengers rushing, and courtiers whispering of tensions beyond the capital walls. Something was changing. The kingdom stirred in ways Lila couldn't yet name.
But she had her mission today.
"Today, we journey beneath," Isolde said as Lila joined her in the western hall, dressed in light traveling leathers and a sapphire-blue cloak. "The Spirit of Earth awaits."
Lila's brows rose. "The Earth King? I thought he would come to me like the Wind King did."
Isolde shook her head. "He is different. Earth does not move unless called. If you want his blessing, you must go to him."
Cassian was waiting by the stables, already astride a dark, patient-looking horse. He didn't say much as Lila approached, but she noticed the faintest nod of greeting. After what had happened at the fountain, something between them had shifted.
Not quite friendship. Not quite trust. But no longer strangers either.
They rode out under a moody sky, down winding trails that led far from the glittering towers of the capital and into the dense, emerald heart of the kingdom's forgotten southern lands. The terrain grew rougher, the path narrower, until trees towered over them, ancient and silent.
Eventually, the path ended at the mouth of a great cave, its entrance jagged like the teeth of a beast, its depths swallowing all light.
"This is the Breathing Hollow," Isolde said, dismounting. "The Earth King waits deep below."
Cassian remained outside with the horses, his cursed eyes too vulnerable in the cave's shifting shadows. Lila glanced back at him before stepping into the mouth of the hollow.
The descent was long and steep. Moss clung to damp walls, and the ground pulsed faintly with life. As she moved deeper, warmth began to rise from below, like the breath of a sleeping giant. The air smelled of stone, roots, and something older than time.
Her footsteps echoed as she entered a massive subterranean chamber, its ceiling lost in darkness. Bioluminescent fungi glowed across the stone, casting hues of green and gold.
At the center, seated upon a throne of vine-wrapped rock, was a massive figure.
He was not like the Wind King, elegant and weightless. No, the Earth King was the land itself: moss-covered muscle, bark for skin, and amber eyes glowing like molten veins through stone.
"You have come," he rumbled, his voice like boulders grinding together.
Lila bowed. "I want to learn. To awaken the part of me connected to your element."
He regarded her for a long moment, then stood, massive and deliberate, every step shaking the cavern. "Then you must endure the Trial of Root and Stone."
Before she could speak, the floor cracked beneath her feet. Vines erupted, coiling around her legs and dragging her downward.
She screamed as the earth swallowed her.
Then, darkness.
End of chapter 17