Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
U mbros, Realm of Mind and Secret, was everything and nothing I imagined.
Rain-soaked and exhausted, we shuffled through the long tunnel that descended into the beating heart of Umbros City and took our first look at the famed city of shadows.
The entire capital had been built underground, carved into the realm’s sky-high canyons of matte black rock. Cast into perpetual evening, its residents could thrive on the sins of the night no matter the hour.
Growing up, mortal gossip had painted it as a den of depravity, a place where nothing was sacred and everything was for sale. You could buy drugs, sex, weapons, poisons, a murder, a spouse—or a murderous spouse. If you had the money, it was yours for the taking.
The main square was a cavernous hall extending a mile in every direction—including up. Several levels of carved archways were stacked along the walls, and with tunnels splintering off as far as the eye could see, I suspected this was only the beginning of what hid in Umbros’s shadows.
Although there was darkness, it was also a place of life . The mammoth, bustling central market was packed with merchants selling every creation I’d ever imagined and even more I hadn’t. The air was rich with a medley of smells—roasted meats, heady incense, fragrant spices, intoxicating perfumes—and fluttering with textiles that painted the room in vibrant colors. A steady buzz in the air hummed with voices, punctuated by the pluck of stringed instruments and warbling singers. Crowds of raucous spectators ringed sandy fighting pits, and caged beasts chirped, snarled, and hissed at passersby.
Most shockingly for me, eyes of every color were woven seamlessly throughout the throng. There was no segregation, no poor village where mortals were shoved to be subjugated and unseen. Vendors and consumers alike were a melange of mortal and Descended, man and woman, local and foreign, and everything in between.
“Is that Lumnos light?” Taran asked, gaping up with jaw slung low. A web of spotlights springing from the ceiling littered the hall in tiny blue speckles.
Alixe nodded. “Descended who pay tithes to the Queen are permitted to use their magic. Looks like she put some of them to work.”
“Keep your heads down,” Luther warned. “We can’t afford to attract any attention.”
“Where are we going?” I gritted out. Though my wounds had healed enough for me to walk without coughing up blood, I was still badly injured.
“I have a contact here who can arrange passage,” he said. “I’ll need time to find them.”
“I’m coming with you,” I insisted. Alixe and Taran exchanged a tense glance, and I hurried on. “I know it’s a risk, but I—”
Luther took my hand. “Agreed.”
I couldn’t tell which of the three of us looked more shocked.
“Alixe, Taran, we’ll meet you by the fighting pits when we’re finished.” His features hardened. “If you’re caught, you know what to do. Remember the oath of the Royal Guard.”
They both nodded solemnly. I frowned.
Luther’s eyes narrowed on Alixe. “You do still remember that oath, I hope.”
She bristled. “I do.”
“Good.” He pulled me away, tucking me under his arm as we were swallowed up into the market.
“What’s the oath of the Royal Guard?” I asked.
“Protect the Crown at any cost.”
My frown deepened. “Shouldn’t it be to protect the realm or protect its people?”
“That’s your job. Ours is to protect you.”
“I’m adding that to the list of things I need to change,” I muttered.
His jaw tensed, but he said nothing.
As we pushed into the horde streaming between the stalls, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the sharp lines of his face, silhouetted by pinpricks of light. To the rest of the world, he looked blank and impassive, but I recognized the temper within.
“Luther, if you’re angry with Alixe for leaving us back in Ignios—”
“Angry doesn’t begin to describe it. She’d be out as Vice General, if I had anyone I trusted enough to replace her.”
I stopped and turned to him. “She followed my orders. You can’t hold that against her.”
“I can and I will,” he said tightly. “I have to know there are people who—” His mouth snapped closed, and his expression shuttered. “We’ll discuss it later.”
He glanced down at the wound on my chest, which I’d haphazardly bandaged. He’d insisted on it—while refusing to let me tend to his own wounds, of course.
His eyes bounced back up to me and narrowed. “She’s not the only one I intend to have words with about what happened today.”
I swallowed. “I did what I had to do.”
“We’ll talk about that later, too.”
“Luther, this is—” A passerby bumped against my side and sent me stumbling into Luther’s chest. We both winced as the movement jostled our injuries, but despite his obvious pain, his arm curved around my back, drawing me closer.
“ Later ,” he said again, gentler this time. He pulled my hood lower. “Right now, let’s just get out of Umbros unseen and go home.”
For all its secrecy, Umbros was anything but quiet . From the moment we’d arrived in the city, my head had been filled with the buzz of voices. Here in the heart of the central hall, they pressed in on me like a tangible force.
The deeper we pushed, the louder they grew—whispering and shouting, cooing and sneering. It was deafening, infiltrating my thoughts in a muddled jumble of words. I cringed at the throbbing headache already beginning to form.
Though I wanted to seal myself off in a silent room and lose myself in a warm bath, a warm meal, and a warm bed, a part of me thrilled at the exotic newness of it all. I couldn’t resist stealing curious glances at each stall we passed.
