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He cleared his throat, descending the steps to stand beside her. He was still craving her warmth and her lips, but now they had to run and hide again. All he wanted was a warm meal and to take his woman to bed. To rest without having to worry about whether they’d have to fight for their lives and freedom. When would they get another reprieve like this one?
“How long does Devon have?” Nava asked, worry etched on her face.
“A couple of days. A week at most.” Orion rubbed his tired eyes.
“We need to leave soon, don’t we?”
“Yes. Soon. As soon as Devon is ready.” Orion stared at the humming spheres that hung from the trees before them. Dozens of colorful globes spelled by the Society of Crows to act as alarm bells if someone broke in. The scent of magic swirled around them in a cloud of spice as they watched the chiming bells vibrate at a high speed.
“What if they get here before that?” Nava asked.
“They won’t make it here so fast. We have at least a few hours,” Orion reassured her, although he wasn’t certain he believed it himself. “There are steps they need to follow before sending someone over. First, they have to find out which Society safe house was breached. This rarely takes long. Then they have to check what triggered the alarm in the first place. That way, they know who to send here. And then they need to travel, which will take some time…”
The movement of the spheres was far too rapid to be visible to the human eye. However, Arkimedes could trace its lingering echo, a faint blur that encapsulated each orb. The sound should have been one of breaking glass, but instead, it was the blaring song of wind chimes.
“How will they get here?”
“My father doesn’t allow the Corvus to portal into the city anymore. They would have to come to the outskirts of the actual safe house.” His ears ached from the noise that seemed to be building the longer they stood out here. “They have hidden passages all over Caztian.” He sighed. “The truth is, I really don’t know how long we have.”
“You keep using that word. Corvus. Is it another way to refer to the Crows?” Her voice managed to both soothe his growing dread and set his nerve endings aflame.
“The Society doesn’t consider all Crows to be part of the Corvus. Think of them as the elite. They send selected members with enhanced skills to eradicate problems quickly. The hope is that the Corvus deals with it before they have to send a larger group.”
“Enhanced skills?” Nava swallowed, fear clear in her eyes. “You mean they are more powerful?”
Orion tilted his head with a shrug. He couldn’t lie, but he also didn’t want to add to her nervousness.
Of course, Nava read him with ease. Her face lost its beautiful flush from before. She reached for his hand with clammy fingers. “How many Corvus do they usually send?”
“They usually sent us in pairs, Bee.”
Her eyes widened. “You and Devon were Corvus? Was that why they sent you to my house ten years ago?”
“We were.” Devon’s voice came from behind them. Orion turned around to see him stepping out of the manor, bracing himself against the doorframe. “Once upon a time, before everything turned to shit.”
Was he referring to their current situation? Or how things had changed after they’d found Nava?
“You shouldn’t be up.” Orion clicked his tongue. But if he was…perhaps that meant he’d gathered enough strength already to leave. Orion craned his neck, searching for the portal disguised as a wall fountain. He could have sworn it had been in that wall over there, surrounded by the ivy. Perhaps it was too far away to make out…
“I created this mess, so I need to get us out of it,” Devon said. Some color had returned to his face. The old potions were clearly doing the trick.
Nava stared at the nothingness of the misty grounds around them, her eyes glazed over, as if she was stuck in her thoughts. “When you came to my home, back in the Iron City, did my mother trigger an alarm like this?” If her trembling lips weren’t already giving away her nerves, the painful tightening of her grip around his hand certainly did a fine job of it.
“Celeste set off all the alarms. Her, your father, and their little team burned establishments from people who were loyal to the Crows. She killed members and freed convicted criminals.” Devon wheezed before a cough rattled his chest.
“You are lying…”
Did Devon understand the concept of self-preservation? Clearly not, not even after poisoning himself. The distant buzzing of bees circled him as Nava’s grip tightened even further.
Orion hissed in pain, pulling his hand from her grasp. “You’re going to break my hand.”
“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “So where do we go from here?”
Where was the gate? Orion walked along the path, toward the fountain they’d used to enter. There. What was that? The bowl that had previously jutted from the wall lay in pieces all over the pathway, partially hidden by the tall grasses around them. Gooseflesh erupted all over his skin as dread flooded him, overwhelming his senses with cold shivers.
“The fountain is gone. They’ve trapped us here.” He kicked at the debris on the ground, his power surging in a bright flare. The piece of concrete bounced off the ivy-covered stone wall and landed somewhere he couldn’t see. The edges of the safe house grounds wavered with an invisible shield of power.
Orion brought his hand to his temple and tried to massage the blinding pain away. Meanwhile, Nava inched forward, likely sensing the panic that gripped him.
