Chapter Eight #2
“Absolutely not,” Dante spat. “We have to train. And I’ve already been gone long enough. If my mother sees that I—”
“Scared of your mommy?” I quirked a brow. Sophie grinned wickedly beside me.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “This is childish.”
“But it’s working.”
“A bit.”
“Graham said there was a party by the eighth tonight,” Sophie said.
“The eighth?” Dante raised a brow. “As in the tunnel where the eighth Trial is held?”
“Well, no one ever goes over there anymore, right? Your mom was the first in two centuries to even reach the fifth. It’s basically abandoned.”
“So you have parties in front of the upper Trials tunnels?”
“Sometimes.”
“Are you coming?” I asked, keeping my arm hooked with Sophie’s as I turned and strode toward the door, pulling her along with me.
I still wasn’t in a celebratory mood but putting as much distance between myself and the box of Darius’s things sounded like a good idea.
And if a cup of the strongest alcohol Sophie could find was there to ease the sting as well, even better.
“If you are, I am,” he replied with a shrug, though he added in my mind, But we train double tomorrow.
As you wish, Your Highness. I shot a wink over my shoulder.
Dante rolled his eyes but followed us out of the apartment and into the dark stairwell.
The party at the eighth was just as feral as ever.
Teenagers and young adults from the Deck and the Third Ring, even some from the Second, walked around in the dark, talking and laughing far louder than usual courtesy of the unholy high-proof illegal liquor that Jack and Liam Finnegan distilled in their hut on the Deck.
They charged far more than the awful alcohol was worth, but at least it wasn’t regulated.
The only light came from the semicircle of dim mine lights surrounding the tunnel opening.
A few teenage boys milled around just outside of the eighth, shoving one another closer and closer to the void of the closed tunnel.
Nearby, a girl who was maybe eighteen doubled over and puked all over the cobblestones.
Her friends wrinkled their noses and turned away while some guy I wasn’t sure she even knew held her hair and patted her back.
Classy, Dante spoke into my mind.
You’re free to leave at any time, Viper.
“Liam,” Sophie spoke in greeting as we approached the Finnegan brothers’ makeshift bar comprised entirely of discarded sheet metal and cardboard they’d undoubtedly stripped from their own home to bring to the eighth. “Three cups.”
“For you girls, it’s on the house,” Liam said with a wink, already pouring.
“No, it’s not,” Jack disagreed. He set down another full keg and glared at his brother. Sophie snorted, looking up at Liam from beneath her thick lashes. “You’ve got to stop giving this shit to any hot girl that looks your way.”
“The compliments are much appreciated, Jack,” I crooned, crossing my arms. The youngest Finnegan’s gaze fell on me, and his shoulders slumped.
“Oh, Adrian. I didn’t see you there. It’s on the house, okay?”
“Don’t do me any favors,” I growled.
“Listen, I heard about Darius—”
“I don’t want your pity.” I slammed a golden ring onto the counter between us. Jack frowned, but Liam leaned forward and stared at the ring with wide eyes. “That should pay for our drinks all evening. Come on Sophie.”
Please tell me you did not steal that from my family, Dante growled in my mind.
Okay. I did not steal that from your family.
Adrian.
Cosmo wears bigger rings than that on his little finger. He won’t even notice it’s missing.
At that moment, I learned it was entirely possible to hear Dante sigh in my mind.
I shook my head, unable to suppress my grin, as I stepped away with Sophie.
The music started. Some of the Deckers had pulled out drums made of recycled metal, other stringed instruments they’d fashioned from who knew what.
It didn’t matter. Talent wasn’t restricted to the upper rings.
Musicians, dancers, artists like Sophie, all existed in the bottom rungs of society as well.
We might not have had the tools that the upper rings had, but the artists always found ways.
I knew the band playing. Graham’s little brother was amongst them.
That must have been how Sophie had known about the party.
