Page 26 of Storm of Ink and Blood

“Zee, do something!” Yasen whisper-yelled. “Make them stop.”

“I don’t know how,” she whispered back. “Wait, let me try⁠—”

She inhaled a deep breath and allowed her sixth anchor loose. She had controlled the ink with it earlier, so maybe this would work.

It was then that several things happened at once.

Light filled the room, and a deep male voice shouted, “What are you doing?”

Zarya had just enough time to register the Jadugara’s signature blood-red robes before she noticed the shaking bottles were now bouncing where they stood, the sound like a hailstorm of nails dropping onto crystal.

“Duck!” Yasen cried just as he threw himself on top of her, flattening them both to the floor as the cabinet shattered with a crash that made her eardrums ring. Black ink exploded everywhere, coating them from head to toe.

“Arrest them!” came the fevered cries as the entire building began to stir awake. They had to get out of here.

“Get up,” Yasen said, “we have to run.”

“But we didn’t get anything,” Zarya said as Yasen tugged on her arm. With her sixth anchor already at her fingertips, she cast out a puff of dark shadows that descended over the room, obscuring everything in darkness.

“Please tell me that was you,” she heard Yasen say as she reached out for him, clasping his hand.

“Stay next to me,” she said as she felt out for the direction of the cabinet, hoping against hope that something had survived. She moved towards the edge of the room and to the bottles that had been farthest away. “See if you can find any still intact.”

She heard Yasen moving next to her as they ran their hands over the shelves. “Shit,” Zarya hissed as she cut herself on a piece of glass. “Yas?”

“Got some,” he said before she felt him grab her wrist and then push down on her head. They dropped to their knees as they listened to the panic of clashing weapons and thudding bodies. While Zarya’s shadows continued to darken the atmosphere, they crawled along the wall until they found the exit.

“The door,” Yasen said, yanking on her sleeve. “This way.”

Keeping low to the ground where the shadows were thinner, they arrived at the front entrance. Yasen reached up to swing open the door, and then together, they tumbled outside.

“Get up!” Yasen shouted as they rolled down the front steps. Morning was arriving, and the sun was just starting to rise over the rooftops.

“Hey!” shouted one of the guards who spotted them. “Who are you?”

“Don’t mind us. We’re just leaving,” Yasen said, leaping to his feet and tugging on Zarya’s arm before they turned and ran for their lives.

TEN

“Wow, you two really made a fucking mess of that,” Ajay said as he paced back and forth. They were all gathered in Yasen and Zarya’s apartment several hours later. The pair were still covered in faded ink that had yet to wash away. It would take at least a few more baths before they’d get it out of their skin. The clothes they’d been wearing were completely ruined.

Zarya would have tossed them, anyway. After what happened, she realized how careful she would have to be using her magic around the ink. As it stood, she wouldn’t attempt it until she’d scrubbed off every last drop.

“Oops?” Yasen said, his grin suggesting he was anything but sorry. After they’d absconded from the Imarat, they’d had to scrape off the soles of their shoes on the hard cobbles and avoid touching anything lest they leave a trail, pointing everyone in their direction like a bright, flashing light.

Ajay let out an exasperated huff, but it was hard to ever stay mad at Yasen.

“They’ve doubled their efforts to find out who’s responsible for the bombing,” he said. “They know these two incidents are connected.”

“True,” Farida said, “but they still don’t understand the real reason for what happened last night. They’ll assume we attempted to destroy the last of the stockpile.”

Ajay sighed and ran a hand along the back of his neck.

“That doesn’t make this situation any less precarious. Soon enough, they’ll figure out who’s responsible for this, and they will make someone pay.”

“We knew the risks when we started this,” Rania said, her jaw hardening. “If you want out, then just⁠—”

“No,” Ajay said. “You know that’s not what I’m saying. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”