'Could be. But where do we look for her?' he asked, exasperated. He scanned the place around them. Dull, gray waters surrounded them. The stench of blood and putrid meat filled their noses. The fish had resumed swimming as if nothing had happened. Ileus was surprised at the weak security Rhys had. He was expecting his own serpents to slither around the periphery for protection. 

His mother had rightly told him about Rhys—he was not a very sharp ruler. He ruled with brute force, but without brains. As they walked further, the place seemed deserted. Where the hell were all the serpent shifters? Or was it that no one visited their kingdom and so the protection was so weak? And if this was then how come his mother wasn't able to find Iona? This was one of the places she had sent her people to. Things were so odd that it confounded him. 

'Let's start looking at the prisons,' Kaizan said. 'We might be able to bribe a guard or someone to find Iona's exact location. 

Since their shimmery lights were too much of a distraction, Ileus cast the invisibility spell over all of them before they penetrated the periphery. That was one of the reasons why the fish couldn't detect their presence. 

As they moved further inside, the darkness around them seemed to disperse. Pale blue light came through water as if being filtered through a sieve. They followed the light and soon came across what must be a town. Serpent shifters with half human and half serpent bodies walked around in what seemed like a busy square. 

Ileus' breath became ragged. 'Take to the sides,' he ordered them and they all quickly walked to a corridor that was enclosed in darkness. He walked towards the outer side of the square and led the group to investigate the prisons, but none were found. Irritated as hell, they came back to the square and hid in the darkness of the corridor. 'Where are the prisons?' he lashed out his anger with a punch at a pillar. It cracked under the impact and creaked. 

'Ileus!' Kaizan scolded him. 

A passerby paused there and when he didn't see anything, he just slithered away. 

'Where is she?' Ileus asked, annoyance laced in his voice. 

Guarhal walked towards the darkness inside the corridor. He realized that the corridor was a start of abandoned rooms. He went further inside and was taken aback when he saw bones littered everywhere. Aidan and Tadgh followed him in. 'These are their dumpsters!' Tadgh laughed. 'Bastards, they must be chewing the meat and throwing the bones here.' 

'But I heard that they swallowed the prey whole!' Guarhal said. 

'Only when they are in their serpent form.' 

They walked further in. 'Fuck, it is horrible!' said Guarhal and was about to turn back when his gaze caught a very faint stream of cerulean light emanating from somewhere deep inside. 'Wait!' he said and pointed to the source of the light. 'Call Ileus and Kaizan!' 

Aidan and Tadgh were shocked when they looked at the light. Excitement generated. Could that be where Iona was kept? So carelessly? Aidan communicated this to Ileus through their mental bond. He came inside quickly, his skin prickling with nervousness. Was that Iona? Was she still in the casket? Why were the cerulean lights still shimmering? He walked ahead of all of them, navigating his way through a pile of bones. He stopped in front of a room, which was glowing with the light, which seemed to come from the center. The lights were so bright that they couldn't see what was there in the center. 

Ileus felt the need to move as his limbs were driven with anxiety. The anxiety was coursing through his veins as if it hitched a ride on his blood. He couldn't ignore the bile that was rising in his throat. He couldn't ignore the emotions that overwhelmed his brain. It was like a dream. He walked closer. Was she still unconscious? Did they freeze her? Has she grown big? He thought tears stung his eyes. He prowled closer to the casket. It was placed over an old, weathered rock. 

How would he take her out of here? Should he make her conscious? Every passing second, his anger against Maple and Rhys multiplied by a hundred. He wanted to rip apart Rhys and he knew what he would do with Maple.

His group followed him closely behind. When they reached near the casket, suddenly he was stopped by Guarhal, who placed his hand on his shoulder. 'Let me open the coffer, my lord,' he offered. 

Ileus growled. But Kaizan also said, 'Yes Guarhal, you may open it first.' Who knew that this could be a trap? They had to take precautions and were very sharp when it came to protecting the prince. 

Ileus pursed his lips and let Guarhal go in the front. The cerulean lights around the casket were too bright and they knew it was to protect Iona from the water. Opening the casket would mean that the water would gush inside with a lot of force and it would crush her lungs. As soon as Guarhal reached within a meter of the coffer, he realized that the lights emulated the ones they were surrounded with, which meant that opening the casket wouldn't be a problem. Strangely enough, there were no locks. He walked near it and opened the locks. As soon as he opened the cover of the casket, a thick beam of cerulean lights escaped. 

'Come back!' Ileus shouted, panic laced in his voice.

Guarhal frowned at first. He looked at Ileus and then… he shrieked. The blue lights entered his right ear to come out from his left ear, causing immense pain. His eyes turned the same cerulean as the lights. He grabbed his hair and tried to back, but the lights tried to suck him inside. He fought hard against it. Ileus and others tried to pull him but the lights lashed at them like ice whips. Even though they struggled hard to pull him, Guarhal was sucked inside the casket as if he filled a vacuum. The cerulean lights now surrounded his body and he lay unconscious inside the coffer. 

Where was Iona?

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