Chapter 8 #2
It took mere seconds for the transparent barrier to dissolve, the glass vanishing along with the magic that had kept the ellixen ward in place.
And then, suddenly, there was nothing but air between Viri and Reeve.
He stepped forward, and she instinctively stepped backward, before giving herself a mental slap.
His lips quirked, his voice low as he asked, “Scared?”
Viri tugged on the fillium, making the cord tighten around his wrists. “The only person who should be scared is you.”
A soft laugh. “No one has ever scared me more than you, Viri.”
She almost scoffed before remembering that he couldn’t lie while touching the fillium. “When have I—”
“Uh-uh,” he tsked. “No personal questions, remember?”
“You said I could earn them.”
“And you said you weren’t interested.”
“I—” Viri snapped her mouth shut, if only to keep from putting her foot in it. She hated the amusement lighting his eyes—it was even more devastating up close—and spun on her heel, yanking him after her. “Come on. We need to hurry.”
His long legs kept pace easily with hers as they headed in the direction of the elevator. “I take it you have a plan?”
She tried not to think about the fact that she was walking side by side with a reaper—one she’d willfully broken out of a prison cell—just as she tried not to think about the fact that the reaper was Reeve. She honestly wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Of course I have a plan,” Viri lied as they moved quickly through the tunnels, thankful yet again that the fillium didn’t work on her. “You just have to tell me where we’re heading once I get us out of here.”
Reeve’s surprise was clear in his voice. “You’re letting me choose?”
“The bargain is for your freedom, isn’t it?
” Viri didn’t intend to let him go for real, but a false sense of security never hurt anyone.
As long as her weapon remained around his wrists, he wasn’t going anywhere without her, nor could he siphon any magic to help him flee.
At the end of this night, he would be right back where he started—locked in a cell.
“In that case, there are so many options,” Reeve mused.
“Just figure it out before we reach the wayportal,” Viri told him, not caring where they went as long as she got the information he’d promised.
“If you want to cut some questions from my list, feel free to take me straight to the Reaper Priest or the missing children. Preferably both.” She knew there was no chance of him doing that, but still, it was worth asking, if only for what he said next.
“So you know about the kids.” An unreadable look flashed across his face. “You’ve been busy.”
Viri’s jaw clenched. Some small, secret part of her had hoped he might be ignorant of the abductions, but that had been foolish.
Reeve was the Priest’s most loyal follower.
As disgusted as she was by the role he must have played in the kidnappings, at least that meant he would be able to answer her questions about the approaching sacrifice.
“How long do the kids have left?” she asked, figuring she might as well get a head start on her interrogation.
Reeve, however, disagreed. “No cheating, Little Shadow. I’m not free yet.”
“You’re no longer in a cell.”
“But still in prison.”
“Some say life is a prison,” Viri returned. “That’s not something I can free you from.”
“I’m sure you could think of a way.” He sent her a sideways look as they rounded the final bend in the tunnel, the elevator in sight up ahead. “Don’t tell me it hasn’t crossed your mind.”
Viri bristled at his implication. “Unlike you, I don’t fantasize about killing people. And even if I did, I wouldn’t waste the mental space on you.”
“Just the Reaper Priest, then?”
Tension flooded Viri, but she forced her limbs to keep moving, the elevator now only steps away. “He deserves what’s coming to him.”
Another sideways look from Reeve. “Are you sure about that?”
Before Viri could respond, the elevator arrived with a soft ding—but it hadn’t come at her request.
Panicking, she looked around for somewhere to hide, a shadowy corner, anything, but it was no use. The tunnel was dim but not dark enough to conceal her and Reeve.
She cursed under her breath. “Get ready. We’re about to be ambushed.”
“All part of your plan, right?” Reeve said dryly.
Viri shot him a glare. “I take back what I said about not fantasizing about your death.”
He winked. “Just add it to the other fantasies you have about me.”
