I barely make it to the edge of the roof before cards and arrows fly. The other roof I’m jumping to slants at the last second due to a Stellis’s card work. Too steep. I try to find purchase and slip on the slate tiles. I fall but manage to catch a windowsill and pull myself inside.
The man within lobs a book at me that I barely dodge in time.Is this whole city against me?
“Don’t throw books!” I shout and dash through his house and into another. Then down an alley.
I run and keep running—heading toward the one place where I know they’ll never find me. The one place where I know the men and women won’t help the Stellis or enforcers: Rot Hollow.
Crossing the main street nearly gets me caught. I’m tackled and thrown. I roll, barely avoiding an Eight of Swords. I cast my last Tenof Swords to thwart another. More enforcers and more cards. So many I can barely keep up as the battle thickens. I must get away, and soon. My deck is thinning—I didn’t exactly prepare to do battle with half the city.
Finally, I find my opening and dash down an alley. Through the back roads at the far edge of Silver Street. I know every nook and cranny to duck into while they pass. Every little safe passage through the rubble of long-collapsed buildings.
Finally, I slow and strain my ears. There is no sound.
Finally,I stop.
I sag against a wall, catching my breath. Bruises and scratches dot my body; my heart is still racing. But I don’t see or hear anyone.
What do I do now?
That question rings between my ears. Eclipse City is no longer somewhere I can turn to. The tunnels can’t be trusted. The Stone Citadel has fallen. They know my fake identity now, so I can’t go back to the academy as Sophie Veillgar.
There’s only one place left in this world that I feel safe. The one place that stands against the chaos and has yet to crumble. The one place that has been there for me from the first moment I was allowed inside of it. Pressing my eyes closed, I suck in a shuddering breath.
Home.
“Kaelis, please,” I whisper into the cool night air, not even knowing what I’m asking of him. My prince. My destiny.
Something in me knows, above all else, that if I make it to his apartments, they’ll be as safe as I’ve always known them. So I push forward, staying along narrow alleyways and the paths underneath rocky overhangs. The enforcers are still searching; I can hear them in the distance. But the few that dare draw near are impeded by those who reside here. Buckets of refuse are “accidentally” dumped on heads with meager apologies. Men amble in the streets, slowing them down. It doesn’t matter who I am or what I did, no one in Rot Hollow would help an enforcer.
Eventually, the stone pathways give way to barren rock and dead winter grasses. I’m nearly to the mausoleum of the old graveyard that houses the secret entry to the academy.
I weigh my options as I approach. Even this passage is compromised. I either go across the top of the bridge for all to see or risk the tunnel. Before I can make a decision, a hooded figure emerges from the shadows of the mausoleum I was just heading toward.
I slowly approach, hand on my deck, hoping it’s Kaelis. But I know it’s not even before he lifts his chin and the shadows no longer collect on his face.
“Ravin.”
“Relax your magic and leave your cards where they are. We both know that neither of us will be besting the other without tearing down half this city.”
“Well then, if that’s the case, why don’t you put your cards down as well, and we’ll both go on our way.” I don’t move a muscle. Neither does he. “I thought so.”
“Surrender. You’ve lost. I have the vessel. I have the golden cards.” The second he says it, I imagine Kaelis’s room ransacked. Did he find their hiding place? Does he actually have them?
“You’re lying,” I counter, trying to feel him out.
“You wish I am.” He remains still.
“You’re a desperate man trying to cling to the one thing that could make youreal.”
Ravin snarls. But he recovers his composure. There’s something almost feral to him tonight. Wild desperation makes his movements jerky, unnatural, like a puppet with too few strings. I can use this to my advantage if I’m thoughtful. But at no point does he reach for any of his pockets. If he has the golden cards, he’s not trying to protect them.
“Let me make the wish, and I’ll let you live. If you want to fuck a prince so badly, I will gladly offer my cock. If you want a crown, I can give you one in my new world. I am the crown prince, after all, and fortunately for you, I’m recently widowed.”
“I would rather die horribly in every world before I even so much asthinkabout your cock.”
“Reconsider this; my brother is the literal spawn of evil. His perversion runs so deep that his very blood is cursed. My father attempted to stymie the impact on our world with his wish. But he could onlyaccomplish so much.” His eyes shine, and the way he speaks tells me that he believes what he says to be the absolute truth. “If you give Kaelis the World, evil will be unleashed in a way we cannot comprehend.”
“Why should I believe you?”
