Chapter Twenty
Nova
“I saw an official rape the owner of the poultry shop today. I was passing by her building when I saw him ripping off her clothes. She mouthed the word run, and I did. I feel so guilty.”
Avery was odd to say the least.
Her home was barely furnished, a single chair in front of the roaring fire, a too-small rug beneath the circular, wooden table with no additional seating. The kitchen was on the other side, food stacked upon the counters.
“Do you drink tea? If so, you need to know I don’t have any,” she said. I tried to smile, my heart hammering as I unloaded all of the vials meant to be left at this first drop. “Also, you’re about five minutes late, which is very concerning.”
“Actually, we were told zero nine hundred hours exactly.”
Avery looked at me with a lifeless face. “You’re late.”
“How about you just take the vials and we go,” Altair said, his voice sharp. He’d been leaning against the wall near the door, periodically looking out the small window above the frame. Now, he walked my way, taking that same, ridiculous stance just slightly in front of me.
Whether he liked it or not, we needed to get the mission done, and he wouldn’t help by scaring the dealers. “What my associate means is that we do have other stops, so we’re just going to unpack the vials and get out of your way.”
Avery cocked her head, looking between us with squinted eyes and a downturned mouth. “You two aren’t having sex?”
“Excuse me?” Hands frozen within my bag, I stared at her. Altair said nothing, though I dared to look up and found him covering his growing smirk with his fist.
“You two seem like you’re together, but associate doesn’t mean together. It’s a work acquaintance at best.” Avery pointed between us, her face mostly unfeeling save the confusion that tugged her face down. “Aren’t you fucking him?”
“Of course not!” Turning to Altair, I breathed out, “Say something!”
He looked down at me, raising his brows. I glared back, trying to motion towards Avery with my hands full of vials. Chuckling, he said, “She’s celibate.”
“I am no—”
“Oh, that makes sense. Did you want to fuck me really quick then?”
“No, he doesn’t want to fuck you!” I was surrounded by crazy people. “I think that’s all the haya you need, so we’re going to head out now.”
Grabbing Altair’s arm as I stood, I yanked him away from Avery, making space for us to shadow walk.
“Didn’t you want to ask her about officials and the cores?” he asked, the grin obvious in his too-high voice. I elbowed him, looking over at Avery.
“We’re leaving now.”
“General Altair has pushed officials into every village all across Dajahim,” Avery said as she leaned down, throwing another small log into the fire.
“They come around this time every day. Some of them like to rape and beat us when we leave the village to head for the nearest market. My neighbor, Mark, was hanged a couple days ago for trying to stop his wife, Valla, from being assaulted in front of their house. The official instead raped her in front of the gallows where Mark hung from his broken neck.”
“Stars above,” Altair whispered, his arm wrapping around me.
Avery’s face slowly turned, stopping when she was able to make direct, unblinking eye contact with us. As she stood, I planted my feet, ready for anything. But all she did was grin.
“Even the stars can’t save you now.”
I shadow walked us.
***
The next drop was a bit more difficult.
“What do you mean there are officials knocking? Don’t you have a plan for this?” Altair hissed as we frantically replaced the vials in my bag. Joseph, who was the dealer from this village, seemed to cower at the tone.
“Yes, sir, but usually I have more time. They probably just want to inspect the place.”
“And where are we supposed to go?” I was growing irritated too, my mind stuck on Avery. On hanging and bloody bodies. Another loud set of booms shook the wooden door.
“Can’t you magically disappear?”
“Are you five? No! We need somewhere to go for that, and there’s no saying we’ll be able to get back here to you without being caught!
” Altair was losing his composure by the second, all of his smooth charm gone in the face of his aggravation.
He turned to me, eyes wide. “If they find out there are rogue shaytan, they’ll assume it’s you and send elites. ”
Shit.
“Go into the last room in the hall, I have a wardrobe! I have to answer the door now!” Joseph urged.
I grabbed the final vial, shoving it into my bag before willing the entire thing back to the cottage.