“Adrian, he didn’t mean—”
Before she could finish, I downed one cup of whiskey, than the other.
“I’m assuming that was supposed to be for me,” a deep, masculine voice drawled.
Dante stood in front of me, a brow raised. I huffed and reached for Sophie’s hand, leading my friend onto the dance floor—and away from him.
The music swelled and more and more bodies made their way onto the open space set aside for dancing.
Dante was off somewhere in the shadows, likely brooding against the tunnel wall.
I didn’t care. I hadn’t wanted to hear Darius’s name or answer any more questions about him tonight.
And I didn’t need the reminder his things back in the apartment and his vacant room carried.
I planned to drink and dance until I had no choice but to forget.
We danced to several songs, clapping and cheering for Graham’s little brother, Harrison, between each one. Sophie stayed with me the whole time, moving her body to the rhythm beside mine, trying to hide the concern in her eyes every time she looked at me.
“How long are you going to make First Ring hunk over there suffer?” she asked after a while.
“Until he learns not to follow me around.”
She snorted. “Maybe it’s a good thing, though? You’ve seen how crazy people get when they see Dahlia around the rings. Maybe it would be good to have some backup. People know your name now, Adrian.”
“Mine and half the other participants who made it through the first Trial.”
“Not half,” she said. I stilled, and Sophie stopped dancing too. “Graham worked for the administration that day. He ran the numbers. Not even a third made it through, the lowest amount ever.”
I frowned.
“And none of the other Third Ringers or Deckers got paired up with a First Ringer. Not even Second Ringers typically get paired with them. Only First Ringers ever get paired with First Ringers, at least ever since Valin and Prima. So the fact that you and him—”
“Lucky me,” I grumbled sarcastically.
“Maybe you are lucky, though,” she said and gripped my arm. “They’re better prepared for this sort of thing. If he can help you get farther—”
“No one makes it far enough to advance, Sophie.”
“Dahlia might.”
The song ended, and everyone cheered. The band had finished their set.
I frowned, taking a step away from Sophie. But as if she could see it in my eyes that I considered bolting, she tightened her hold.
“I know you only joined for Darius,” she said, and the breath left my lungs.
Why was everyone determined not to let me forget, just for one damn night?
“But if it’s possible to win advancement for your family, to give them a better life, you’ve got to try, don’t you?
My money’s still on you, Adrian. Always. ”
I wrenched out of her grasp. Hurt flashed in her eyes, but before I could speak, someone bounced to our sides.
“There you two are,” Graham chattered excitedly, oblivious to the heaviness between his girlfriend and I.
“I tried to make my way over, but once the music started, I couldn’t push through.
They were great, don’t you think? Harrison said they’ve got a few gigs lined up at all the parties the candidates from the first Trial are throwing. ”
Who’s the dweeb? Dante’s voice in my mind was like a splash of ice water.
I blinked and peered over the shoulders of the people around me but saw no sign of him. Where are you?
You didn’t appear to desire my company.
Yeah, well, now I want to leave.
Coming.
“Adrian? Did you hear me?” Graham asked. He had an arm around Sophie and grinned broadly. I faked a smile for his benefit and avoided Sophie’s gaze.
“They were amazing,” I assured him. “But Harrison always is.”
“I told him that if he could earn enough to get him and the boys some real instruments, maybe I can convince some Second Ringers to—”
Graham’s words died on his tongue as everyone around us pushed farther away, clearing the way for a looming presence. I knew who was behind me even without the gasps and comments.
“It’s been fun,” I said without turning around. “But we have to be going back up.”
“Up?” Graham repeated, eyes wide and lips parted in shock. “To the First Ring?”
“Can’t stay out too late or his mommy won’t tuck him in for the night.”
I was rewarded for my cheek by a dark chuckle at my back. I couldn’t help my grin as I whirled.
“Night you two,” I crooned and breezed away, my shadow trailing after me, silent and imposing as always.
For once, I was grateful for Dante following me.