We moved in near silence—no torches, just the glow of faintly charged stones embedded in the walls, casting everything in a sickly blue light. The rebels had carved these paths generations ago, or so they claimed. Smugglers. Spies. Ghosts.
Now it was our turn.
Lia led the way, moving like she knew every crack and bend. She’d warned us the main caves had been co-opted by Vael’s acolytes. Which meant we had to stay quiet.
And we had to be ready to fight a group of possibly very powerful magicborn cultists.
So… no pressure.
I missed Mads – I hoped she was okay. Somehow that little earth mage had become my best friend and without her next to me I felt kind of alone.
But then I remembered Elle.
What she must be going through…
I’d drink all the fucking sewage in this godsforsaken tunnel if it meant she could be free.
She was so close now.
I kept one hand on the hilt of my blade, the other brushing the wall for bearings. Behind me, the two rebel scouts barely made a sound. Their names were Rigg, a grizzled bear of a man with a long straggly beard, and Toma, a thin, sharp-eyed man who smelled like mould and bad decisions. He hadn’t spoken a word since we met. Rumour was, Vael took his tongue a few years back.
We had to trust they knew the route.
“We’re close,” Rigg murmured. “Feel that? Water’s turning warm.”
Great. We are wading in the fucking piss now.
We were trying to break into the tower.
I nodded. My pulse was steady, but just under the surface, every muscle was coiled tight.
We reached a fork. One tunnel curved up toward the cellars, the other down—toward something Rigg had only calledthe drowned gate.
I didn’t like the sound of that.
Before I could ask, a boot scraped stone behind us.
I spun, blade half-drawn—then stopped.
“Easy,” a voice said. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally gut your backup.”
Phoenix.
He stepped into view, cloak dusted with grit, eyes calm—but blazing beneath the surface.
“Phoenix!” I ran to him and grabbed his arm. “Did you find –“
“Find who?”
Another voice.
Slade.
He stepped out from the shadows behind Phoenix, just as dry and unbothered as ever.
I froze, staring at him.
He raised an eyebrow. “Did you lose someone?”