For a moment, Viri genuinely considered letting Reeve get locked up again, bargain be damned. But then she came to her senses and remembered why she was helping him in the first place.
“Just keep your mouth shut and stay out of my way,” she ordered as the elevator doors began to open.
Reeve raised his bound wrists. “I can help you fight if you free me.”
“If you think for one second that I’d trust—”
She didn’t get to finish before the doors opened wide enough for a black-uniformed guard to rush through, nor did she react in time to stop Reeve from leaping between her and the threat, moving so fast he was a blur as he spun behind the Nox and enclosed his bound hands around the young man’s neck.
A very familiar young man.
“No—Reeve—stop!” Viri cried as Soren coughed and bucked against Reeve’s choking grip. “Let him go!”
She yanked on her fillium for good measure, but Reeve was already backing away.
“Elders, are you all right?” Viri asked, hurrying to her friend’s side as he sucked in heaving gulps of air. “What are you doing here?”
“What the hell do you think?” Soren rasped, rubbing his reddened neck and glaring at Reeve before turning that glare on Viri.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said quickly. “I didn’t want—”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Soren interrupted, his glare intensifying.
“I just got back from patrol, ready to head home to my nice, warm bed, only to hear the reception guards mention how you must have been busy with ‘hunter paperwork’ since you’d arrived but never left.
” He leaned in angrily. “Paperwork. You. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why you were really here. ”
Viri bit her lip. “I—”
“How the hell did you even get past the elevator?” At the look on her face, his own darkened. “Wynter. Of course.”
“Sor—” Viri started, but he cut her off again.
“Do you realize how much trouble you’d be in if someone other than me had come down here?” Soren’s brown eyes were furious. “How much trouble I’d be in, if they thought I helped you again? If anyone finds out—”
Viri spoke over him. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t an emergency.”
Soren shook his head. “That’s not good enough.” He jabbed a finger toward Reeve. “Explain to me why this scumbag is out of his cell. Right now.”
“This ‘scumbag’ has a name,” Reeve drawled.
Viri sent him a warning look, willing him to be silent.
“I know exactly who you are,” Soren said, drawing himself up to his full height. For most, that would be intimidating, but Reeve was equally tall, and all he did was roll his eyes and yawn in response. Viri wanted to kick him.
“There are things you don’t know, Sor,” she answered her friend. “Life-or-death things. Reeve has the answers I need to stop something terrible from happening.”
“Captain Farrow has briefed me about the missing kids,” Soren said, his face still hard. “The Nox are teaming up with the hunters on this—everyone’s getting orders in the morning. We’ll find them. We don’t need help from some reaper filth to do it.”
“First ‘scumbag,’ now ‘filth’?” Reeve sounded amused. “What’s next—you insult my mother? Go ahead, I’ll join you.”
“Shut up, Reeve,” Viri hissed. To Soren, she said, “Darik doesn’t know everything, not yet.”
Quickly, she summarized her conversation with Sarielle, watching Soren grow paler with each word she uttered.
“How long do we have until the sacrifice?” he asked, his expression no longer hard but instead pinched with worry.
“That’s one of the many things I intend to find out,” Viri said, gesturing to Reeve. “We made a bargain. If I help him escape, he’s promised to answer everything I want to know about the Priest and his plans.”
“I have a better idea,” Soren said, taking a menacing step forward. “How about he answers your questions right here.”
Reeve had the audacity to chuckle. “You’re plucky for a city guard, I’ll give you that. But you should know better than to break a bargain with a reaper. Careful, Archer. You don’t want me as your enemy.”
Soren stilled upon hearing his surname.
Reeve’s mouth curled into an edged smile.
“You think I don’t know who you are? Soren Archer, friend to Viridia Solace”—he waved his bound hands lazily toward Viri—“and Wynter Starling. Brother and guardian to Jessalyn Archer. Revered member of the Nox Custodia and on a career path toward captaincy one day. You hate your parents, you love your sister more than anyone in the world, and you’d do anything to protect the people you care about. Shall I go on?”
