“And he can keep an eye on you,” Seregil said, kissing Alec and stroking the hair back from his lover’s brow. “I want to examine that corridor where you disappeared—in daylight.”

“I think I’m up to going,” Alec said, but Seregil placed a gentle hand on his chest when he tried to get up.

“No, talí. Micum and I can handle this. I need you rested and healed.”

Micum rose and settled his sword on his hip. “Don’t worry, Alec. I’ll look after him for you.”

“You have your amulets, don’t you?” asked Alec.

Seregil and Micum both held theirs up.

“Good. Don’t ever take them off.”

“After what we’ve seen and heard?” Micum scoffed. “Just try to get it away from me!”

Chapter 18: Ghosts and Shadows

THE approach to the palace through Menosi looked no different early the next morning than any other time Seregil had seen it, but now he was on guard. Micum was quiet beside him as they walked through the silent streets to the palace.

“How is Baron Alec?” asked one of the young guards as they reached the front door.

“He’s safe back in camp,” Seregil replied, feeling a twinge of unease. Alec was certainly safer there than here, but Seregil was strangely unsettled at being separated though he was in the more dangerous spot.

Retracing their steps last night, Seregil led Micum through a succession of turns, stopping by the royal chamber on the way. There was no sign of supernatural activity in the morning light, no dark figures.

Moving on, they finally came to the long corridor where Alec had disappeared. It was perfectly ordinary looking, but the sight of it sent another uneasy twinge through his belly. As he’d noted the night before, it hadn’t yet been repaired. It was lined on one side by rooms—some with the remains of broken doors hanging on sprung hinges or no doors at all—and on the other with small round windows set high overhead, and dead-ended at a stone wall. Traces of painted plaster still clung to walls here and there, their colors leached by time to faded pastels.

“Where did Alec disappear?” asked Micum.

“It’s hard to say, exactly. It was dark and we couldn’t see how long the corridor was. We’d just reached the turning here when he took off on his own. And then he was just gone. I checked every room from top to bottom, looking for hidden doors and secret passages. I was still at it when the guard brought word that Alec had turned up out front.” He paused, not liking the memory. “I want another look at the wall at the end. It was as if he ran right through it.”

“Two sets of eyes are better than one.”