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When Wendel glanced at me, I mouthed, “Konstantin.”
Downstairs, a massive crash shuddered the walls of the coffin factory. The rain-soaked floorboards groaned. The Eisenkrieger’s footsteps thudded below us and shook the building. Christ, that thing was loud. Startled shouts betrayed the presence of assassins somewhere on the ground floor of the coffin factory.
Hieronymus backed away from the window and whirled around. He curled his lip in a snarl. He grabbed me by my chin, his hand bruising, and held the dagger at my neck. When I swallowed, the blade nicked my skin.
“Ardis,” he said, “tell me who?—”
An excruciating screech, like metal on metal, interrupted him. Silence.
The floor exploded.
A hunk of iron machinery splintered the rotten wood. The force of it flung Hieronymus and me against the wall. I hit the bricks hard; he hit them harder. He collapsed on the ground while the machinery skidded to a halt.
The chair cracked beneath me, loosening the ropes around my wrists. I wrenched my hands free, elbowed the chair away, and jumped to my feet.
The black dagger spun to a stop. It teetered on the brink of falling through the chasm.
Gritting my teeth, I lunged. Hieronymus seized my ankle.
I kicked him in the face.
Time around me slowed to a crawl. Sweat dripped from the technomancer’s cheek and hung, suspended, in midair. Wendel stared at me in silent horror, caught between one blink and the next. My skin prickled with the wrongness of it.
I had broken the technomancer’s temporal magic.
My heartbeat thundered in the uncanny silence. How long did I have before my luck ran out? Seconds? A key glinted on a chain at Hieronymus’s neck. It had to be for the handcuffs. Fingers shaking, I snapped the chain.
When I whirled around, my vision flickered. The magic had to be fading fast.
The black dagger tumbled infinitesimally to the ground floor, barely within reach, and I snatched it from the air. Clutching the key, I ran to Wendel. As I unlocked his handcuffs, his eyes flicked toward mine.
Time lurched back on track.
My hand tightened around the black dagger just as Hieronymus straightened. He glanced down at his gauntlets, asif surprised they had failed him. Wendel staggered into the light. Blood dripped from his mouth before he wiped it on his sleeve.
Hieronymus eyed the black dagger in my hand. “Amarant’s magic won’t obey you. It’s a necromancer’s dagger.”
I lifted the blade. “I don’t want to hide in the shadows.”
Wordlessly, Wendel stood by my side. Ready to fight. Ready to defend me.
Blood trickling from his nose, Hieronymus shuffled backward unsteadily and leaned onto a battered desk. He tugged away a cloth and revealed Chun Yi. My sword looked dull and dark without its fire.
“Where did you steal this sword?” Hieronymus asked.
“Steal?” I spat. “What makes you think I stole it?”
His fingers slipped around Chun Yi’s hilt, caressing it, and brilliant flames whispered down the length of the blade. “It’s far too powerful for a girl like you.”
Wendel’s hand found mine. His necromancy skittered like icy fire over my skin. It jolted down the length of my arm, electrifying my nerves, and traveled into the hilt of Amarant. Darkness unfurled from the dagger.
I gasped as shadows swept over us both.
Wendel squeezed my hand, but I didn’t know what he meant when he couldn’t speak. He dragged me away from our enemy and pressed us both against the wall. His heartbeat pounded against my chest.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” I whispered.
He shook his head and pried Amarant from my hand.