More than a few drew me in with the urge to see more, like one offering the rarest medicinal herbs and another packed with messy stacks of dusty, leather-bound tomes. Others had me burrowing into Luther’s side, like the woman with turmeric eyes who tended a pit of live snakes beneath rows of bottled venom and, for thrice the price, antivenom.
In another, dirt-smudged children no older than ten stood in a long line, hands clasped, their eyes cast low. When a portly, gap-toothed man stepped forward and beckoned a finger to two young girls, I froze in place, seconds away from turning the market into a warzone.
The girls reached into their tattered, dirt-soiled garments and whipped out narrow blades. They launched into a display of whirling footwork and jabs that would have put even Alixe’s prowess to shame.
“Assassins,” Luther explained. “They pose as beggars, so their targets ignore them until it’s too late.”
“They’re only children,” I breathed, though in truth, I’d witnessed far darker fates for the orphans back in Lumnos. At least these girls had the means to protect themselves.
The man turned to a dark-haired woman, who dropped a pouch in his hand with a metallic clink. The girls looked at each other and beamed.
“I can’t wait,” the woman’s voice carried to me as she turned. Something about it sounded strange—hushed, like a whisper, even though she was yards away. “They’ll do to him what I should have when I was their age. I just wish I could see the bastard’s face when it happens.”
Her words faded as she disappeared into the crowd, the girls giggling and scurrying like ducklings behind her.
Luther’s voice caught my ear as he muttered to himself in that same odd, hushed tone. “Need to get out of this market. Too many people here need saving, and her heart’s too big to leave any of them behind.”
I sighed and fell in step beside him. He wasn’t wrong. It was easy to romanticize a place like Umbros, but it was another thing to see the reality of what it took to fulfill all those dark desires. Turning a blind eye had never been my strength. It was only a matter of time before I set this whole place ablaze.
“Give it time,” he said, his voice returning to normal. “You will remake this world. You will be the voice they never had and the sword they were never allowed to wield.”
“In Lumnos, maybe, but what about everywhere else?” I argued. “What power will I have in a place like this?”
My gaze dropped to my feet, and his hand stilled on my back. Again his voice took on that odd, whispered timbre. “Does she really not see it?”
I glanced back up. “See what?”
His brows jumped. “Did you—”
“Quit blocking my booth, will ya?” an irritated voice snapped.
An exceptionally short woman wedged herself between us, placing her hands on our thighs and shoving us apart. She grabbed a rag hanging from her shoulder and whipped it at Luther’s groin. “If yer wantin’ to feel her up, inns are over that way.” She gestured to a far corner, then paused. “Now if yer lookin’ to put on a public show...” She tugged on my cloak. “Lemme see your face girl, I may know a buyer.”
Luther growled and snatched me away, leaving the woman cackling behind us.
At the edge of the market, a row of lopsided signs pointed to different areas of the city, labeled by the items sold within: Gems, Weapons, Skin, Rooms, Boats —
“Luther, look—I think the docks are this way.”
“We’re not going to the docks yet. We need someone who doesn’t know who you are to book our passage in case they’re stopped by the Centenaries.”
The Centenaries.
A shiver rippled through me.
Umbros was a wild, lawless place, but one fundamental principle underpinned each and every clandestine arrangement: no matter who you were or what you sold, the Queen of Umbros always got her cut.
And she did it with the help of the Centenaries.
After the Descended’s near-loss in the Blood War centuries ago, many realms set limits on Descended breeding in order to prevent their magic from becoming diluted and weak.
But none had gone as far as the Umbros Queen. She selected the one hundred most powerful of her Descended—the rest, she put to death. Over the years, she’d kept the number consistent, a small but formidable personal army known as the Centenaries.
According to rumor, if you were unlucky enough to cross them, your heart became ice and your skull became glass. Their staggering thought magic could read your mind like a book and bend you to their will.
It made them the perfect enforcers in a realm populated with liars and thieves. There was no secret the Centenaries couldn’t uncover, no deception they couldn’t detect. They collected their Queen’s share of the profits with perfect efficiency, and because she could read their minds, even they didn’t dare cross her.
Luther’s plan was clever. If the Centenaries found us, they would know instantly the Queen of Lumnos was here, but if the person who booked our passage did not know of my presence, even the Centenaries would not be able to pry it out from them.
Although ...
A small, pestering urge told me the Umbros Queen might have the answers I sought. She had already taken a special interest in me, ambushing me with strange riddles in the alley the day my mother had gone missing. At my Rite of Coronation, she’d been the only one unsurprised by the destructive effect of my blood on the heartstone. In fact, it had almost seemed like she was expecting it.
Seeking her out would be an enormous gamble, but if she knew something that could help me in the coming war...
“This way,” Luther said. I kept close to his side as he led me out of the main hall and through the labyrinthine pathways. The buzz in my head began to die down, allowing my crowded thoughts some room to breathe.