Altair was already standing, his hand reaching out to me.
I took it, letting him practically drag me down the hall.
We passed two doors, tearing open the third at the end.
I closed it behind us, barely taking in the wooden bed with a crib beside it before following Altair to the tall, wooden wardrobe.
We each grabbed a handle, pulling open our respective sides before nodding at each other.
Not fitting wasn’t an option, so we squeezed inside, Altair’s body contorting.
I used all of my focus to ready for a cloaking charm, hoping to hide our bodies in case one of the officials opened the doors.
Altair’s hand was still in mine, my chest pressed into his stomach and his chin leaning down onto my head.
“I’m telling you, Maitoza is setting us up!” he said in a sort of whispered shout.
“What would she stand to gain from that?”
“A martyr. An example. Anything she’d like!” He pulled me in closer, his heart racing. Stars, if I didn’t think he was exactly right in that moment. Trying to calm myself, I breathed in his vanilla and smoke scent, focusing as best as I could.
“I’m going to cloak us, be still and quiet.
” Altair did as he was told, and if it wasn’t a life or death moment, I’d have used the opportunity to call him a good boy to keep our running joke alive.
Instead, I relaxed against his hold and willed us to disappear.
I spoke to my magic, picturing the officials opening the door and seeing nothing but clothing hanging on wire. I urged it to hold—to hide.
And then pounding sounded from the hallway. Doors flung open, wood slamming against plaster. “Please be careful! My wife will be furious if there are any holes or broken furniture!” Joseph sounded absolutely terrified.
“Shut your mouth and let us finish, or she won’t have a house to come home to,” a man with a deep, gravelly voice answered. Seconds after, the door to the room we were in creaked open. Ominous steps slowly made their way closer to us, the movement practically vibrating beneath our feet.
Altair’s lips pressed into the top of my head, his fingers weaving into my hair and somehow pulling me even closer. Instinctively, my eyes opened. There was no time to analyze the bizarre action, because the wardrobe doors flung open. We both stopped breathing, my fists gripping Altair’s shirt.
That’s no official.
The towering man wore an elite mask and a billowing black cloak. Beneath, he wore standard black leathers, brown straps wrapping his midsection and bearing small knives.
Though I could only just make out his eyes through the mask and layers of clothing, I could see a hunger in the bright blue depths.
He jostled some of the clothes, nearly grazing Altair’s elbow on his second pass through. I tried to remind myself that even if he found us, he’d have no way to know for sure who we were. Even if he did, we’d fight them all. And maybe, just maybe, we’d win.
“Or maybe this is the moment we say goodbye to you, sweet catalyst.” The stars’ voices were higher than normal, their tone so unserious I didn’t bother to respond. We’d live. This wasn’t the end.
Luckily, I was proven right as the elite sighed loudly and backed away. His face turned to a terrified Joseph, the doors slamming closed a moment later and shaking the wooden walls. We didn’t dare breathe again, listening closely as the steps faded.
“Just so you’re aware, two rogue shaytan were reported to have been in this village. Keep an eye out for them.”
“Oh, how scary. I’ll absolutely watch out. If I see anyone suspicious, I’ll inform an official.”
“Good.” A beat of silence, a slammed door, and then, far enough away that it was difficult to hear, “As you were grunts. Officials.”
“Create, kill, conquer!” a handful of voices said in unison, bidding the elite farewell. More steps receded after. Had we truly gotten so lucky?
Now somewhat confident we wouldn’t be caught, I looked up at Altair, finding he was already staring down at me. Though, that could have been from the bent neck and hunched shoulders.
“We survived,” I whispered.
“Barely,” he muttered back.
A small stream of light from the crack between the wardrobe doors shone across Altair’s unrecognizable face.
Oddly enough, I found myself missing his real face.
His hand left the back of my head, sliding over to my cheek, the other releasing my waist to move to the other side.
My heart was racing, adrenaline leaving my skin tingling.
As my focus went from magic to Altair, I felt the slip of the cloak charm.
