Chapter 33 #2
She’d examine the what and how of her excessive bleeding and Lenya’s involvement in her almost-demise later, but for now, another life needed to be saved.
Only one out of three bright lights that had known more about being a Flame than Lory would ever learn here at Ashthorn.
Her heart ached at the injustice of it all.
If only Khayrivven was here, she could have peppered him with questions, but he was conveniently gone again—some mate that man.
“Did he say where he was off to?”
Anees didn’t even flinch as Lory spoke into her mind, merely paused in the alcove to whisper over her shoulder, “Lenya sends him down to the Amrin Mountains at every other full moon.”
Lory’s heart nearly seized. “To fight?”
Anees shook her head. “Later,” she mouthed, and Lory understood that keeping the conversation going would endanger more than just them being discovered.
With a nod, Lory followed Anees to the next alcove, skipping the lit segments of the hallway like ghosts.
She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but something was different about the way she moved, feet nimble, steps even quieter than they’d been when she’d made her way to the palace with Khayrivven.
The hallway appeared crisp and clear to her, despite knowing the difference between shadows and light.
Her fairy senses, she supposed, but to be certain, she’d need to ask Khayrivven or Hand Nahrit, and that would need to wait until they’d finished their little mission.
Along the stone walls and ceiling, footsteps echoed in the distance—one of the thornlings, perhaps, or a guard, not bothering with silence.
Anees and Lory pressed into an alcove, flattening their backs against the smooth rock and breathing slowly.
The scent of burned flesh and ashes drifted toward them, biting Lory’s senses with a sharpness that was as unfamiliar as the night-vision and superior hearing that had recently befallen her.
All changes connected to her powers, she supposed, but seeming to become stronger with every bit she embraced her heritage more.
The footsteps got louder as Lory and Anees remained flush against the wall, and Lory didn’t dare breathe as the leather-clad form of General Ycken turned the corner, stalking down the hallway at a clipped pace, his face smeared with soot, and blood dripping from his hand.
Lory didn’t breathe as the general came closer, closer.
He’d spot them in the shadows, and they’d be fucked.
If he didn’t suspect them of anything other than sneaking down to the kitchen for an early morning snack, it would be bad enough, Lory just knew.
Perhaps they wouldn’t die for it, but they’d certainly get acquainted with the wrath of the Master of Steel.
Suppressing her panic, Lory grabbed Anees’s hand, her entire body tensing to run.
Only a few more steps, and he’d be in front of the alcove—
Ycken flexed his fingers, eyes on the cut on his palm, and turned left, toward the Medica quarters.
The breath Lory loosed when his footsteps faded into the next corridor could have embraced the whole world.
“We’ll need to hurry.” She didn’t dare speak out loud, and Anees didn’t need the invitation.
Letting go of Lory’s hand, Anees led the way down the hallway, avoiding watch posts as best they could on their way to the mess hall.
Tabi would meet them there, in the side corridor behind the door next to the dais.
If things went according to plan, she’d bring some disinfectants and bandages from the Medica quarters, just in case her powers wouldn’t work on the wound the same as they hadn’t on Lory’s at first—not that Lenya’s powers were involved this time.
She just hoped that Tabi would get out of the Medica quarters before Ycken arrived.
Even though she was the least suspicious one to be found down there, people would still get suspicious of her early morning presence if they ran into her near the supply closets.
Lory didn’t want to think of the consequences her friend might be facing if Ycken found her stealing.
Just three more turns, and they’d be at the mess hall, and then they’d see if their luck had run out.
They were turning the corner when another pair of boots sounded in the hallway, this one irregular, almost limping.
Lory barely had time to pull Anees behind a corner as the guard appeared at the end of the hall, his stocky figure hunched from exhaustion and his limp more pronounced than Lory would have hoped.
“It’s Jarek,” she thought at Anees, whose hand had gone for her dagger. Lory’s own hand loosened on the hilt of Niely’s knife she’d sheathed in her weapons belt before leaving the bedroom. “He’s a friend.”
“We can’t trust anyone,” Anees whispered so softly Lory wondered if Anees herself had superior senses.
“We can trust him not to report us.”
Anees shot Lory a doubtful glance. “Let’s hope we won’t need to find out.”
They were waiting at the corner for Jarek to turn into one of the side corridors, but he kept coming straight toward their turn, and behind them, more footsteps echoed.
Apparently, they weren’t the only ones out during this ungodly hour of the morning. People were on their way to kitchen duty or to a switch of guards, and the hallways would only get busier by the minute. If they wanted to get to their destination, they’d need to make a run for it.
But first—
Lory didn’t warn Anees as she grabbed her hand again, this time dragging her around the corner, straight toward Jarek, at whom Lory gestured to be quiet as she waved him along into the empty mess hall and past the dais.
The air wielder didn’t even look surprised as he followed without a question, his footsteps near-silent, if a little uneven.
Only when they made it past the dais and out the side door did Lory stop, pulling the lever for the elevator.
Jarek’s hand remained on his sword as he stood, facing Anees with her dagger drawn and Lory, who still held her finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
Soon, it would be too busy in the building to sneak back up, and they’d need to return before breakfast so they could blend into the crowd and sit at their usual table as if nothing had happened.
The Guardians only knew if they could do it.
All Lory knew was that she wasn’t ready to kill anyone else that night.
Her hand started shaking at the memory of Niely’s blood on her hands, at the sight of the light leaving his eyes.
His dead weight as she’d dumped him down the side of the rock—
Tabi appeared in the side door, nearly making Lory’s heart stop.
On silent feet, their best hope at healing Olive hurried toward them, a bundle of supplies dangling from one hand, one of Niely’s knives clutched in the other.
She threw a questioning look at Jarek, who was about to open his mouth, but Anees clasped her hand over it, shaking her head in warning.
And not a moment too soon. More movement sounded, now in the mess hall, and Lory knew their time was up.
She kept herself from tapping her toes on the stone floor as she waited for the small, grinding noise of the elevator when it stopped.
The second it did, Lory hopped in, pulling Jarek along by the front of his uniform, Anees following suit.
And not a minute too soon. The elevator started moving at the pull of the lever, just as footsteps echoed down the side corridor.
Lory prayed no one noticed the movement of the cabin before it vanished out of sight.
Jarek opened his mouth to ask questions, but Lory shook her head. Not yet.
When she’d been down in the crematorium, with Khayrivven, he’d only started sharing secrets once they’d left the elevator, so she’d do the same, not risking the shaft would carry their voices up into the hallways.
The contraption stopped with the slightest of squeaks, the sound sending a surge of dread through Lory, and Jarek braced his arm on the wall and shielded his head with the other as if worried about an earthquake.
Silently, Lory got off the elevator, Anees and Jarek following, the latter visibly relieved to get out of the confinement of the cabin, and they made their way farther into the crematorium.
“What is this place?” Jarek finally asked, staying a step behind Anees, in front of Tabi, who was prepared for what they’d find down here—not just the smell of death and ash, but the patient they’d try to save.
“This is where the dead ashlings go after the morning elimination ritual,” Lory said as casually as the adrenaline coursing through her veins would allow. An intake of breath, a slight cough at the smell and dust.