He releases me and steps back before clearing his throat and looking in the direction of the next section. “Should we go?”
I smile at him despite my breaking heart. “We should.” And then I shoot Havoc a glare. “You can come, too, I guess.”
He doesn’t respond, so we start to move toward the alley. Before we leave completely, I look back at Lady liberty one last time and burn her image into my memory.
Flaming torch and all.
CHAPTER54
HAVOC
I’m quiet, not because I’m being an asshole, but because I’m still trying to wrap my head around what Vesper had just pulled off. I’ve lived inside the Harrow for almost a decade now. I’m a Tier Three Warden, and I’ve done plenty of grinding to reach my current level. But in all that time, not once have I seen anyone defeat Lady Liberty. It’s just been accepted that the Minor Boss is impossible to win against.
And yet here is this woman, infuriating as she is, walking away from a pristine courtyard with hardly a mark on her.
I’ve watched men die in that courtyard. I’ve watched them be smashed and ripped apart by the statue’s fury. And yet, both Locke and Vesper are whole, even if Locke looks like he took a few hits, even if Vesper rubs at her shoulder like she’s in pain.
“Nothing to say now?” Vesper asks me a while later.
We’re walking through the streets, on our way toward Smokestack Row. They don’t know it yet, but things are about to get harder. The Minor Boss in the next section is relatively easy, even if it’s my least favorite of the bosses, but . . . she’d defeated Lady Liberty, so maybe it’ll be okay. Maybe I was wrong about her, about the Bone Breaker.
Maybe I’ve been wrong about everything.
I glance over at her. “No,” I finally answer.
She frowns. “You had so much to say before.”
I shrug. “That was before you defeated Lady Liberty.”
She stops and grabs my arm, forcing me to stop, too. I stare down at where she touches me, noticing the strength in her grip and the way my skin tingles at the feeling of hers against mine.
“And what does that change?” she asks me. “I’m just playing the game.”
I shake my head, not sure how to explain. ‘You’re not just playing the game, Vesper. You’re changing it.” I point behind me in the direction of the courtyard. Even from here, we can see the light shining from her torch. I’ve never seen it lit up before. “No one has ever defeated her since I’ve been here. Everyone fights her and loses. She’s made of metal.”
Vesper frowns. “The challenge wasn’t to fight her. You didn’t listen.” She presses a hand to her forehead. “She was in pain, crying out for help, and instead of helping her, you chose to fight her.” She tips up my chin. “How many times have you called her difficult, or impossible? And yet all it took waslistening.”
“I did listen?—”
“Not close enough,” she growls. She jabs her finger toward the light. “She iseveryfucking woman. We are all the fucking same in this world. I’m notchangingthe fucking game. I’m just playing it the only way I know how. And clearly, you think that just walking in there means you deserve the loot. How many times did you attempt it?”
I hesitate. “Five times.”
She laughs, the sound mocking. “Five times you ignored the fucking hint. Five times you thought you could just slash at her with your sword.” She shakes her head. “She wascrying. She was damaged. And youfailedher.”
I stare at her, absorbing her anger, reveling in it. She’s right. All these years, I’d taken the words of others and accepted them as fact. Everyone told me Lady liberty was impossible, so I’d entered it every time as if it were impossible. I’d never listened to Lady Liberty herself. I’d never even tried to. I hadn’t played the game. The game had played me.
What else have I been ignoring? How many times have I decided something based on the whims of others? My eyes dance over to the Bone Breaker, and then to the Ophanim. The praying mantis on Vesper’s shoulder leans closer and whispers something I can’t hear in her ear and Vesper shakes her head in answer. I’ve questioned why Cipher would be trying to push her, why he thinks her so special.
Now I understand.
“Good,” Cipher purrs in my ears alone. “You’re finally getting it, old friend.”
Shut up, I tell him in my mind and then meets Vesper’s eyes again. “Okay,” I say.
She frowns. “Okay?”
I nod. “Let’s go.”