“Is this your attempt at threatening me?” Soren asked through clenched teeth. “Telling me you know about my life?”
Reeve’s smile turned dangerous. “If it was, you wouldn’t have to ask. You’d know.”
When Soren took another angry step toward Reeve, Viri leapt forward to place her body between them.
“That’s enough. Need I remind you both that we’re sitting ducks down here?
We could be caught at any minute, and then we’ll all end up in cells.
” Her blood chilled at the thought, but then she reminded herself of the stakes, stomped down on her unease, and turned to Reeve.
“You and I need to get out of here.” She spun back to Soren.
“And you need to create a distraction so no one sees us sneaking out through the wayportal.”
Soren spluttered. “Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because you’re my friend and you love me?” Viri suggested innocently. At his flat look, she sighed. “Fine. Consider this me calling in the favor I won at family night.”
Disbelief splashed across Soren’s face. “Are you kidding me?”
“You told me not to make it anything weird,” Viri reminded him. “You didn’t say it had to be legal.”
Soren’s disbelief only grew. “I figured it was implied by the fact that we both work in law enforcement.”
“This is fun,” Reeve observed, shifting to lean against the tunnel wall. “If you two ever get sick of public service, you should consider joining the Theater Guild.”
“I swear, Reeve,” Viri grated out, “one more word, and I’ll throw you back in your cell myself.” She turned to Soren with a pleading expression. “Please, Sor. I know this isn’t ideal—I hate it more than you do, trust me—but we need answers. And I need your help to get them.”
Soren dragged a hand through his sandy-blond hair, looking torn. “If you do this, V, you’ll be painting a target on your back. You know that, right? If you take off with Ashton, every available guard will come after you. You won’t be the hunter—you’ll be the hunted. Can you handle that?”
“It’ll be worth it,” Viri said, even as her stomach dropped. “It has to be.”
If all went to plan, Reeve would be locked away again before anyone realized he was gone.
But if worse came to worst, Viri was counting on the fact that everyone would be too busy trying to locate the children to waste resources finding her.
And if it turned out she was wrong, if she was caught harboring a fugitive…
“There’s no cost too steep if it means finding the Priest in time to stop him.”
Sarielle’s words repeated in Viri’s mind, giving her the courage she needed to stay the course.
“I know what I’m doing, Sor,” she said softly. “I need you to trust me.”
“You’re not the issue.” He shot an angry look at Reeve.
“If you’re concerned for her welfare, you needn’t be,” Reeve said smoothly, still leaning against the wall, his hands bound in front of him and legs crossed at the ankles. “If there’s anyone Viri can trust with her life, it’s me.”
The fillium meant he wasn’t lying, but Viri knew better than to lower her guard. There were plenty of ways he could hurt her that didn’t leave a mark—he’d taught her that lesson himself.
“Forgive me if I have trouble believing the word of a murderer,” Soren stated acidly.
“You’re forgiven,” Reeve returned. He cocked his head to the side. “Since we’re saying nice things about each other, has anyone ever told you that you have hero hair? I’ve never seen anything so perfectly coiffed.”
A startled, choked laugh left Viri without her permission. She quickly stifled it at the look Soren sent her, and staunchly ignored the pleased light in Reeve’s eyes.
Adopting a serious expression, she said, firmly, “Stop antagonizing each other.”
“He started it.”
Both Soren and Reeve spoke at once, making Viri cough against another poorly timed laugh. But she fought it down and asked, “Sor, are you in?”
A long-suffering sigh. “Do I have a choice?”
Making sure the fillium was still tight in one hand, Viri used the other to squeeze her friend’s arm. “Of course you do. But I’m really hoping you’ll choose to help.”
He sighed again, louder this time. “What kind of a distraction do you have in mind?”