Page 105 of Under the Iron Sky

He hadn’t done anything to me.

It shouldn’t have mattered—so why couldn’t he silence the voice in the back of his head whispering that it did? That this moment was important. That she was important.

Footsteps echoed through Ikarus’s head and like a book snapping shut, the memory was gone, and he was back on the sofa, Aeris and Malakai watching him from the doorway.

The former’s face was twisted in its usual contemplative scowl, while the latter was grinning like a child who’d just caught someone doing something they shouldn’t.

“Why is your hair wet?” Aeris asked, and at the same time Malakai skipped into the room and sang, “Whatcha doin’?”

Ikarus ignored Aeris’s question in favor of Malakai’s. “Bakin’ a cake,” he responded dryly, pushing to stand.

Malakai folded his arms, studying Ikarus intently. It was a hunter’s gaze, critical and assessing, the face of the real predator hidden behind all the jokes and tricks. It lasted all but a few seconds before his brown eyes widened, and an enormous grin stretched across his face. “You were rewatching her memories, weren’t you?”

Ikarus rolled his shoulders, joints clicking with the movement. Was there anything else Emelda could add to his next batch of ash-sticks to ease that? He made a note to ask. “As I am required to do as part of my assignment, yes.”

“Well, you know what they say—three heads are better than one. Let’s have a look.”

Malakai stretched out a hand, still covered in debris from the Astro Temple, but Ikarus merely had to look in his direction to send him skittering back across the room with his magic.

“Ouch,” Malakai breathed, smiling faintly. “Someone’s a bit testy today.”

“He does have a point,” Aeris said, stepping into the room before Ikarus could give the pyromancer a flying lesson.

Ikarus threw him a glare. “Excuse me?”

“About three heads.” Aeris toyed with the opal ring on his pinkie finger. “It might not be a bad idea, letting us see some of her memories. Maybe we’ll pick up something you’ve missed.”

Malakai wiggled his eyebrows. “Unless you’ve got something to hide, Icky Wicky.”

Scoffing, Ikarus thrust out a hand. “Be my guest.”

Malakai and Aeris took his arm. Ikarus closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the three of them were standing in a narrow hallway of his mind.

Ikarus shook their hands off him. “Don’t touch anything.”

He led them down the carefully curated halls, mindful to stand in front of the window detailing a very fresh argument with a very angry human.

“Any update on the spy?”

Not great, judging by the sudden tightening of Aeris’s expression. “It’s taking longer than I expected. The spy is slippery. Every time I think I’ve narrowed it down, the trail goes cold.”

“They’re a smart cookie, this spy,” Malakai interjected from behind them. Ikarus cast an eye back to make sure he wasn’t looking where he shouldn’t. “But don’t worry, we’ll find ’em.”

Aeris scoffed. “Oh ‘we’ll find them’ will we? Because you’ve been such a big help with the search efforts already.”

Malakai pointed a finger at himself. “Erm, hello? Are we forgetting I’m the Ancient One’s head torturer? I’m a busy chap—and I’ve got my hands full with those humans we captured in Lumirel.”

“Have they revealed anything yet?” Aeris asked, a hint of cold interest in his voice.

“You’ll be the first to know when they do.”

Finally at the end of the hall, Ikarus gestured for his friends to step into the most recent memory he’d uncovered.

No one said a word or moved until the human pulled the trigger.

While they watched her roll the Dar’rak’s body off her, Aeris dropped into a crouch near her shoulder, studying the corpse’s lifeless face. Malakai looked down at the scene with little interest, but Aeris … Ikarus knew the moment he put his hood up that he recognized this Dar’rak. Realized the significance of it.

“This is …” Aeris eventually said, still peering into his lifeless face.