“Callum Blackwood and Axel Pierce, are you both out of your stars-damned minds?” Eleana bit out in greeting as she parked her bike beside ours. “In the streets of Solis Quarter, no less. Are you hoping to gain Lucanus’s attention from running lights alone?”
“It’s just a bet,” I drawled as I leaned against my bike, crossing my arms while I watched her frustration rise. “We weren’t caught, no need to stress, mother hen.”
“Fuck you,” Eleana said as Axel laughed. “Actually, fuckbothof you,” she snarled, glancing between the two of us before she snatched the keys from my hand and stalked inside the building’s side entrance.
We darted through the shadows as we climbed the below-level stairwell that wound up to the lobby of the complex we would be staying in for the next week. Taking a quick scan of the area, I spotted one, two,threecameras monitoring the space.With a quick motion to Axel, I gestured toward the surveillance cameras, waiting as he called on his water affinity, the liquid snaking across the room before short-circuiting the cameras monitoring the lobby.
We moved quickly after that, darting through the space toward the elevator as Eleana impatiently pressed the button repeatedly, while we waited for it to arrive. The ding couldn’t come soon enough, and as the doors slid open, the three of us slipped out of view as we rode to the top level of the complex.
Axel entered the code Elion had given us, and the faint whirl of the locks clicking had us entering the space. A low whistle left his lips as he stepped into the room and looked around. “Hell of a hideout,” he said with a grin.
“No shit,” I answered as I followed him inside the entrance to the room, my hand still resting on my firearm as I scanned the space for a moment before double-checking every entry point, ensuring the place was secure. Walking around the perimeter, I continued my assessment of the layout, memorizing the placement of every object in the space.
My eyes scanned over the marble counters of the kitchen, past the floor-to-ceiling doors leading out to a fairly small balcony. They then roamed over the skylights on the ceiling, before I passed into the first of the bedrooms.
Too many entry points—far more than I would have allowed in a safe house. But then again, I supposed we should just be thankful the Guild still had access to this location. I finished scanning through each room, assessing every entry point, and confirming the perimeter was secure. Confirming that we could talk freely.
It was muscle memory for me by this point in my career. A habit Elion had painfully drilled into me as a young spy just entering the Guild. I had only been ten when Elion had discovered me on the streets in Aurum Quarter, begging for food. He’dtaken one look at me before offering me a job—a job that had eventually become my entire life.
“All clear,” my voice ground out a few moments later from one of the bedrooms as I did the final sweep. We were staying just outside the Temple District, right on the edge of the temple grounds and close to the Solis Court—a strategic location, based on our current suspicions regarding how King Lucanus was running his Quarter.
“It’s one of the better safe houses we’ve been stashed in,” Eleana said as she rummaged through a closet close to the first bedroom before finding the safe located inside it. I heard her enter the key on an old-fashioned turn lock, and then a familiarclickas the safe unlocked. “I’m surprised it’s this nice with how long this particular location has been out of commission.”
By all official accounts and records, members of the Aurelian Guild hadn’t entered Solis Quarter since The Rift appeared, dividing the city of Aurelia into four quarters, centuries ago. Not that it had stopped us from entering on the rare occasion when needed. Only, lately, it had been far more challenging to enter this Quarter. King Lucanus spent far too much effort building a wall around Solis . . .
Whether to keep others out or keep his people in, that was still to be decided.
“The Guild has their ways.” I threw a devilish smirk her way as we unloaded our array of weaponry. My eyes scanned over each piece—every dagger, knife, throwing blade, and gun. It was a full arsenal, and that wasn’t even counting the lengthy list of affinities we had been gifted between the three of us. I had specifically picked Axel for this mission, knowing that his illustratio affinity would come in handy. And between the two of us, we made up a full array of the three elemental affinities.
A phone rang out in the room, and all three of us looked around for which phone was ringing before I stalked over to thecounter and picked up my phone, briefly glancing at the caller ID before answering.
“Blackwood.” My voice was gruff, and I waited a moment before an older voice came through on the other end of the line.
“No problems as of yet, I take it?” Elion asked on the other end, his voice muffled.
“Not yet.” I leaned back into the chair closest to the kitchen counter, mindlessly twirling a throwing blade through my fingers.
“I want details by the end of next week.”
“Until then,” I replied, before disconnecting the call and offering no further information. I didn’t need to. All we needed was a mutual acknowledgement that the information would be there.
“When do you return to Aurum Quarter?” Axel asked Eleana as I walked back over to the couch. I shot a brief glance over at Eleana while I settled down in an open spot, before calling on my fire affinity to light the wild lotus between my fingers.
“Axel Pierce,” Eleana scolded. “I swear to Aeternus, if you could just pay attention for one stars-damned minute when I open my mouth, maybe you’d remember.”
“It’s not my fault you open your mouth and suddenly time itself stands still,” he protested as he rummaged through the cabinets. I let out a small puff of smoke from between my lips as I listened to them speak, the effects of the wild lotus washing over me in a calming manner as I leaned back against the couch, before taking another draw.
“I’ll head for The Wall in two hours,” she answered, returning her attention to her phone. “The RSG is changing shift posts then. It will be the easiest point in time for me to slip through undetected. I just need to make it back across the stars-damned Rift.”
“Better you than me,” Axel voiced as he grabbed a dust-covered amber bottle from a bottom cabinet below the kitchen island.
“Why? Because I’ve actually got the balls to cross it multiple times in one night?” Eleana teased.
“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” Axel protested as he shot daggers at the female while he uncorked a bottle of ambrosia. “A straight attack on my manhood? It’s The Rift, for stars-sake. No onewillinglywants to cross it.”
“He does,” Eleana replied smoothly as she gestured toward where I sat near the window, half-listening to the banter of the two other members of my Shade. We’d earned that title two centuries ago for our ability to slip through the shadows and surveillance systems undetected, and were now the most notorious and elite grouping of spies in the Aurelian Guild. It had been easy enough to climb through the ranks—the three of us combined having access to seven of the eight affinities gifted by Aeternus. Not that many citizens in Aurelia were even aware of the extent of our affinities.
I began to retrace what I’d overheard this evening at the tavern. It was, after all, the easiest place to gather information with little effort or detection. And tonight, the location had served me well.
