Page 7 of Heart of Thieves

The man beneath me wrenches my leg sideways, sending me skidding to the floor as he rips a blade from his belt.

Enzo lunges, finger flexing on the trigger.

“No!” I shout, leaping to knock the pistol from his grasp as the man’s blade grazes my ribs.

“What the depths?” Enzo says, but I’m already wheeling around, planting my heel in the man’s groin. He yowls, and I tear the blade from his hands and point it at both him and his companion.

“You don’t want them to talk?” I say to Enzo, chest heaving. “Then steal their speech soullight. All of it. Just please don’t kill them.”

“Their speech soullight?”

“Between the two of them they probably have sixty years’ worth of words left. Should last you until at least next week.”

But Enzo doesn’t laugh. He’s staring at the men, eyes distant like he’s looking far away to some other time, some other place. “I’d rather shoot them,” he says softly, and in his heart, a deep terror yawns wide enough to swallow us both whole.

“There’s already been too much blood. Please, Enz.” I glance at Jade. “This can work.”

She grimaces but doesn’t protest.

Enzo grits his teeth, then nods once and crosses to the men, pressing thumbs stacked with empty voratium rings to the bare skin at their throats.

It takes a full minute to draw out all their speech soullight, and it fills up every single empty voratium ring Enzo has, two heavy voratium chains, and a chunk of voratium from his pocket.

“The guards are coming back,” Soren’s voice comes across the radio again. “Everything all right, boss?”

“On our way.” Enzo’s words are stiff, and he won’t meet my eyes. As soon as he’s done with the speech, he drags out what must be strength soullight, and the two intruders collapse. Then he turns away. “Come on.”

We bolt back into the laboratory to retrieve the diffuser.

The door to the stairwell slams open behind us, and shouts echo down the hall.

“Go dark!” Enzo leaps out the window, rippling into noncorporeality, and I use my tattoo to vanish as I climb onto the sill behind him.

“I’m out of space in my tattoo!” Jade cries.

I whirl as both guards leap after her. One catches her ankle, and they hit the floor in a heap.

Not on my watch.

I pull a handful of explosive-infused voratium pebbles Jade gave me earlier with the fancy boots and gloves. I hurl them in a fistful at the guards’ shoes. Fireworks explode around their ankles, and they whoop, lurching back, pistols skittering across the tile as Jade scrambles to grasp my hand. Using my tattoo to turn us both back into shadows, I pull her with me through the window, tumbling to land on the grass next to Enzo, and together we dash to where Isla is parked on the north curb.

Footfalls stomp behind us, and gunshots fire as we land in the back seat where Arden and Soren are already waiting. Tires squeal, and soon we’re hurtling through the city.

“You two all right?” Enzo asks as I release Jade and we regain our physicality.

“Yeah,” I say, breathing hard.

Enzo grimaces, still avoiding my eyes. “Good. Let’s get back to the Brig.”

“Nearly there,” Isla says from the front seat as she swings the motorcar into Waterside.

“Actually,” I say with a nod at Jade, “Jade and I had plans tonight, remember? Can you drop us here, Isla?”

Enzo nods. “Oh, right,” he says, “of course.”

Isla pulls to the curb. Jade shoves open the door and clambers out.

I glance back at Enzo, reaching out to touch the side of his face as that still-yawning terror bleeds through our heart. “Thank you. For not shooting them.”