Chapter Sixteen
Nina
Tobias and I were in a merchant’s house.
We moved carefully, our breath shallow, our footsteps lighter than ghosts.
Hunger gnawed at my stomach, a dull ache that had become too familiar.
The kitchen cupboards were bare save for a few lumps of hard cheese, several bread loaves, and a handful of apples.
Not much, but enough. Enough to last another day. Maybe.
Tobias hesitated, his hand hovering over the bread.
“This is wrong,” he whispered, his voice barely more than a breath. “He’s not got much himself. So, we shouldn’t take more than we need.”
My gaze had locked onto something else . . .
The locket was left forgotten on the windowsill. The gold caught the candlelight and glinted against the dust-coated wood.
Something about it called to me.
It wasn’t food. It wasn’t essential. But my fingers craved for it all the same. I grabbed the locket before I began to argue with myself. The cool metal was smooth beneath my fingertips, delicate yet weighty. I closed my fingers around it.
The thrill of taking something that wasn’t mine. The rush of knowing I could get away with it. A hunger that had nothing to do with my stomach.
“Let’s go,” Tobias said, urgency in his voice.
He came up beside me and gripped the window frame, his waistcoat pockets weighed down with only a few items. Two small loaves and a wedge of cheese that he’d taken care to slice in half rather than steal the whole thing.
But why stop there, when hunger gnaws at our stomachs?
Maybe that was the point. Maybe he wanted to believe we were still looking out for others.
That even in taking, there was a line we wouldn’t cross.
Half the cheese was survival. Leaving the rest was a way of telling ourselves we hadn’t lost our decency yet.
As Tobias climbed out of the house, I slipped the locket into my waistcoat pocket and hauled myself up onto the windowsill to follow him.
The first light of dawn stained the rooftops in pale gold. We said nothing as we darted through the darkened alleyways, and something shifted irreversibly, as if the locket had drawn out a thief in me who wasn’t afraid to take what others thought was untouchable—
I awoke breathless. The past was so vivid – I could almost feel the hunger pains.
The relic from Dimitri thrummed against my skin as if it held some sort of otherworldly magic. I shut my eyes, but the dream wouldn’t loosen its grip.
But it wasn’t a dream at all.
It had been a memory.
Had the relic shown me my truth?
A bitter taste stuck in the back of my throat. Tobias had seen it, too. He had known there was darkness in me.
I wanted to tear the locket off. But I thought better of it, knowing I needed the damn thing if I wanted to win The Cycle. I pressed my palm against it, feeling its steady, unnatural warmth.
I waited for my pulse to steady. In the corner, shadows stretched from the walls, growing despite the lack of light. They crept across the floor towards the bed, and I couldn’t shake the sense that someone, or something, was watching me.
I winced as I rolled out of bed, my hip aching at the effort. I grabbed my robe, and slipped from my chambers. The halls of the palace were as quiet as any other hour.
I need tea . . .
Something warm and grounding, so I could feel normal even when everything around me was a horrific disaster.
The kitchen was dim, with a soothing soft light from floating lanterns. I proceeded to the worktop, looking for the teapot, but there was nothing.
I groaned.
I willed a teapot to materialise—
Nothing appeared.
My frown deepened. “You want to play games, is that it?” I didn’t know if I was talking to Hell, the Demon of Temptation, or just yelling into the ether.
Fine. If the teapot didn’t come to me, I could find something else to settle my worries.
The kitchen was huge, after all; there had to be something in here I could brew or chew.
I turned to the shelves and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Kob lounging on the worktop in the form of a raccoon with his legs crossed.
He had been watching me flounder and mumble to myself.
“Sleep troubles?” he drawled.
“Have you been here the whole time?”
He gruffed. “You say that as though this is not my kitchen.”
I sighed and rubbed my temples before continuing my hunt for the teapot, fumbling through cupboards. Kob remained perched on the worktop, watching with a keen interest that made me uncomfortable.
“So,” he mused, “bad dreams?”
Nothing goes unnoticed in Hell.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Come now. You woke up in a state, wandered into the kitchen like a lost little lamb, and now the kitchen refuses to cooperate with you. Something’s wrong.”
I ignored him, reaching for the next cupboard’s handle, but it vanished the moment my fingers touched it.
Kob cackled. “See? Temptation won’t bend to you.”
“So that’s how it works then? I must be in a good mood to connect with this Hellish place?”
“You’ve got to be open to it, that’s the difference. You’re all closed off and consumed by your human nightmares – it’s like you’re still asleep, girl.”
I clenched my jaw. “It wasn’t a nightmare.”
“Wasn’t it?”
I turned to face him, arms crossed. “Can you just tell me how to find the tea?”
“You’re not the first lost soul to come stumbling through, and you won’t be the last.”
“No?”
“Souls come and go. The one thing you all have in common is failure.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to will my thoughts away. I missed Tobias too much. And this place was wicked. Every stupid gods-forsaken thing.
“You want to tell me about your nightmare?” Kob asked, shoving a handful of what looked like maggots into his mouth.
The words were stuck in my throat, too painful to voice. And maybe he saw that. Maybe he knew I wouldn’t answer because he only smiled again, wide and toothy.
“We all keep secrets. You just have to learn to live with it.”
“Kob,” I said. “If I win The Cycle . . . the Demon of Temptation will rule Hell?”
“Bullseye.”
“But . . . what do I win?”
He scoffed. “Only the Demon of Temptation can promise you something in return for your service.”
I took a deep breath.
He crouched and waved me closer. “Between us,” he murmured, “the demons benefit from their balance in power. They sabotage The Cycle, always have, always will. None of them want to bow to another. I’d not think too hard of an impossible victory if I was you.”
I frowned.
The Creator had shown me it was possible.
If I could find the Demon of Temptation and make a bargain, I could make sure my victory led me back to Tobias – and another chance at life.
Kob began to sing a tune. “Each is bestowed a Champion, as Hell decrees its game. Claim every relic, and your demon master reigns.”
With that, he flicked his tail, hopped off the worktop and headed towards the doorway. Before he left, he clicked his fingers, and a teapot and mug materialised in front of me.
I sighed, smiled weakly, and poured my damn tea.
If I was going to try my luck in Hell, I might as well start with small comforts.