4. Callum #2
“The Guild has their ways.” I threw a devilish smirk her way as we unloaded our array of weaponry.
My eyes scanned over each piece—every dagger, knife, throwing blade, and gun.
It was a full arsenal, and that wasn’t even counting the lengthy list of affinities we had been gifted between the three of us.
I had specifically picked Axel for this mission, knowing that his illustratio affinity would come in handy.
And between the two of us, we made up a full array of the three elemental affinities.
A phone rang out in the room, and all three of us looked around for which phone was ringing before I stalked over to the counter and picked up my phone, briefly glancing at the caller ID before answering.
“Blackwood.” My voice was gruff, and I waited a moment before an older voice came through on the other end of the line.
“No problems as of yet, I take it?” Elion asked on the other end, his voice muffled.
“Not yet.” I leaned back into the chair closest to the kitchen counter, mindlessly twirling a throwing blade through my fingers.
“I want details by the end of next week.”
“Until then,” I replied, before disconnecting the call and offering no further information. I didn’t need to. All we needed was a mutual acknowledgement that the information would be there.
“When do you return to Aurum Quarter?” Axel asked Eleana as I walked back over to the couch. I shot a brief glance over at Eleana while I settled down in an open spot, before calling on my fire affinity to light the wild lotus between my fingers.
“Axel Pierce,” Eleana scolded. “I swear to Aeternus, if you could just pay attention for one stars-damned minute when I open my mouth, maybe you’d remember.”
“It’s not my fault you open your mouth and suddenly time itself stands still,” he protested as he rummaged through the cabinets.
I let out a small puff of smoke from between my lips as I listened to them speak, the effects of the wild lotus washing over me in a calming manner as I leaned back against the couch, before taking another draw.
“I’ll head for The Wall in two hours,” she answered, returning her attention to her phone. “The RSG is changing shift posts then. It will be the easiest point in time for me to slip through undetected. I just need to make it back across the stars-damned Rift.”
“Better you than me,” Axel voiced as he grabbed a dust-covered amber bottle from a bottom cabinet below the kitchen island.
“Why? Because I’ve actually got the balls to cross it multiple times in one night?” Eleana teased.
“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” Axel protested as he shot daggers at the female while he uncorked a bottle of ambrosia. “A straight attack on my manhood? It’s The Rift, for stars-sake. No one willingly wants to cross it.”
“He does,” Eleana replied smoothly as she gestured toward where I sat near the window, half-listening to the banter of the two other members of my Shade.
We’d earned that title two centuries ago for our ability to slip through the shadows and surveillance systems undetected, and were now the most notorious and elite grouping of spies in the Aurelian Guild.
It had been easy enough to climb through the ranks—the three of us combined having access to seven of the eight affinities gifted by Aeternus.
Not that many citizens in Aurelia were even aware of the extent of our affinities.
I began to retrace what I’d overheard this evening at the tavern. It was, after all, the easiest place to gather information with little effort or detection. And tonight, the location had served me well.
“Do you know what Elion plans to do?” Axel’s voice broke the silence, causing me to glance up from the map we’d been analyzing. “He hasn’t made a play in Solis Quarter since The Wall went up centuries ago.”
My eyes flicked toward his, then back down to the map. “You know Elion. He never openly shares his plans, even with us.”
Axel scoffed as he leaned back against the sofa, reaching for the bottle of ambrosia on the end table before he spoke again. “You’d think after centuries in his service, he’d be more open with us.”
“You already know he won’t, Pierce.” I gestured to a point on the map as my gaze focused back in on the table. “We start with the Temple District.”
“What do you think is there?”
“I’m not sure,” I said with a low sigh. “But this district of the Quarter houses all their temples and their library.”
“How many temples do they have?” Axel inquired as green eyes flicked over toward the map, studying the exact location I was pointing at.
“Too many.” I stared at the circle in the center of the district, counting six temples with one building directly in the center.
“Six?” Axel questioned from across the glass coffee table as he stared at the map that was digitally displayed between us. “What possible reason do they have for six temples?”
“One god . . . six temples . . . it obviously adds up,” I joked, even as my gaze shifted back and forth across the map, tracking the locations of the temples and the distance between them and the Solis Court.
“We already suspect that they no longer follow the Eternal. And if that’s the case, we need to determine what they truly believe in.
What gods or goddesses they follow instead? ”
“It explains the lack of the color gold throughout the Quarter,” he replied as he too studied the Temple District more closely.
I nodded, taking another sip of my ambrosia, letting the alcohol coat the back of my throat before responding. “Possibly,” I answered. “But from what I gathered at the tavern, they still perform the Marking Day ceremony, and they still receive their affinities from Aeternus.”
“So we start there,” Axel confirmed. “There’s something we’re missing. If they still get marked, their wings, their symbols—”
“They would all be pure gold, like the Eternal—like ours, and all of Aurum Quarter,” I finished. “Not onyx like the marks we saw on the guards we took out.”
“Well, shit,” he replied. “Looks like we’re about to crash another Marking Day ceremony.”
I only nodded, letting silence wash over the space as I contemplated our options. We had seven days before we were due to report back to the Aurelian Guild—seven days to discover what was amiss, whether this district was corrupted beyond repair. The ceremony was our best bet.
“And you’re sure we can’t just take Lucanus out now?”
My eyes snapped toward Axel, catching the amused grin on his face. “We don’t know what the Eternal has commanded of the Guild,” I growled lowly.
“I’m just saying,” he replied, raising his hands in protest. “Whatever it is. It’s got to be traced back to Lucanus. Seems like it would make it easy on everyone just to take him out now and be done with it.”
“His blood isn’t ours to spill. Not now at least,” I replied, my eyes narrowing on the male across from me. “And we don’t know for certain whether he is responsible or just another pawn spreading corruption.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “We’ll wait. But Elion had better give us more information soon.”
I laughed, agreeing with him as he poured us another round.
I leaned my head back, staring up at the white ceiling of the apartment we found ourselves in.
I swirled the glass of ambrosia in my hand as I ran through our plan of attack for tomorrow, tracing over the streets of Solis in my mind before recalling the interior layout of each of the temple structures.
I traced and retraced every step we would take tomorrow until I knew it would be executed with perfect precision.
We couldn’t afford to tip off Lucanus. Not yet, at least. Not until it worked in our favor.
The night stretched on as I nursed the drink in my hand, fighting off the exhaustion tugging at my edges.
Only, I found my thoughts drifting toward wavy, dark brown hair and sea-glass hazel eyes with flakes of silver, like starlight, shining through them.
I grinned, taking a drink as I recalled the witty comebacks from a particular bartender at the Tilted Tavern, and I already knew I planned to return very soon.