The torch in Eira's hand flickered nervously, its flame struggling against the damp air of the tunnels. Shadows stretched across the walls, twisting and writhing as if alive. Sophie held her breath, the weight of silence pressing heavy against her ears. Every step they took echoed back at them a dozen times, as though the stone itself whispered their trespass.
"We shouldn't be here," Eira whispered, her voice trembling. "If His Majesty finds us—"
"He already thinks I don't belong here," Sophie muttered, pushing forward. "At least now I might find answers."
She ran her fingers along the stone walls as she walked. They were damp, uneven, cold to the touch, yet they seemed to hum faintly, as if alive with memory. Sophie's heart pounded in her chest. Since the moment she had arrived in this strange realm, the palace had seemed to breathe around her, holding secrets in its walls. Now, as she descended deeper into the forgotten places, she felt closer than ever to uncovering them.
Eira hesitated before following. "Answers to what? Seraphina is gone. That's all anyone knows."
Sophie stopped, turning to look at her. The torchlight caught the determination in her eyes. "That's not all. People don't just vanish without leaving traces. Not queens. Not in a palace like this. Someone knows what happened to her, and I think she left something behind."
Eira looked away, her fingers tightening on the torch. "If she did… it was never meant to be found."
They walked on, the air growing colder. Water dripped steadily from cracks above, the sound counting time in the darkness. At the end of the tunnel, the passage split into two. Sophie crouched, brushing her hand across the dusty floor. Footprints. Fresh ones. Her breath hitched.
"Someone's been here," she whispered.
Eira swallowed hard, her torchlight dancing. "Do you think it's her?"
Sophie shook her head slowly. "I don't know. But if not her… then someone else is moving through these tunnels."
The words sent a shiver down both their spines.
They chose the left passage, its ceiling lower and walls narrower, forcing them to walk in single file. Sophie's mind raced as they crept forward. She remembered Kael—no, Alexander—standing so rigid at dinner, his eyes sharp and watchful. He had tested her, challenged her every word. She had felt it then: suspicion. Now she feared he would not forgive this intrusion.
But her need for truth outweighed fear.
The tunnel eventually widened, opening into a forgotten chamber. Dust coated everything, but Sophie's eyes went wide. Stone shelves lined the walls, stacked with half-rotted scrolls and weathered tomes. A faint draft whistled through cracks in the ceiling, stirring the dust into shimmering motes around them.
"It's a library," Sophie breathed. "An old one."
Eira stepped carefully into the room, her face pale. "This is… forbidden. These records were sealed after Seraphina vanished. The king ordered it."
Sophie turned sharply. "Then why seal them, unless there's something here he doesn't want anyone to know?"
Her fingers brushed across a stack of scrolls, brittle beneath her touch. She unrolled one carefully, coughing as dust puffed into her face. The script was elegant, curling across the parchment in ink faded with time.
"What does it say?" Eira asked, peering over her shoulder.
Sophie squinted, the words half-legible. "It's… prophecy. Something about a queen of two worlds, her arrival heralding ruin or salvation."
Eira crossed herself instinctively, as if warding off evil. "That's the story the elders whisper. They said Seraphina vanished because she was tied to it. But no one dared confirm it."
Sophie's chest tightened. A queen of two worlds. She thought of the night she had stumbled into this realm, mistaken for a woman she had never met. Was it coincidence—or destiny tightening its noose around her neck?
Before she could ask more, a noise drifted through the tunnels. The sound of boots, steady and deliberate.
Her stomach dropped.
"They're searching for us," Eira hissed, eyes wide with panic.
Sophie's heart slammed against her ribs. She could almost feel him—Alexander. His presence was heavy, commanding, the kind of presence that filled a room even when he wasn't in it. Now, in these narrow passages, the thought of him discovering her here made her blood run cold.
She shoved the scroll back into place, pulling Eira toward the far wall. "There must be another exit. We can't let them catch us."
Together, they pushed through the room, searching desperately. Sophie ran her hands along the walls until her fingers caught on a ridge. A seam. She pressed harder, and with a groan of stone, part of the wall shifted inward, revealing a narrow staircase spiraling upward.
"This way!" she whispered urgently.
Eira hesitated, glancing back toward the growing sound of pursuit. Torches were already flickering at the end of the tunnel.
They slipped into the passage, pulling the wall closed behind them just as voices echoed through the chamber they had left.
Through the crack, Sophie glimpsed them: soldiers with torches, and behind them—Alexander. His figure was unmistakable, broad-shouldered and commanding, his eyes scanning every corner as if the darkness itself would yield its secrets to him.
Her breath caught. She had never seen him like this, a storm contained in human form. Every inch of him radiated control, fury, and something she dared not name.
He stepped toward the shelves, his gloved hand brushing the same scroll she had just held. For a moment, she feared he could feel her presence in the stones.
Eira tugged at her sleeve, urging her upward. Sophie tore her gaze away and followed, climbing the narrow steps in silence. Each creak of stone felt deafening, each breath too loud.
Only when they emerged into another corridor—this one high above the palace gardens—did they dare breathe again.
Sophie leaned against the wall, her chest heaving. "That was too close."
Eira clutched her torch with trembling fingers. "The king will know someone has been in those records. He'll know it was us."
Sophie wiped sweat from her brow, forcing her breath to steady. Her mind spun with the words she had read: a queen of two worlds.
She wasn't Seraphina. She wasn't a queen. She didn't even belong here. And yet the pieces were aligning in ways she couldn't deny.
Eira whispered, almost to herself, "If it's true… if you are the one the prophecy speaks of…"
"Don't," Sophie said sharply, shaking her head. "I don't want to hear it."
But deep down, where fear and longing tangled in her heart, she couldn't silence the thought.
Perhaps she hadn't stumbled here by accident at all.