Chapter Eleven
THE SPY
Araging case of dry mouth interrupted my slumber. Afternoon light slashed across my bed, where I lay haphazardly in the tiny dress from the night prior. My head throbbed, but I was lucid. Confusion laced through the holes in my memory. I sat up, expecting a wave of dizziness that never came.
My canteen lay on my nightstand. I didn’t recall leaving it there.
I gulped down the water inside it. Who brought me home?
Could it have really been the general? I was lucky to have made it back safely.
My hand shook as I set the canteen back down.
Last night could have been so bad. I knew deep down that it was Judd who saved me.
I didn’t trust him, but I sat confounded, my foot tapping erratically on the floorboards.
The general had shadow magic, just like the king. It was a magic the king claimed only he possessed. Yet, in a secret part of me, lined with the fumes of betrayal toward King Nolan, I knew this was untrue.
The memory of Dom came easily. The last time I saw him, he’d promised me he’d return. After all this time, it was still an unhealed wound reeking of abandonment and the hollowness of hurt. I shoved it aside. There had to be a connection between Judd and Dom. I would figure it out.
My fingers still shimmered with Glint’s residue.
I ripped moisture out of the air and coated my hands, then wiped them thoroughly on my dress.
The threat and effects of it ignited my rage.
A singular purpose crystallized in my mind.
I wanted to destroy every last person who spread the vile poison.
I wanted to avenge my mother—the victim of a Glint addict.
I wanted to protect the unprotected. And if I allowed myself to pause and truly look inward, perhaps I just wanted to protect myself, the little girl the world tried to break.
I hopped up, pacing my room. I would accompany Delah on her mission to the Glint house this evening.
I walked over to my bedside, dug into the glass bowl full of hard candies, and popped a cherry candy in my mouth, focusing on its sweetness.
A soul-deep sigh escaped. My exhaustion reached well beyond the physical.
As the candy dissolved in my mouth, my decision honed into a blade.
King Nolan would not deny me the option to make the trade when the evidence of my loyalty and commitment to the innocents lay bare before him.
I would do it with the blood and information of our enemies.
I would carve my own way. And it would start tonight.
I threw a quick dinner together before I shared my plan with Delah.
“You want to come with me to a Glint house?” Delah gaped at me, her fork hovering halfway to her mouth.
I grinned smugly in response.
“Don’t be surprised if things are different from what you’ve heard.
I think you accompanying me is long overdue.
But, Rue, I’m supposed to be in and out, simply obtaining some of the Glint being passed around so we can examine it and figure out how they are changing it. The plan doesn’t include daggers.”
“But you’re bringing knives!” I gesticulated with my empty fork. I knew I was riling her, and I suppressed my amusement.
“I’ll have them as backup, which I’ve never needed before.” She set her own fork down, daring me to push back.
“I will lead with words first, okay? I won’t bring them out unless there’s a threat.” I quirked my eyebrow and smiled. I feigned an innocence not even a child could be fooled into believing was real.
Delah groaned, and I knew I’d won.
“This’ll be fun,” I cajoled. “Besides, we haven’t done a hit in the city since before the military officials caught two thieving orphans. It’ll be like old times.”
“You are so annoying sometimes. I hope I don’t regret this.” Delah sighed in defeat, even as a small grin quirked the side of her mouth.
Thick fog huddled in the corners of the stone walls we passed.
Shadows mingled with the smells of rubbish and damp earth.
Delah and I moved as close to the darkness as we could, homing in on a Glint house outside the Oleander district.
It felt good to be out in the streets with her, pushing back the darkness in our own way.
Glint was the drug that connected all levels of society.
In large quantities, it was hallucinogenic—the quintessential party drug for the wealthy.
For the underprivileged, the enticement of numbness and reprieve from squalor was too much.
I hated how our city was built in such a way that the line between wealth and poverty had stretched into an insurmountable chasm.
We weaved through the darkened streets, stepping over puddles and waste that collected in scattered heaps.
The few people we encountered kept their faces drawn deep in the hoods of their cloaks, desiring to avoid us as much as we did them.
