“What the hell are they doing here?” I muttered, backing away from the grate.
“The resistance?” Slade murmured beside me. “You think it’s another attack?”
“Look at all these people,” I said, scanning the crowd. “If they’re planning another bombing, half the city’s going to die.”
“I’ll check.” Slade closed his eyes, drawing in a breath. “I’m reaching out—searching for charges or triggers.”
A moment passed.
“I don’t feel anything. But that doesn’t mean it’s not here.”
I clenched my fists. “I need a better vantage point.”
My gaze darted across the outer wall until I spotted it—a rusted scaffold, clinging to the side of the building like an afterthought.
“I’m going up.”
“Phoenix—be safe,” Slade said, low but steady.
“You too.” I paused. “Keep lookout. Don’t let anyone near the tunnels. If I spot anything—anything—we act.”
He nodded, disappearing back into shadow as I slipped toward the scaffold, heart pounding.
I climbed the wall, fingers seeking broken stone and rusted lattice. The mist of the night masked my silhouette as I rose toward a narrow ledge above the viewing boxes.
There—through a cracked grate—I saw them.
Ashford lounged in her velvet-draped throne, wine in hand, gaze cool and unreadable. Her slate grey hair was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place. She sat like a queen in her own little kingdom—someone with too much time and far too much power.
Across from her stood a man.
Broad-shouldered. Silver-haired. Cloaked in shadow. Even before I saw his face, I knew.
Vael.
He hadn’t aged. Not a day.
Impossible.
The civil war between him and Ashton had raged for years, and I remembered his name whispered like a curse. His cruelty made Ashton look like a child playing at war. And his devotion to the old gods? Unrelenting. Obsessive.
I’d been just a young Shade when his betrayal was uncovered. I’d been hunting him ever since.
Now here he was.
His blood-red eyes glowed faintly in the low light of the chamber—burning with something far worse than anger.
“We had a deal,” he hissed.
Ashford didn’t flinch. She swirled her wine lazily, lounging deeper into her seat. “Deals change, Vael.”
His voice sharpened. “You told me I could have her, Mara.”
She raised a brow, unimpressed. “That was before I realised what she’s worth. The girl’s pulled in more gold in a day than your entire holy crusade.”
Vael didn’t move, but the air around him darkened.
“Elira is worth more than coin.”
