Page 73 of Scars Beneath a Serpent’s Scales

“You’re going to send me to my grave.” Roremar sighed, running a ringed hand through his hair. “You were just attacked two nights ago. You can’t go sneaking through the city after dark, practically making yourself a target.”

She hadn’t considered that, feeling much more trapped and trackable in this Academy than anywhere else. The night was her haven, the stars her guidance. “Maybe I should. Let them follow me so I can find out who they are.”

Roremar blinked at her. “You want to set a trap? By yourself?”

“Yes,” Emmeline asserted.

She didn’t. But if it convinced him, that was what mattered.

Roremar considered her, pursing his lips. Finally, he said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay,” he repeated. “We’ll set a trap.”

“We?” Emmeline blurted.

He scoffed. “Obviously, I’m going with you.” Roremar turned abruptly, striding for the front entrance of the Academy.

Emmeline jolted, hurrying past the portraits of former Temple Masters lining the foyer.

When they stepped into the fresh air, her lungs opened up, steps quickening. “What do you mean you’ll come with me?”

“I mean we’ll go speak with Gideon now,” Roremar said as they descended the stairs, “then we can head out on your mission. We may have to work around the curfew.”

“I meant I would go alone.” She had to go alone. Not only did she want to track down the men from the Rogue Spirit and find out more about the Averian, but she also wanted to follow Desmond. Neither of those motives were things she was ready to explain to Roremar. She paused in the middle of the steps, searching for any excuse. “Two people will be too noticeable.”

“You underestimate my sleuthing,” Roremar said, giving her a crooked smirk over his shoulder. As he jogged toward the path, he called, “Hurry up, Huntress, I want to hear about our secret affair.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Roremar

Emmeline didn’t want to set a trap, and Roremar damn well knew that.

But he hadn’t figured out exactly what she was after, so he played along.

There was a thrill to sneaking among the shadows. As he followed Emmeline from rooftop to rooftop, a sense of freedom rolled off her that he wanted to capture. Not to cage it, but to feel it. Watch it flourish and maybe taste a bit of that unleashed liberation she embodied.

That was something he’d been learning about her as they’d spent more time together. While she may have her guard up, in a way, she was free. It was an unchained daring he hadn’t experienced in years. Addictive. It amplified with every step of his boots against tile, every beat of the stars on their masked faces.

He still hadn’t figured out what had happened the night of the attack, how he’d known she needed him. And honestly the how wasn’t his main priority. It was the who. Someone had tried to snuff out her light, and Roremar had promised he’d fan it.

“One more,” Emmeline whispered, voice blending with the night as she approached the drop into an alley. She didn’t even hesitate, just leaped silently across and crouched behind the wall on the other side.

Ivy cascaded to the street below, awnings over the taverns, shops, and incense dens all folded in, discarded crates and boxes stacked to be hauled away.

Roremar landed lightly beside Emmeline, and she looked him over, hazel eyes glinting against the dark fabric she was wrapped in. “You’re not bad at this.” She sounded impressed.

“Reckless, remember?” Roremar joked, crouching beside her and pulling down his mask. “I’ve had practice sneaking around.”

Emmeline’s brows rose, starlight pooling over her like she was a being they orbited. “Have you?” she asked like a dare.

He dug through his memory as he sat back on his haunches. “One time when I was nineteen, I spent three days sneaking in and out of an enemy’s camp, planting small tins of flammable, pulverized rock mined from the Mystique Mountains.”

“You what?”

“It was my idea and no one else was brave enough to do it.” He shrugged. “When our archers were able to land flaming arrows into precisely the right spots thanks to readings from Anhala and Arenothos, the entire place exploded. Quickest battle I’ve ever been a part of.”