CHAPTER 13
DAVINA
One month ago
I HAD OFFICIALLY GIVEN UP ON FINDING CLUES FOR THE DAY, the robbers incident stealing what little energy I had left.
It wasn’t that low-level crime surprised me, it happened all over the Republic, too, but something about the combination of the fight with Zephyr, the unrelenting heat, and the sheer disaster of the day had left me hollow.
The ambush had merely been the final straw.
And maybe those two had truly been homeless and starving, which certainly are terrible situations to be in, but none of them were justifiable reasons to hold a stranger at blade’s point.
Even though I was employed by the Republic—or maybe because of it—I was acutely aware of its flaws. The border closures, the tight control over sap distribution that resulted in a minority being inked while simultaneously building the economy around it . . .
It was a mess.
But also, could they be blamed? These governing bodies had suddenly been tasked with managing the consequences of the discovery of Evergreen Mahogany sap, a substance that could alter human capability in ways we still didn’t fully understand.
Expecting any leadership to master its extraction, distribution, application, and regulation, while also ensuring it was amortized so that the country’s development didn’t fall behind the unspoken race taking the world over, but also implementing limitations so that human rights were preserved?
Honestly, it was a miracle a system existed at all. That it mostly worked? Even more so.
Still, I understood the discontent. I could even understand why something like the Sapless existed, even if I hated them with the might of the Kobrant desert’s heat.
What would the world have looked like if sap had never been discovered? What would we have become, if machines had been given the chance to evolve?
I didn’t think I wanted to know.
The one point I’d give them is this: I’d often wondered how a resource so crucial to human evolution could be reserved only for those who could afford it.
When the supply was so limited, how could people not rage at the sight of some wielding two abilities while others could barely scrape together enough for one? Or none at all?
Even if I belonged to the privileged few—not because of my wealth, obviously—I couldn’t ignore the inequity of it all.
The end didn’t justify the means, though, and wreaking havoc and destroying sap was not how the world was changed, something the Sapless had yet to understand. Springing surprise attacks on unsuspecting night-strollers wasn’t it, either.
I was walking back to the accommodation, the barely-there sliver of moon my only company. I was no longer distracted, though, so when I sensed a shift in the air beside me, my hand snapped out, faster than a viper striking.
I had the aggressor held by the neck in a blink. Startled amber eyes met mine. My other palm hovered steadily between us, inked fingers splayed in warning.
It was a woman, her head mostly wrapped in a thin scarf.
And it hit me then. It wasn’t just any woman, but the woman from the artifact shop. The one who’d been quietly studying the shelves when Zephyr and I walked in hours ago.
I let go of her neck but did not lower my guard.
“Who are you?” I demanded. She didn’t look like a threat, thin and frail as she was, but my patience was gone, scraped raw by the day.
She took a step back, but her foot caught on a loose cobblestone. She stumbled. Reflexively, my hand closed around her upper arm, keeping her upright.
How I’d gone from threat to savior, I couldn’t say.
“Tha-thank you. I’m ju . . .” Her voice was soft, stuttering. “Just someone who knew of th-the historian you mentioned earlier.” My heartbeat spiked.
The fear in her eyes was real. She’s telling the truth.
I released her arm but said nothing, watching her instead. When it was clear I wasn’t going to speak, she swallowed, terror receding if only a notch.
“I think I might know something that could help.”
My brows lifted. Just how much had she overheard back in the shop?
Does it matter, if it gets me a lead?
“What is it?”
If my bluntness unsettled her, she didn’t show it.
“I’ve heard rumors that the Widesightian doctor was often seen visiting the pyramids. Going into them, and coming back out.”
I stilled. Somehow, this woman knew I wasn’t looking for some new item to decorate a study.
Then her words registered. If what Kwabena had said was right, and there were no records of anyone going into the pyramids and coming back out alive . . . no one would risk venturing into any of the massive constructions to satisfy a hunger for history.
For some reason, it didn’t strike me as awfully odd that the man who’d moved to this continent to study its history and culture had somehow found a way into the beasts of a building. Maybe not only to uncover their secrets, but to hide something.
Cursed sap, of course. If they had been erected as tombs, filled with labyrinthic internal passages like Kwabena had explained . . . I couldn’t think of a better place to store valuable items away from prying eyes.
“How does one get into the pyramids?” I asked, even though I feared I already knew the answer.
Her hand rose and I tensed, but the skin of her fingers and arms was bare of any ink. She only pushed a dark tendril of hair back beneath her scarf. I forced myself to relax.
“Braving the catacombs’ dangers, if one dares,” she said quietly. “If one manages to evade the traps . . . they might reach some of its vaults, protected by a life threat most people will not risk.”
“Can anyone access the pyramids?”
She shook her head. “A family owns the land around them. They monitor all access for those willing to pay. Entry is only permitted under the supervision of one of their guides. But even the guides won’t step inside.”
Naturally. Humans never passed up the chance to profit from mystery and legend. By controlling the entrances and exits, this family could claim a portion of any treasure discovered, without risking a thing.
Possibilities whirled through my mind. I could go visit them. Or better yet, find Sircelen’s pyramid and search it myself.
Later.
Right then, I had a mysterious woman who’d just handed me the very clue I’d been desperate for. There would be time for plans once I was back within the four walls of our lodging.
Once I proved to Zephyr how getting rid of his brooding presence had—eventually, but he didn’t need to know that—paid off.
I narrowed my eyes. “Why help me?”
Her gaze stayed fixed on the cobblestones just beside my feet, only her brows and lashes visible from where I stood. “I-I heard you earlier, asking for the Widesightian,” she said softly. “And then I saw what you did for th-those b-bandits.”
How she’d seen that, or how much she knew, I didn’t ask.
Then she looked up, and for the first time since she’d approached me, the fear was gone. Her amber eyes met mine steadily, and the determination in them held me still.
“You were merciful, miss, when you didn’t have to be. I believe we can only progress through forgiveness, as did my mother, and many others before me. So, I wanted to help where I could.” She paused, her gaze travelling over my light eyes, freckled nose, and ginger hair.
All different, all foreign, and yet the same where it mattered.
“I don’t know if it will lead to what you’re looking for, but it’s what I have.”
It was more than I’d expected. More than many would have offered, especially after seeing what I was capable of.
“Thank you.” I wasn’t only thanking her for the valuable info, but for her courage, too. She dipped her chin in quiet acknowledgment, and I took that as my cue to go.
No longer clueless, a smile curved my lips the entire way back.