Acc to the court chemists, he was not, in fact, joking. Giant spiders are on in caves and tunnels under all of Veilsung.

  "They're known as gss spiders," Nora expins to me eagerly. "Their carapaces are eransparent, so you see right through to their innards. Usually they e up to about knee height, so 'giant' is a retive term. Most adults of the se races are too big to o worry about being preyed on, but they'll happily eat anyone around or uhree feet tall.”

  I’ve broken out into a cold sractically from the first word of her description. I don’t hate spiders or anything. Far from it – I think they’re fasating aiful in a strange sort of way. I just don’t want them on or near me. And bigger spiders move faster, so they could uedly run up and touch me faster, so they o stay further away. That’s all. In a cave, though I’d be forced into much closer quarters than I would like. I’m not looking forward to this.

  “Are they venomous?” I ask nervously.

  “No,” Nora says with a dismissive wave of her hand, “not enough to kill you anyway. Just enough to hurt for a couple hours.”

  That sounds like a “yes” to me, actually, but I don’t tradict her.

  “We have a repellent that keeps them at a distance,” says another chemist named Ulli. “They won’t even look at you, let aloe you.”

  “If you happen to see ohat’s already dead,” says Nora, “you should bring back its body, or at least snap off a leg or two. The exoskeletons be carved into durable and noive utensils and tainers. They ibalize their dead very quickly, though, so you may not see any.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I say while screaming internally. Giant ibal spiders. All right.

  Besides the spider repelnt, they have a lot of other potions and gadgets that they use while searg caves fredients. Evidently caves are rich with pnt, animal, and fungal life that have unique chemical uses. Veilsung is actually quite ahead iudy of chemistry for this reason. While loading me up with supplies, they go on and on about all the research they have done in caves across the try. I learn about a type of fungus that has only ever been found in one cave which has properties that reduce the gravitational pull on those who e it, but is also exceedingly toxibsp; Also, a snail that creates two shells in different locations and withdraw into one and pop out of the other. The chemists have figured out how to take secretions from its body and apply them to small tainers, linking two together so that messages be sent instantaneously as long as the intended recipient has the other box. I listen with rapt attention, even though I sincerely hope I don’t run into many of the more dangerous things they’re talking about.

  Some things they hand me have obvious uses. I reize a pass immediately, and a long measuring tape to help me with charting the caves as I go. Ulli also hands me something called a eter, which is for measuring the angle of the cave floor and should help me keep track of where we are vertically, as long as I do a little math. Not looking forward to that, but I’m capable of it. I’m also given a special hat uses a specific oil.

  “It’s mixed with oils from frost mint pnts, which burn cold,” Nora expins. “You hahe ntern even after it’s been burning for a long time that way. Ially, if you ever get hot in your room, we give you some frost mint to burn in your firepce to cool it down.”

  Ohing that scares me is when they hand me what looks like a jar full of dead bugs.

  “They’re choke beetles,” Ulli says. “They thrive in caves that have air that is poisonous to most living things. When taken out of their caves, they go into a dormant state, but when surrounded by bad air again, they wake back up. They are biolumi and make shrill whistling noises, so it’s hard not to notice wheart to revive. It’s essentially the opposite of a ary in a ine.”

  “That’s amazing,” I say. “It’s probably a huge pain to collect them.”

  “Actually, if you notiy that look dead on the cave floor, then it’s a good sign you’re ing up on a dangerous pocket of air. It’s not hard to just scoop up the dormant ones and turn around.”

  I specifically ask if there’s anything they have that would mask my st. Even though Rhys told me that there was no sign that anyone has been going through that entrao the tunnel, if it does end up eg to the catabs where people have beely meeting up, I don’t want my distinct huma in the area to tip anyone off that I’ve been sneaking around. They hand me a tainer of thin lotion that I have to rub all over my body including my hair. Apparently, rather than erasing my st, it has a smell that’s analogous to white noise, sort of making it impossible to pinpoint or distinguish from the background. They reassure me that they have plenty of it, so I shouldn’t be afraid to use as much as I need.

