Page 31 of Vervain

Lucifer darts a glance at me, then ahead. “I lost my eternal lover half a century ago.” His voice is steady, as if rehearsed a thousand times. “He has been lost to me longer than I held him. Taken by a war we weren’t part of. Charmyne aided a vegodian who stood outside our city walls. He was a caring man—more caring than any other I’ve known. While I was in the Undercity visiting my beloved family, he took her in and gave her a room to sleep in. The same room you’ve been resting in.”

A tingling sensation rests across the back of my neck, and I suppress the urge to cup my hand over it.

“They came for her that very morning and burned everyone to ashen dust to find her. A vegodian who should never have entered our city.” Cold eyes narrow into half-slits. “By the time I found out, the island was a sinking mess, and most of the ash had washed away, and Charmyne and the vegodian were gone.”

I step closer, my hand resting over the scar on my chest. “Was it the slayers? Serun says they hunted us because they feared our powers, but that can’t be the excuse for so much destruction, can it?”

“All we know is that men want power, but they also fear it. And when someone has more power than they do, they will do all they can to kill them,” Lucifer says with a curl of his lip. “Or take and abuse that power. Which brings me to my plea, if you will.” His face hardens. “You are a daywalker with vegodian magik. They won’t kill you. They will create more from you. You will be their experiment.”

“And what do you want me to do about it? Last time I faced one, I nearly died.”

Lifting his chin, Lucifer looks down at me as he says, “My brother isn’t the strongest. People fear him. There’s a difference. So, after you entertain the idea of learning more about what you are, return to the Undercity without your brother, and stay there. Let our world protect you from theirs.”

My chest tightens, and I find it hard to swallow, like a rope is wrapped around my throat. An experiment to prick and probe.

“Saya,” a soft voice comes from the doorway. Serun is leaning against it, arms folded across his chest, and a hint of a smirk settles on his face. “Say goodbye to the Sunken City. Now we travel to the Undercity.”

Sharpening my breath, I move to join him, only to hesitate. My clenched jaw slackens, and I face Lucifer. He is watching the ocean, his eyes tired. “I will consider it if my brother can come,” I say.

As I turn back to Serun, my ear twitches at the light mutter of, “I don’t care.”

He does. In a way, his stubbornness reminds me of Cole.

When I reach Serun, he lifts his hand, and a pendant drops from it, letting the chain hang from his fingertips. “For your keepsakes. Instead of pockets.”

I slip one hand into my pocket to stroke the hair there, my heart squeezing as I take the pendant with the other. “Buying my affection won’t get you anywhere.”

“Who says I need to?” he smirks.

With a roll of my eyes, I carefully place the strands of hair in the locket, then slip the chain around my neck. “How are we getting to the Undercity?”

“Train.”

I tuck the locket out of sight, and my focus snaps to Serun. “A train? A working train?”

Serun chuckles as he brushes his fingertips against my hair. “You’re going to be in awe of my world, consort.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

Saya Claymore

A train. A real train.

Topside no longer has a train system because it was relatively easy to ambush the passengers. Picture books and accounts from others in the feeding ground suggested that vegetation now covers most train tracks.

Trains don’t exist. Most people use cars, and if someone can find a horse, they will ride it. Trains, planes and trams are just memories for those who were here before Mother left. They exist only in books.

In history.

My palms itch with sweat, and my stomach churns with anxiety at the thought of seeing a train. Just a bloody train. Funny how something so simple can excite me.

The wall opens, the rush of water pricking my pointed ears, and wet, dripping stone overwhelms my senses. Lamplit torches illuminate the narrow stairwell curving down.

Serun takes the lead, and with every step, shadows cling close to his skin, blackening until he is completely engulfed and wearing the shadows. There can only be one reason he’s hiding himself: we must be meeting more nightwalkers down here, and he doesn’t trust them.

“How do you have a train?” I am a step behind him, my hand on the wall for balance while he glides gracefully with his hands by his sides. “And how is it here, in the Sunken City?”