“How do you know where to go?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing temples.
“I don’t. I’m following those.” He pointed to a spot high on the wall, where a sleek feline was carved into the rock, its long tail curled to the right. A fork appeared a few steps later, and Luther swiftly turned down the rightmost path.
“My contact here is known as the Jaguar,” he explained. “I don’t know much about him. We’ve only communicated through messenger hawks. We kept our identities secret in case either of us was caught. He said if I ever needed to find him in Umbros, his symbols would guide me there.”
Another etching came into view, its tail in a sharp line to the left. Again, we shifted our route.
“How did you meet him?”
“Your mother, actually. He worked with her to—look, I think that’s it.”
Straight ahead sat a cozy-looking inn lit by a curtain of floating blue orbs and a sign that read “The Second Chance.” Just above the entrance, a sleeping cat was engraved into the rock, its tail hanging lazily over the door.
I kept my head down as we passed through the sparkling drapes. The quiet dining room contained a handful of lone travelers hunched under heavy cloaks. A gaggle of children in white aprons scurried from table to table, refilling drinks and delivering plates of steaming food.
“Welcome to The Second Chance,” a woman chirped brightly from behind the counter. “Are you in need of a room or just a meal?”
“Neither.” Luther edged closer to her and lowered his voice. “I’m here to see the Jaguar.”
She blinked, her smile unmoving. “There’s no one here by that name.”
“I know he’s here.” He pulled a handful of gold coins from his pouch, then set them on the wood beneath his cupped hand and slid them toward her. “Perhaps this will help lure him out?”
She slid them back. “Sorry. You have the wrong inn.”
I risked a quick glance up. The woman was striking, with full, plum-colored lips and dark curls, but it was her brilliant cobalt blue eyes that sent my heart staggering.
A Lumnos Descended.
I had no right to claim her. She was clearly of age, old enough to decide for herself where she wished to make her life. The shadows twisting like jewelry around her arm suggested she’d paid her tithes and was a citizen in good standing with the Umbros Queen.
But she was one of mine . My godhood strained against the walls of my chest, begging to push out and enfold her within its protection.
She shivered, goosebumps rising on her arms. Her eyes moved to me. I swiftly lowered my chin until my hood dropped forward to conceal me.
Luther tapped a gold coin against the counter. “If there is anyone here by that name, he should know the Phoenix has come to see him.”
She blinked again. “As I said, there’s no one here by that—”
A door opened behind her, and a man emerged.
If this was the Jaguar, his name was well-earned. He moved with a catlike grace, fluid and effortless, seeming to glide rather than walk. Though he was slender, cords of muscles swelled along his elegant frame, which was draped in swaths of black silk. A gilded metal collar rose high on his neck, while bands of gold wire encircled his thighs and biceps. His dark skin looked freshly oiled, shimmering under the dim light and setting off eyes of the palest ice blue—another Lumnos Descended.
But it wasn’t just his beauty that overwhelmed me. The second he stepped forward, a wave of power brushed against my skin, similar to how I felt around Luther. Whoever this man was, his magic was strong—immensely so.
The man glanced my way, catching me mid-stare. A bolt of panic sliced through me as our eyes locked, but he gave me only a bored skim before settling his attention on my Prince.
With Luther, the man’s gaze dragged slowly, deliberately, appraisingly. Luther’s chin lifted, though he made no move in response.
It was a bizarre thing to watch Luther get sized up as a threat. In Lumnos, the strength of his magic made him infamous. Even those willing to provoke him, like Aemonn and his father, knew when to back down to avoid a battle they were certain to lose.
He was practically untouchable, and after he’d trounced the Ignios King, I’d begun to wonder if it was not just the Descended of Lumnos who should fear him.
But Luther’s magic had disappeared again after crossing the Umbros border, leaving him vulnerable for now. If this Jaguar was weighing his strength against another Descended aura, it wasn’t Luther’s he felt—it was mine.
I let my godhood slip its leash for just a moment, sending a pulse of my magic rippling across the room. The man’s eyes went round.
“You’ve been misinformed,” he said, swallowing. “There’s no Jaguar here.”
Liar , I thought irritably.
Both Luther and the man shot me looks.
The man shifted his weight. “Perhaps you’d like to stay the night in our inn instead?”
“I don’t need a room,” Luther said. “Just a conversation.”
“Our rooms are quite private. Ideal for conversations of all kinds.” The man’s slow cadence sounded curiously deliberate. “One might even say they’re fit for a prince .”
I tensed. So he did know who we were—or at least who Luther was.
Luther nodded once. The man looked at the woman at the counter. “Would you please show our guests to Suite 10?”
“Of course, Zal.” She plucked a key from beneath the table and gestured for us to follow. “Right this way.”
The man gave a tight smile and turned back to the door from which he’d entered.
Luther hesitated. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
“My staff will take care of anything you need,” he called out over his shoulder. “Have a lovely stay.”
The door slammed shut.