  In addition to everything the chemists set me up with, I send for some clothes that are more appropriate for tunnel exploration. Dresses aren’t going to cut it. Even the clothing I have from when I was with the Warblers isirely suited for crawling through the dirt and dust – it’s not durable enough. I’m going to hick pants, breathable shirts, and good boots to get around down there.

  Lastly, I ask someoo help me source the various rulers and other doohickeys needed for mapmaking. I’m not pnning on going crazy and trying to be perfectly accurate, but I want to at least be able to tell if a tunnel loops ba itself, and maybe eve a good idea of where I am iion to the mapped portions of the catabs. I have a big sketchbook to take notes with, and I’m getting rger sheets of paper to make actual maps on.

  It takes a few days for me to get all set up, and during that short time, a somewhat irritating development takes pce.

  I’m in my bedroom in the evening, sitting at my window and watg the tail end of the su while reading about mapmaking, when I hear a knoy door. I expect it to be Vizs, who sometimes es by in the evenings just to hang out after her tasks for the day are finished, but unfortunately, it is not.

  “Good evening,” Khysmet greets when I open the door.

  “Um. Hi,” I respond uhusiastically. He’s never sought me out after dinner before, so I’m a little fused as to why he’s here now. “Do you… need something?”

  “Not particurly,” he says.

  I wait for him to tih some kind of expnation, but he does not. After a moment of silehough, he speaks again.

  “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  I purse my lips. “And why would I do that?”

  “e now, Cat, it’s only polite,” he chides me gently. “Also, I might have something important to tell you that only be said behind closed doors.”

  I narrow my eyes skeptically. “Do you?”

  “You’ll have to let me in and find out.”

  I sigh and roll my eyes, but I open the door for him anyway. Might as well see what he wants.

  He strolls nontly into my room, examining the decor as he goes.

  “Hmm,” he says, “your couch isn’t very big. I’ll have it exged for something more fortable.”

  “Uh. Sure, that would be nice,” I say. I’m not really sure why he brought that up.

  He takes a seat on the couch that I do have and looks at me expetly. When I don’t do anything besides stare at him with a fused expression on my face, he pats his thigh as though inviting a dog to jump onto the furniture.

  I flush bright red. “I’m not sitting on your p.”

  He rolls his eyes. “Oh now you’re shy. I get it, sunshine, you climb all over me in public, but once we’re behind closed doors, you suddenly feel it would be i.”

  “I’m not sh– Don’t call me–” I stutter, unsure art of that extremely objeable statement to address first. “It was a means to an end, that’s all!”

  “A means to the end of sleeping with me, right?” he finishes. “Well, I have some good news for you about what may happen if you sit in my p now.”

  “No,” I correct, “a means to the end of t you. And it worked very well, by the way, if you recall.”

  "So e torture me some more. Please?"

  I sigh deeply. I wouldn’t particurly mind sitting in his p – in my ret experience, I’ve found it to be rather fortable, in fact – but I don’t want to just do what he wants. I decide to try tain some sense of agen this sario. I y arms and look down my him.

  “Beg more and I’ll sider it,” I instruct.

  “Please e sit on me, Cat,” he says obediently. “Take pity on me, I beg of you. I so desperately desire your touch.”

  “Wow, that was so pathetibsp; Aren’t you supposed to be a king or something? You really shouldn’t embarrass yourself like that.”

  He smiles at me as I e over and curl up across his waiting thighs. His arms around my waist, and even though he specifically asked me to torture him just now, I allow it. I lean my shoulder against his chest and he rests his cheek against my cvicle. It’s nice.

  “So,” I ask, “is this the only reason you’re here?”

  I feel his smirk against my skin. “More or less,” he says. “Since you’ve now responded positively to my advances, I’m finding it signifitly more difficult to resist the urge to seek your pany in the evenings. So I figured, why resist?”

