Aramus remembered what Frey had told him.

“Love,” he said.

The voice did not reply.

“It is not us, the men, the warriors who defeat the Beast. It is the women who have the power. Our job is to protect them,” Aramus surmised.

“Climb,” the voice ordered.

“The couples are all falling in love,” he shared, again feeling not mild relief.

“Ah, the arrogance of a monarch.”

“What does that mean?”

“You are right. Love. Now leave me and climb.”

“What does ‘the arrogance of a monarch’ mean?”

“That you think it is only you, and the others, and the alliances you make, and the emotion you feel for each other, who might defeat the Beast. There will be sacrifice, Sea King. But it will not be to me,” he declared, and Aramus felt his stomach drop. “Now leave me and climb.”

Without him moving his own body, Aramus found himself standing outside the orbs with the roar of the surf pounding in his ears.

It was only then that Aramus remembered the last of what his father told him of this place.

When he was ordered to climb…he climbed.

He turned, and eyes to feet, making certain each step was sure on the slick rock beneath him, he moved as swiftly as he could.

And as the magical light that guided his way started to dim, he did not hasten his steps. He put his left hand to the wall, trailing the stone, some of it coarse and jagged, biting his flesh, and he put one foot in front of the other.

And then again.

And again.

He did not panic as the light kept fading. Panic and haste were killers.

His father had told him, he needed his head about him when he approached the abyss, when he descended into it, when he spoke to the seer and when he left the abyss.

Like every king should be at all times in all things.

When a new light started illuminating the path, he allowed himself a moment to look up.

And saw the moon.

They had left after luncheon. His journey down the chasm was long, but it was not miles.

There should be no moon, not yet.

Time had warped while he was down there.

Even knowing this and how concerned his men surely were, he did not rush to the top.

He called out, “Ahoy!” but took his time, and when he saw his men standing at the edges, gazing down, relief swept through him like a tidal wave.

“Sirens-damn it!” Xi clipped. “You’ve been away hours!”

Oh hell.

Aramus cleared the top, thrilled to be on solid land, and Nav noted, “You’re soaked to the bloody skin. What happened down there?”

At the same time Bondi asked, “Did you get what you were looking for?”

He did not.

But he got something.

He nodded to Bond, moving to his steed, and said, “Let us be away. My wife will worry.”

He was not certain all she had to worry about, though in that moment, the thought of her worry (for she would be as she did not even know he was away from the castle) was outweighing his.