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A furry form landed on my head with a softpoof, then abruptly sank her claws into my scalp. “What thefuck, Jinx?” I yelped as she sprang off my head and landed on all fours in front of me. I gaped as my shadow familiar hissed at me, her green eyes narrowed on my face as if I were the enemy.
“What in the hells is wrong with you?” I tried to step past her, and nearly tripped as she tangled herself up in my legs. “Are you serious right now?” I seethed as she put herself between me and the elevator. Her form rapidly expanded until she filled the hallway, baring fangs at me that were long enough to cleave my arm in two. “You’re really not going to let me pass?”
The elevator dinged, and I glanced up to see Sparrow step out of the wrought metal cage. He came to a halt at the sight of Jinx in her wildcat form, his dark eyebrows winging up. “Well, that’s a neat trick.”
I froze at the sight of the spymaster, all-too-aware of the fact that Jinx had drawn blood. Not much, but I could scent it, and I was sure the vampire could too. I took a step back, reaching for the stake in my pocket, and Sparrow’s face fell.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said, a chagrined look in his eyes. I braced myself as he reached into his coat pocket, but he only pulled out a small pouch, roughly the size of my palm. “I’ve heard the stories about witch blood being addictive, but I had no idea I would react that way the first time I smelled it. I promise it won’t happen again.”
He tossed me the pouch, and I caught it one handed on reflex. “How can you make that promise?” I demanded, not opening it just yet. “And why is it that only you lost control, and not the others?”
Shame flushed Sparrow’s cheeks, and he glanced away. “It’s not an excuse, but I’m much younger than the rest of them. Maximillian turned me less than a hundred years ago. He trained me to have excellent control over my urges, but I’d never been exposed to someone with your blood type before, and…” he sighed, and met my gaze with a pleading look in his eyes. “Will you just open the pouch?”
I glared at the vampire, not sure if I should trust him, but Jinx shrank back to her normal size and began to groom herself idly, licking her paw and rubbing it across her face. Clearly my shadow familiar didn’t see Sparrow as a threat, or she would have clamped his neck between her jaws and shaken him like a rag doll until he broke. Keeping a wary eye on Sparrow, I tugged at the drawstring pouch. A sharp, metallic tang hit my nostrils, and my eyes widened as I pulled out a glossy, dark red leaf the size of my thumb.
“Bloodbane?” I asked in surprise.
“Yes.” Sparrow folded his hands behind his back. “It’s outlawed here in the empire, but I was able to get my hands on a stash the last time I was in Trivaea. Chewing one leaf every three days should do the trick.”
I twirled the stem of the oblong leaf between my fingers as I considered Sparrow’s gift. Bloodbane was a magical herb that the Verdantia witch clan cultivated in the aftermath of the Chaos War, when the Nightforged had first been cursed with vampirism. It made a human’s blood taste unpalatable, so that if a vampire were to smell it, he wouldn’t be tempted to feed from them. When a witch ate it, it masked her magical scent, allowing her to pass as human. I’d used it many times when I’d gone on tracking missions in vampire territory, and vampires had never been able to detect my true nature when it was in my bloodstream.
“Why are you giving this to me?” I finally asked. It had to be worth a small fortune if it was banned in the empire.
“Because I want you to feel safe around me. Around us,” he said, gesturing to the general area around him as if Lucius, Nyra, and Maximillian were here as well. “And also because you’re going to need it when you go with Maximillian to the Summit.”
I glared at him. “You still think I’m going to go? Even though Maximillian is out there right now—” I jabbed a finger in the direction of the administrative building—“schmoozing with Vladimir’s Master-at-Arms, and Eliza is setting up a demonstration for him?”
“You make things sound so black and white,” Sparrow scoffed. “As if all we have to do is flip a proverbial bird to the emperor,and everything will be just fine and dandy. He has a standing army of over one-hundred thousand, Kitty-Cat. And he controls the most powerful vampires in the realm. If we don’t give him what he wants, he will crush us like the ants we are, and put someone else in charge who has little to no regard for human life.”
“But there must be something you can do!” I cried, throwing up my hands. “Some way to sabotage the devices, at least, maybe rig the technology to malfunction once it’s in Vladimir’s hands. You can’t just give them these weapons!”
“If Emperor Vladimir finds out that Eliza intentionally sabotaged these weapons,” Sparrow said in a low voice, his cerulean eyes darkening with anger. “He will make her his slave and visit every single torture and degradation imaginable upon her. He will spend years killing her slowly, reveling in every agonizing scream and sob he rips from her throat. And then he will strip Maximillian of his viceroy privileges and install another inventor who knows how to keep his head down and do what he’s told.”
I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat at the thought of Vladimir breaking Eliza that way. She was a passionate woman who clearly cared about her people. Of course I didn’t want that to happen to her.
Sparrow’s expression softened at the look on my face, and he sighed. “Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
“You’re not going to tell me to hide in my room like Nyra did?” I asked.
Sparrow snorted. “That would be like telling the tides to stop turning,” he said. “An exercise in futility. At least this way, you’ll have proper adult supervision.”
I rolled my eyes, but followed him into the common room, popping one of the bloodbane leaves in my mouth as I went. I cringed at the bitter, metallic tang on my tongue, but dutifully chewed it as Sparrow opened the secret bookcase passage. I followed him through it, Jinx on my heels, and we went down, down, down, well past the landing for the library, until I was reasonably sure we were underground.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we entered a sewer tunnel. Jinx yowled and hopped onto my shoulder for a ride, and I pinched my nose closed with my thumb and forefinger to ward off the stench.
“To pray,” Sparrow called over his shoulder, picking his way along a narrow path beside the fetid water.
“Towhat?”
But Sparrow only picked up the pace, forcing me to lengthen my own stride. I cursed as I nearly tripped over several rocks, trying not to splash my boots with the sewer water. We walked for what must have been miles, the minutes ticking by into an hour, until Sparrow finally gripped the rungs of a ladder and hauled himself up toward a manhole cover.
My mouth dropped open as we emerged into a vast space filled with the skeletal remains of airships. Some were stripped down to bare frames, others still clinging to their former glory with patches of hull and faded insignias. Tall, ghostly structures of the hangars loomed overhead, their roofs gaping open in places where panels had fallen away, allowing shafts of moonlight topierce the gloom. The ground was littered with parts and tools, and the silence was punctuated only by the distant echo of our footsteps on the metal flooring.
“What is this place?” I whispered, craning my neck so I could take it all in. I took in my first full breath since we’d entered the sewers, and the air I inhaled was thick with rust and old oil, a testament to the years of neglect.
“This is Lumina’s airshipyard,” Sparrow said as we moved away from the manhole cover and deeper into the yard. He pointed at one airship that seemed less ravaged by time and scavengers. Its hull was mostly intact, and its design was more elegant than the others, with sweeping lines and ornate decorations that were dulled and tarnished. “I brought you here to visit the temple.”
I scowled, but before I could ask Sparrow what in the hells he was talking about, I saw them—figures slipping quietly between the shadows, making their way to this particular airship. They moved with a sense of purpose, glancing around cautiously as they approached. As we moved closer, I noticed a lone guard stationed discreetly near the entry ramp. Each person who approached him lowered their hood as they passed, and he nodded at them—a silent sentinel confirming their right to enter.