  “I guess…” I say hesitantly, “I wouldn’t mind seeing you at night. You know, from time to time.”

  “I'm gd to hear you're ameo the idea. As such, from now on I want you in your bedroom by eight eaight,” he orders. “I don't want to have to e looking for you when I want to see you."

  I scoff and pull away from his chest to gre at him.

  "Are you serious?" I say. "I'm not going to follow a fug curfew. Why don’t you try that again, and ask his time.”

  He meets my gre submissively, takes a deep breath, and asks again as instructed.

  “I… would like to be able to locate you easily in the evenings," he says. "If you could please try to either be in your bedroom at night arou, or at least send word to me of where yoing to be… I would appreciate the courtesy.”

  I give him a patronizing pat on the cheek. “Much better. I suppose I keep you apprised of my location. If I want you to be able to fihat is.”

  “Is that a challenge, sunshine? I’ll be able to find you wherever you try to hide.”

  “It’s a big castle, your majesty. I’d like to see you try.”

  So now I’m going to have to tend with Khysmet calling o odd hours of the night. It’s a mild invenience, as I rather enjoyed my freedom and solitude in the evenings, but it’s not something I’m dreading as much as I would have a couple months ago. Somehow, betweeing to know him better and learning that I have more power over him than I previously realized, I have begun to actually enjoy parts of our time together. He’s still stantly trying to get under my skin, but he also will do pretty muything I ask of him, and I’m not shy about asking. If he wants to swing by a few nights a week to snuggle and fuck, I live with that.

  The day after , I’m finally set up with all the equipment necessary to make my first foray down into the tunnels. I’ve packed and repacked everything a couple times, smeared the st-c lotion on myself head to foot, taken the giant spider repelnt, and practiced lighting the ntern with my eyes closed in case we o extinguish it and relight it in total darkness. I’m running circles around Rhys as we head to the tunranbsp; He doesn't seem as enthusiastic as I am, but I know better than to assume that means he's ed.

  "Have you ever explored a cave before, Rhys?" I ask as we desd the stairs around the water tower. "I know they're super on everywhere under Veilsung."

  "When I retty young, I used to sneak into a cave close to my house with some friends," he says. "Our parents all warned us to stay away, but obviously that just made it more exg. We never got that far, though. I didn't want to be down there alone, so when someone else chied out, I would follow them back outside. Before I could vineoo go in really deep with me, they'd all lost i in cave exploration."

  I grin toothily at him. "Then you're in luck today, because I guarantee I'm not going to chi out before you."

  He shoots me a look tinged ever so slightly with doubt.

  "I'll believe you more after seeing how you react to the first giant spider," he says.

  "Hey," I protest, "I might piss myself and will probably cry, but I'm not leaving the damn tunnel on at of some eight-legged fucks that aren't even going to eat me."

  I'm boung on the balls of my feet as we get to the door. We light one of our nterns before opening it. A solid quarter of the supplies we're carrying sists of just extra ntern oil, much more than we need for the two to four hours of exploration that I promised Khysmet we would limit ourselves to. I'm not taking any ces, though. If somethio happen that would force us to stay down there longer, I don't want to run the risk of having to find our way ba total darkness.

  I push gently on the se of wall that I know swings in and walk into the tunnel behind it, holding the door open for Rhys to follow behind. When the door swings closed again, I am in awe of just how quickly the darkness swallows our small light. Beyond the reach of our nterns, the tunnel vanishes into nothingness, as though the hundred feet of illumiunnel is all that exists in the universe. A thrill runs through me, and the hairs on my arms and the bay neck stand straight up. I ihe stale smell of rocks and dirt, run my hand along the cool stone wall, ahe narrow tunnel close in around me like a swallowing throat. I pull the long coil of measuring tape out of my backpad drop the end on the ground.

  “Okay,” I say. “Let’s fug do this.”

