Chapter 38
Phoenix
I saw it happen through the grate. I should’ve stopped it. I should’ve been faster.
Damn you, Leo.
He lunged at the guards like a beast unchained—claws flashing, rage pouring off him like heat. I swore under my breath and started to rise, but Slade caught my arm and yanked me back into the shadows.
“There are too many,” he growled. “We need a plan.”
“We can’t leave him!”
“We have to. They'll take us all if we charge in now.”
I didn’t want to leave him. Gods, I didn’t. But Slade was right. Charging in blind would get us killed—and Leo wouldn’t forgive us for that.
So I watched.
Through the slats, I saw them swarm. First three guards—then five. They brought him down hard, boots and fists slamming into him. He fought like hell, but he was off-balance, outnumbered. Caught at the worst possible moment.
Two of them dragged him away. Blood streaked behind him like a trail. He didn’t even look back.
My fists clenched. Fire surged under my skin, begging to be released.
“Phoenix,” Slade warned. “Not yet.”
I nodded tightly, but my jaw locked, and my breath shook with the effort to stay still.
We slipped deeper into the tunnels, ducking low beneath the thunder of the crowd. Slade kept his eyes on the path ahead. I leaned against a crate, trying to calm myself.
It didn’t work.
“He’s alive,” Slade said quietly. “They won’t kill him. Not yet.”
“No,” I muttered. “Not before they make an example of him.”
“They’ll make him fight. That’s what this is.” Slade’s voice was like a blade. “We’ll get him back.”
“How do you know that?”
He was silent for a beat. Then: “Because we have to.”
Above us, the crowd roared again—louder this time. The thuds, the shouts. Another fight in the Pit.
Of course I knew what this was. Everyone did. An illegal fighting ring, kept quiet only because it served Ashton’s twisted sense of order. Fewer mouths to feed, more blood for sport. He let it thrive.
There was a sickness in the way he viewed the world.
And we were in the heart of it now.
Then the air shifted.
Something was wrong.
The crowd murmured louder, movements shifting like a tide turning.
And then I saw them—shadowy figures filtering in through the outer edges, weaving unnoticed through the mass of spectators.
At first glance, they looked like civilians.
But then I caught it—the swathes of royal blue wrapped around their arms, legs, necks. Small marks, easy to miss.
But unmistakable.
“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath.
The Shattered Crown. Vael’s people. Gods.
“What the hell are they doing here?” I muttered, backing away from the grate.
“The resistance?” Slade murmured beside me. “You think it’s another attack?”
“Look at all these people,” I said, scanning the crowd. “If they’re planning another bombing, half the city’s going to die.”
“I’ll check.” Slade closed his eyes, drawing in a breath. “I’m reaching out—searching for charges or triggers.”
A moment passed.
“I don’t feel anything. But that doesn’t mean it’s not here.”
I clenched my fists. “I need a better vantage point.”
My gaze darted across the outer wall until I spotted it—a rusted scaffold, clinging to the side of the building like an afterthought.
“I’m going up.”
“Phoenix—be safe,” Slade said, low but steady.
“You too.” I paused. “Keep lookout. Don’t let anyone near the tunnels. If I spot anything—anything—we act.”
He nodded, disappearing back into shadow as I slipped toward the scaffold, heart pounding.
I climbed the wall, fingers seeking broken stone and rusted lattice. The mist of the night masked my silhouette as I rose toward a narrow ledge above the viewing boxes.
There—through a cracked grate—I saw them.
Ashford lounged in her velvet-draped throne, wine in hand, gaze cool and unreadable. Her slate grey hair was perfectly styled, not a strand out of place. She sat like a queen in her own little kingdom—someone with too much time and far too much power.
Across from her stood a man.
Broad-shouldered. Silver-haired. Cloaked in shadow. Even before I saw his face, I knew.
Vael.
He hadn’t aged. Not a day.
Impossible.
The civil war between him and Ashton had raged for years, and I remembered his name whispered like a curse. His cruelty made Ashton look like a child playing at war. And his devotion to the old gods? Unrelenting. Obsessive.
I’d been just a young Shade when his betrayal was uncovered. I’d been hunting him ever since.
Now here he was.
His blood-red eyes glowed faintly in the low light of the chamber—burning with something far worse than anger.
“We had a deal,” he hissed.
Ashford didn’t flinch. She swirled her wine lazily, lounging deeper into her seat. “Deals change, Vael.”
His voice sharpened. “You told me I could have her, Mara.”
She raised a brow, unimpressed. “That was before I realised what she’s worth. The girl’s pulled in more gold in a day than your entire holy crusade.”
Vael didn’t move, but the air around him darkened.
“Elira is worth more than coin.”
Ashford smiled, cold and elegant. “Not to me.”
His robes stirred like smoke as he stepped closer. “You think you can provoke me. But you forget what I do to those who cross me.”
“Oh, I’m very aware,” Ashford said smoothly. “But you know the rules. You use my tunnels and my contacts for your raids. And in return, I get favours.”
“She is not a favour. She is to be my wife. The gods themselves have decreed it!”
The word hit like a blade.
That will never happen.
Ashford only smiled. “You forget where you are. My pit. My rules. And your gods don’t live here.”
Vael’s aura darkened. I felt it even from here—like gravity shifting. “You think walls will stop me?”
“That’s not what will stop you,” she said coolly. “You need me more than you want to admit.”
He didn’t respond. But he turned—just slightly—and scanned the crowd. I could see the men snaking the way through the crowds.
Then I saw it—the pattern. His men weren’t scattered, they were weaving. Mapping the exits. Coordinated. He wasn’t just visiting. He was infiltrating her from the inside out.
Whatever was about to happen was about to be bigger than any of us anticipated.
Blood would spill. And I got the feeling Elira was going to be right in the middle of it.
I dropped from the ledge before anyone could see me. Landed silently. Slade was already beside me, tension radiating from his frame.
I met his eyes.
“We have to get to Elira,” I said. “Now.”