Gregor’s focus is now solely on Arina, his expression softening. “Maybe, if I had more power, I could do more…” He says the last under his breath, and a lump forms in my throat. I want to tell him that I have power beyond what I’d ever imagined possible and yet…it still hadn’t been enough to keep Arina safe.
“Let’s focus on surviving right now,” Jura says, ever the voice of reason.
“If Ravin is Death, and can kill anyone, from anywhere, why are we all still breathing?” Twino asks as he eyes the swiftly approaching cliffs that support the opulent houses of Fated Heights.
“He must know a person’s full and true name to kill them,” I explain, Mother’s warnings about keeping my true name a secret more present in my mind than ever. “It’s a requirement of his Major. He didn’t know mine, and I assume he knows none of yours. But Silas’s name…he did know.”
“And why not kill you by other means?” he asks.
“Twino, must you bring up our friend’s demise so casually?” Jura sighs.
“I’m not bothered; I know what he’s getting at,” I say. “Ravin deemed me more useful alive.” Thanks to some mysterious Stellis. “I think his motivations mostly centered around using me to get to Kaelis and some sadistic pleasure at the idea that my pain could be used to further torture Arina.” What Silas said about how Ravin would, at times, make him watch the torture of his family will be forever seared into my memory.
“So we’re not all about to die in an instant. That’s good, at least.” Ren’s optimism is hollow.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Jura points to the ridgeline. A pair of enforcers are racing along the streets and jumping low fences onto terraces that line the luxurious buildings.
One points at us, shouting, and cards rise.
Chapter 10
“Damn it,” Gregor grumbles. “They’re always faster than we expect.”
“What’s the plan?” I ask, assuming they have one, as I shift, testing my muscles and feeling out my magic. Everything still hurts. But seeing them come for me—for my sister…that has strength returning. Strength enough to see us through to safety before I collapse for what promises to be a really,reallylong time.
“Back into the tunnels,” Twino says in a begrudging manner that tells me they’ve been using these tunnels with little success for however long I was in Halazar. Arina and I were always the ones who navigated them the few times we took our crew below the city.
Using magic to move the water around and against the vessel, Jura guides us to the cliff face. Tucked within the rock is a large opening—an outflow that thankfully looks like it’s been used only for rainwater. It’s just beyond reaching distance from the water’s surface.
“Hurry,” I urge as Twino shifts in his seat. “They’ll be in range soon.”
“I know.” With an Ace of Coins, Twino makes a stone ladder for us to climb up to the entrance. And no sooner has he done so than magic flares above us. The enforcers are leaning over a balcony, cards balancing on outstretched fingertips.
“Escapees here!” one of them calls. A pause. Then, louder, more frantic, “It’s her!”
Her.How I hate my infamy.
A flash of gray light.A Swords card.I cast the Seven of Wands on instinct. Every tongue of flame explodes with a blaze of golden light, shielding me from the brunt of the attack. A single sword of light makes it through, pinning me to the vessel by my forearm. He cast the Eight of Swords. If not for my reaction, I would’ve been stuck.
Jura lets out a noise between a shocked gasp and a pained yelp on my behalf.
“Go.” I grit my teeth and yank my arm free. The sword is spectral—not solid. And one alone isn’t enough to keep me here. The pain barely registers among all my other aches. “Get Arina inside!”
Gregor is passing Arina up to Twino and Ren, who have already scrambled up and into the opening. Jura jumps from the vessel, narrowly avoiding a burst of flame that turns the water to steam beside her. I instead choose to jump against the rock wall just out of sight of the enforcers, using an Ace of Coins to give myself a secondary path up. Jura is right behind me, pulling herself onto the ledge.
“They’re in the water system!” is the last shout we hear from the enforcer, echoing down from above.
We huddle inside the entrance. Then we all spend a single breath to heave a momentary sigh of relief. I’m the one to push off the wall first.
“Let’s go.” Adrenaline is overpowering my exhaustion once more: I’m going to make it through this. I have no choice. “They’ll be finding a way down here soon.”
“Here.” Twino hands me a lantern. “We planned ahead.”
“I expected no less.” As I take the lantern, Twino lights it with an Ace of Wands. The small flame does little to ward away the heavy darkness that perpetually slumbers beneath the stone of Eclipse City.
I start ahead, and the rest follow.
I’ve never ventured this way before. The tunnels under Eclipse City are vast and ancient. Some are naturally made—as this one appears to be, its water-carved stone smooth under our feet. Other tunnels had been cut out of the rock with tools and magic, the walls jagged from the markings of human hands. And some, the deepest and hardest to get to, run like streets between ancient buildings that serve as the foundation of modern-day Eclipse City. A forgotten underworld of crumbling stone and darkness.
