Kai volunteered himself to burn the body. It would give him some time alone to think and figure out what the hells they were going to do next. Things hadn’t exactly been going how he’d expected them to from the moment he and Kestrel had arrived in Ratha.

“Go back to camp,” he told them. “I’ll meet you there when I’m done here.”

Kestrel looked like she wanted to protest, but she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she turned to Seraiah. The poor girl was covered head to toe in the beast’s blood and swaying slightly on her feet. After seeing her reaction to the mangled arm, it surprised him that she was still standing at this point.

“Come on,” Kestrel said, taking her arm, “let’s see if we can get you cleaned up.” Seraiah allowed herself to be led away into the trees.

Once they disappeared from sight, he turned back to examining the beast’s body.

He had meant what he’d said when Seraiah asked him why the beast was here, and if there were more of them. He didn’t know for certain, but he had an idea.

This creature—a Varanem—didn’t belong in the human world. It belonged in his.

He nudged the headless body with the toe of his boot. Never before had he seen one, but he had heard plenty of stories about them.

It was this sort of creature that the elves protected the human world from—the reason they controlled the portals so carefully, and why it was important that they find their missing queen. If this creature had managed to slip through the portal, what else had followed it?

The elves’ power was already weakening without a queen, and it would only be a matter of time before they lost their hold on the portals completely. If that were to happen, this creature would be nothing compared to the chaos that would be unleashed here.

It would be a bloodbath, unlike anything this world had seen before.

He gathered wood while he thought, piling it around the body before lighting it on fire. The scent of cooking meat and burning hair filled the air—not the most pleasant scent. Then again, it was better than the reek of the beast itself.

Kai watched the flames eat at the body. He sincerely hoped that this was the only one to have made it into this forest, but he couldn’t be certain. He remembered the panic that had crossed Seraiah’s face at the idea that there was more than one out there.

What if this wasn’t the one she had seen in her vision of Sterling? What if they hadn’t stopped the vision from happening?

He mentally shook himself. It would do no good to think like this. He needed to figure out what they should do next.

Now that they knew Seraiah’s visions were unreliable, they couldn’t wait around for her to have another one. It might be different if Kestrel’s suggestion of using a focus had produced immediate results, but it hadn’t. Like Seraiah had said, they needed time, which they had precious little of if they meant to find Sterling alive.

Sterling. He turned the name over in his mind.

It was still strange to finally have a name for his lost sister. After all these years, he finally knew what to call her.

The flames burned hot and fast, making quick work of the body. Soon it would be time to head back to camp, and he needed something to tell them. He was the gods-damned Prince, after all—the de facto leader of their little group. If he couldn’t even lead them, how was he supposed to lead a kingdom?

He hadn’t been raised as a leader—the job should never have fallen to him—but here it was just the same, so he had better get used to it.

Squaring his shoulders, he made a decision. They would continue on and head for the nearest city, Baromund, where they’d first heard of a city stuck in endless winter. He suspected the kidnappers would have to pass through there for supplies.

If they were headed for the nearest portal like he thought, they would need to go this way. There was also the possibility that whoever had taken Sterling was acting as a go-between and was planning to hand her off to someone else. Baromund would be a good place to do that.

The last of the flames guttered and went out, leaving behind a pile of ash.

When Kai returned to camp, the horses were already saddled, and Kestrel and Seraiah were waiting.

They looked up expectantly.

“We ride for Baromund,” he announced.

He half expected Kestrel to question him as to his reasoning but was surprised when it was Seraiah who spoke instead.

“Why Baromund?”

He saw she’d gotten most of the blood off and was wearing a new dress—almost identical to her old one.

“We haven’t been able to track them in the woods, even though we know they’re here thanks to your vision. I suspect once they leave the woods, they will be headed for Baromund for supplies.”

She raised one eyebrow. “So, you’re telling me we’re chasing after another hunch?”

He felt his temper rise. This girl had a way of getting under his skin.

He caught Kestrel out of the corner of his eye, struggling not to laugh. She was enjoying this entirely too much.

“Do you have any better ideas?” he asked through gritted teeth.

It was hard not to give in and snap at her like he’d done earlier. He still felt a little bad about calling her crazy—but only slightly. She had used his dead mother against him.

Seraiah shrugged. “Not really, no.” Then she flashed a smile that said she had been baiting him and knew she’d been successful.

He’d obviously left her alone with Kestrel for too long. These two had somehow become friends in the two short days they had spent together, and that was a very dangerous thing for him. “Let’s get moving then,” he growled, striding over to his horse.

Seraiah moved to follow Kestrel, but Kestrel stopped her. “Why don’t you ride with Kai again today?”

It was an innocent enough suggestion, but if he knew anything about his childhood friend, it was that she was up to something. What exactly she was plotting, he didn’t know. Perhaps she meant to annoy him to death.

Seraiah looked none too pleased about the suggestion either, but she didn’t argue. He helped her onto his horse before mounting in front of her. She slid her hands around his waist as he nudged his horse toward Baromund.

Suddenly, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “You smell like burnt hair.”

He turned his head and found her face only inches away from his. “And you smell like beast and blood,” he retorted.

It was true, while she may have cleaned up—the scent still clung to her.

He expected her to at least glare at him, but he was pleasantly surprised when she laughed.

“Guess that makes us a perfectly matched pair, then,” she answered.

He turned back around to focus on the path in front of them. He did not like the direction his thoughts were going in.

A perfectly matched pair, indeed.