Dim lights illuminated the entryways of crumbling facades.
Delah checked her map before pulling me down a side street.
“The house is up ahead. We need to get in, secure the Glint, and then we’re out. Got it?” Delah shifted on her feet, antsy.
We kept our hoods up, two reapers in the dark.
The deep thrum of music interrupted the stillness of the evening.
We approached a nondescript door and pushed it open.
Within the dark hall, the stench of mold assaulted my senses.
The further we walked into the hovel, the louder the music became.
We turned into a large open room, stopping at the entrance.
My eyes widened as I took in the scene. Men and women lay limp and disoriented atop every piece of furniture in the room.
A child played in a corner. The saccharine smell of Glint sagged thick in the air.
A man turned our way and sauntered over, his pupils dilated.
“What brings you ladies here this evening?” he drawled, the golden remnants of Glint sparkling on his shirt as if he’d wiped his hands all over himself.
I let Delah lead as I continued scanning the room.
“We want three tags of Glint,” she confidently responded, using the correct slang. The man took his time appraising us. “We have plenty of coin.” She pulled out a bag, jingling it in emphasis. The man fixated on it.
“Wait here,” he directed, then heavily turned away. A twitch rippled across his torso.
There were moans as people spasmed and attempted to move their lethargic bodies. I walked over to a young woman whose hollow eyes dragged toward me. “My magic,” she wheezed. “They took it.” She attempted to lift her arm but dropped it promptly, seemingly losing all energy in the process.
My shoulders tensed as my magic pulsed, on high alert.
Something wasn’t right here. The fine hairs on my arm prickled with unease.
I had observed Glint in action before, but this was something else.
“How much did you take?” I asked the woman.
She didn’t register that she’d heard my question.
My eyes met Delah’s, whose concerned expression mirrored my own.
The child in the corner paused his nonsensical chatter and peered directly at me. His sharp gaze froze me in place. “Scourge,” he whispered. I shook my head in a pleading warning.
“Scourge!” he yelled. He jumped up, pointing, electricity shooting from his open palm. It hit a man on the floor, his back leaning against one of the few chairs. The man’s eyes profusely watered as his body seized in response.
Delah backed up, arms raised defensively.
I drew water toward myself. Instinct flared my magic to life as I focused on the boy.
Darkness enveloped him, and his aura convulsed erratically.
He cast another cord of electricity in our direction.
My hands shot up a wall of water, hardening it just in time to deflect the bolt.
“Get out of here,” I hissed at Delah, shoving her behind me.
The boy cocked his head, a grimace melting his features.
“I recognize you, Scourge. What are you doing here? Come to mock the plight of the poor? As if your king has not taken enough? We cope the best we can, and Glint gives us relief. Even if it feeds…” He paused, glancing upward, clenching his mouth shut. “Again, What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”
His face morphed before my eyes into that of the notorious Glint supplier, Thorn, the elusive shape-shifter on my shortlist of marks to dispatch.
Our cover blown, I wouldn’t get intel out of this excursion like I’d hoped, but perhaps apprehending Thorn would be an even better gift to drop at Maelic’s feet.
“No judgment from us, Thorn,” I pointedly stated his name. “Just here for a few tags of Glint. After we get them, we’ll be on our way.”
“I think not.” He lunged, sending tentacles of electricity outward.
They swarmed around his body in a protective shield.
My sword formed, drawing from the dampness in the air, its gleaming blade crystallizing instantly.
My daggers, enforced with Berine, would absorb some of his electrical magic.
I drew one from my thigh holster with my opposite hand and threw it at his arm.
He jolted, snarling as he grabbed his bicep.
The electricity flickered with his back step, and I seized the opening. Manacles of magicked ice formed around his ankles and wrists. I decreased their temperature to well below freezing, burning his exposed flesh. He dropped to his knees.
His electricity guttered. A bubble of water encased his hands as protection against his electrical magic. Should he try to unleash it, it would only serve to electrocute him instead.
I stomped over and grabbed him by the hair. My sword threatened his exposed throat. “Get up.” Delah hovered near the exit. I eyed her. “Let’s go.”