Our noses touched, his face tilting to the side after. I watched in odd anticipation as he grew nearer, and then, as if my mind simply could not think at all anymore, I closed my eyes. His breath fanned across my lips, which parted of their own accord.
“Little Void,” he whispered as his lips met—
Light burst into the wardrobe, spreading like wildfire. I jolted back, releasing my hold on his shirt and smacking my head into the wardrobe. Altair pushed his arm in front of me, as if ready to attack.
“It’s safe to come out now,” Joseph said, his breaths coming evenly and his skin fading from bright red to pale pink. Clearing my throat, I nodded, exiting the wardrobe.
***
Dust clung to every surface of the fortunes shop that Mihaley owned. The southernmost village in the Almud District was coated in orange sand, dust building from it. Heat still drenched the air here, where the sun beat down despite the time of year.
“I think that’s all of them,” I said, pulling out the last vial of haya designated for the third stop.
“Thank you.” Mihaley was loud, her voice carrying across the shop.
Of the three individuals we’d met so far, she seemed the least scared.
Surprising, seeing as her market was crawling with officials.
Unsurprisingly, Altair and I’s faces had been nailed all around the area as well.
Not labeled missing, but wanted. Which meant Talon had decided to label me a perpetrator.
Stars knew I was.
“Of course. If you don’t mind, could you tell me if you heard anything about that Tershetta woman? Or the Altair man?”
Mihaley looked at me through a half-lidded gaze, her lips pursing as if in disbelief. “You mean you two?”
Altair stepped forward, placing a small jade crystal back onto one of the many tables bordering the walls. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” she scoffed, moving to sit down at the large, round table that sat in the center of the room.
It had a deep purple cloth on it, silver stars placed sporadically across the fabric.
A large, clear ball loomed in the middle, sitting at least two feet high.
“The stars speak to me, you know. I hear them.”
Do you really?
“No, of course not.”
Are you lying?
“Why would we lie about that? If we wanted to speak to random people, we would do so unapologetically.”
“I’m sure you do,” I said, repeating her words nearly verbatim.
She glared, her gaze flitting between my eyes. “The shaytan believe you’re being hidden by the rebellion somewhere in the districts. I’d tell that commander of yours to move her base soon, lest she wants to be found when they get smart enough to check the dead lands.”
“Noted,” Altair said, grabbing my arm gently.
“Before you go,” Mihaley added, a grin spreading across her face.
The two of us stilled, too curious to resist. Mihaley touched the crystal ball, a burst of silver coming to life within.
Then, as if by magic, our true bodies appeared within the mist—hanging from the gallows.
“Don’t forget your own mortality as you continue playing the stars’ game. ”
Altair growled, his shadows surrounding us.
***
The final drop was to an old friend. Janine looked petrified as she opened her door, her eyes flitting across the path behind us.
“As above, so below,” Altair said, shoving through the door when she didn’t immediately open it.
“Be nice,” I hissed. All I got in return was an eye roll. Clearly, someone needed a nap. Or a burner. Or both.
“We need to make this quick,” she mumbled, shutting her front door softly behind her. “Officials have been everywhere today.”
Nodding, I swung off my bag, feeling as if I was transporting myself back in time. How had I never thought of where Janine got haya from? Was I that dense? Or did I fear the answer?
“Nova?” My head flung back, staring up at Janine with horror beating through my veins. Her eyes were wide, both hands covering her mouth as if she could take the word back.
As he had since the mission began, Altair stepped in front of me, his height towering the eadi woman.
What the fuck is his problem today?
“Protective. Like a dog. Has he peed on you recently?”
“Janine, I need you to pretend like you never saw us. Just as you would any other drop.” My voice was high, desperate. She stared at me, perhaps truly seeing me for the first time.
“As above, so below,” she whispered, walking away. She entered a room at the end of the hall, closing the door behind her. Altair and I took hearty gulps of air, neither of us breathing steady until we’d unloaded all of the haya and joined hands, shadow walking back to the cottage.