Page 55 of The City Of Fractured Memory

“You’re the smart one, you figure it out,” he cuts in. “But you’re running out of time. We all are.”

“What do you mean ‘we all are’?” I breathe, the warning in his eyes making my heart lurch.

He huffs a laugh that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Do not mistake the absence of great battles and armies as peace, Miss Wren. War is brewing. The underbelly of this cesspool of a city is churning viciously, and currently, you are powerless to stop it. A war is coming, and I intend to see it put to an end.” He leans in close, his eyes narrowing into a stare I can’t escape. “And Gods help me, I will cut down anyone who stands in my way. So you better figure this out quickly, Detective. At the end, you’ll either be with me or against me, and I don’t like your odds if it’s the latter.”

He steps back and releases my throat, making me stumble forward as his hand drops away. When I look up again, he’s already taken a step back into the shadows.

“Go home,” he says, voice ice cold now. “Whoever attacked you in the Archives won’t be the only one hunting you now.”

And then, like smoke in the night, he’s gone.

The alley is silent once more, save for the echo of my own ragged breathing.

Twenty-Five

My heart is still hammering from my encounter with Riven by the time I near the apartment. The streets are quieter now, eerily so. The orange haze of the lanterns paint the cobblestones in streaks of dying gold. Somewhere far off, a bell tolls the late hour. I shove my hands into my cloak, trying to shake the echo of Riven’s chilling words.

Whoever attacked you in the Archives won’t be the only one hunting you now.

The thought loops in my mind, gnawing at my already frayed nerves as I turn down the narrow street toward our apartment. The weary relief I feel at the familiar sight of the cracked stairwell and crooked sign evaporates instantly as my eyes land on the foreign dark shadow across the threshold.

A figure collapsed across the doorway.

And someone crouched beside it.

“Stryx?” I freeze for half a second before sprinting forward. “Stryx!”

Her silver hair flashes in the dim light as she looks up, wide-eyed. Her hands are slick with something dark. “Octavia don’t–”

But I’m already on my knees beside her. The smell hits me first. Blood, thick and metallic. It pools beneath my knees, flowing from the still body that Stryx is leaning over.

“Stryx, are you okay? What happened?” I blurt out, scanning my friend for injuries, but thankfully finding none.

“I’m okay,” she insists, her voice trembling. “But Octavia, it’s—it’s–”

I follow her stricken gaze down to the body lying between us and the woman’s dark head lolls to the side, revealing her face. My stomach drops.

“Vesper?” I choke out, bile rising in my throat as panic immediately sets in.

I reach out with trembling fingers, brushing her cheek, sickly pale from blood loss. The blood smears across her face beneath my touch. My pulse quickens as I start to lose myself to my panic.

Stryx shakes her head quickly, her words fast and panicked. “I don’t know what happened, I found her like this. I woke up and you were gone. I was going to look for you when I found her lying here–”

I press two fingers to Vesper’s throat and find a pulse. It’s faint, but it’s there. “She’s alive,” I breathe. “Barely.”

“How could she have even got here?” Stryx asks, terror threading her voice. “She was at Xavier’s–”

I don’t answer, too busy trying to stem the bleeding, but it is near impossible to tell where it’s all coming from. Like the other murders, there are no clear wounds, just blood, endless blood soaking through Vesper’s nightclothes, and I’m powerless to stop it. I frantically start searching every inch of skin, desperately trying to find the source of the bleeding, but as I pull up her sleeves and reveal her wrist, I stop breathing entirely.

She has a magpie tattoo.

“Get Xavier, now!” I shout at Stryx, terror making my voice shrill. My hands start to shake uncontrollably as I watch Vesper helplessly, Stryx jumping to her feet and running back inside to find Quill.

Seconds feel like hours as I wait for Stryx to return, Vesper’s breaths starting to rattle in a way that makes my stomach hollow out. The copper scent of blood fills the air, thick enough to taste, and a deep sense of foreboding starts to take over me that, for once, isn’t brought on by my Shadow.

Stryx returns to my side breathless, her expression dark, her blue eyes reflecting the dim light like a brewing storm. “Quill sent a message to Xavier, but there’s no reply. I don’t know where he is.”

I swallow thickly as I return my gaze to his twin, moments from death in my arms. This can't be happening, it can’t.