  It doesn’t take long before it bees clear that this isn’t going to be an easy process.

  We run into a fork iunnel not two hundred feet in, where it separates into three paths. I take note in my sketchbook the exact distance from the entrao this interse and measure the angle of the ground, which has been on a steady slope the whole way so far. I’ll do the math ter. Iingly, at this interse, the path that curves to the left takes a signifit downward slope. I have a feeling that this is desigo fuhe runoff from a water tower brea that dire. My gut says that it will lead either outside or to an underground river. We’re not going that way first.

  I take us down the middle path, making note of the angles of the brang path and how they correspond to the needle on my pass, along with distinguishiures of the interse that will help identify the path to the exit. A couple hundred feet further down, there is ahree-lit, and I once again reeasurements of all kinds and notate a sketch of the angles of these tunnels. Again, I take us down the ter path.

  Gradually, this tunnel hooks to the left, slopily downhill at the same slight slope that has characterized the path we've taken so far. Suddenly, it opens up inter, more natural looking cavern and I see my first giant spider sprawled high on the wall, legs spanning about six feet across, transparent body casting a freaky shadow oone behind it. The cobwebs in this room are thick, but there seems to be a clear path through them.

  Before we go in, I pull up the measuring tape and take my measurements and my notes. Then I swallow thickly and motion for Rhys to go in front of me, which he kindly does, brandishing the spear he brought in case the spider decides to try its luck with eating us.

  There seems to be only oher exit to this room, aunnel in the opposite wall, which if we were to gh it, would take us within fiftee of the spider. I nod to Rhys that I'm ready to go, aarts walking us across the room. I look around for other exits along the way, but there are none. I'm doing a good job of not pissing myself or even g when, right when we're almost at the other side, suddenly the spider moves and I scream at the top of my lungs.

  It only twitches, though. Then it's still once more. Rhys leads us the rest of the way through the caver without the spider moving again. When we're a suitable distance down the unnel, I, while hyperventiting slightly, scribble my notes about the size of the cavern and the presence of unreasonably sized araid life in it.

  "I'm impressed, Miss Catarina," Rhys says while I write. "You didn't even cry, let alone piss yourself."

  I snort. Rhys seems livelier dowhan I've ever seen him. He rarely cusses in front of me, and his face is quite a bit more expressive than usual. It's o see.

  "I haven't pissed myself yet," I correbsp; "It's possible that twenty minutes from now, my brain will finally process what just happened and I'll faint on the spot."

  We tinue dowunnel, which is still hooking to the left and starting to go slightly uphill. I keep an eye on my pass and recur measurements. The interse we e upon gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  "We've already been here," I say. "The tunnel doubled back."

  Rhys furrows his brow. "You're sure? How you tell?"

  "I'm pretty sure my measurements add up. I'm going to sit here and do a little math real quick, but I'm fairly certain we're at the same altitude as we were before. Plus, I reize those three rocks in the er there," I say and point to a spot on the floor.

  I sit down to do my calcutions and think for a bit. The math isn't precise, but it's close enough to vince me that this definitely is the same interse. This s me deeply, because if the path is already doubling ba itself, who knows how many times it will do this down the line? If I didn't happen tnize an innocuous roation, I wouldn't have been sure that this was the same pce as before. Down the road though, we're probably going to run into a lot of interses. I'm sure they will all start to blur together eventually.

  "Rhys," I say, "I have some bad news. We have to return to the surface for today."

  He looks clearly disappointed, which is kind of funny to see on someone whose expression is so often inscrutable. I crify before he pin.

  "I want to have markers made that we drop at these interses. Little signs that say A, B, C, etc cetera, to bel the ones we've already been to before. ut the sigo the tuhat is the most direct way back to the entrance."

  He nods slowly. "I guess that makes sense. It does seem like this pce might end up being pretty maze-like. We don't want to get lost."

  "Don't worry," I reassure him, "we'll be ing back before you know it."