Chapter 49
The tunnel’s entrance yawns like a mouth as I tighten my pack, and step inside.
“Careful where you walk,” Saphine murmurs, her voice a mere whisper between the relentless storm, blowing in full force outside. “Some of these sections haven’t been traveled in years. Floors give out without warning.”
Her torch flickers against the walls, throwing shadows that crawl like beetles.
“Noted.” My pupils dilate in the dark.
Water drips somewhere ahead with a slow incessant rhythm that echoes around us.
Fighting every one of my instincts, I follow her footsteps precisely. Tunnels like these may hide smugglers but they also hide secrets. One misstep and I might end up with a blade in my back.
Jace and Isra follow behind us, both fixed on Saphine.
I don’t doubt if she turns on us, either of them will hesitate.
The narrow corridor forces my stride to shift with every step.
Stone and rubble litter the passage, keeping us light and wary as we crawl into the shadows.
I can feel the rhythm of the gale above in each breath, like a building tempo, frantic and furious.
“I was like you once, you know,” Saphine says after a moment, her fingers gripping her torch.
“Like me?” My brows raise.
We cross a stream of icy seawater and descend deeper into the tunnel system.
“Distrusting. Angry.” She looks at me with a glint of something like pity. “I learned early how little the world gives a shit. The people supposed to be your allies are so quick to turn on you for the highest bidder.”
I keep my gaze forward, boots squelching. Something small and congealed squeals its final cry of life under my sole and I battle the cringe on my lips. A washed up crustacean…that’s all it was.
“You know nothing about me,” I snip, my tone hollow and unyielding. The torch flickers when she flinches in response.
“It doesn’t have to be like this between us. You and I could very well be the last of Sovereign. Does that mean nothing to you?”
My fingers itch toward my dagger. Trust isn’t something you pass out in tunnels with your damned spine pressed against stone walls.
Saphine saved my life once, yes…but she’s still a stranger. A mercenary. I’m well aware of how fucking hypocritical that sounds, but it takes one to know one or so the saying goes. I recognize every haunted shred of myself in those violet eyes and that makes me squirm to my defenses.
“I’m not interested in being your friend.
I don’t want to learn your life’s story or plait each other’s hair.
You’re cargo, Saphine. Once we get to the egg, we’ll know everything we need to.
Then you can fly off into the sunset or whatever it is guardian riders do.
” My voice is merely a whisper, but it’s enough to draw a frown.
“You really have no curiosity at all?” she asks.
“Curiosity gets you killed in tunnels like these.” My boot splashes through an algae-bloomed puddle.
“Trust when I say I understand you, Nova,” she murmurs, almost under her breath. “But on occasion, it’s worth the risk.”
I don’t answer, but she watches me, searching for a crack. My stomach roils. Maybe I do notice how naturally she leads, how prudent her judgement, and enticing her orbit is. And maybe it annoys me more than it should.
Walking beside me, in the flesh, could be the guardian rider—the savior of our world and the protector of the cosmos. Our deities honor her while damning me.
She’s the last descendant of House Ceti while I was born no better than the sludge seeping from the tunnel’s cracks. We’re not cut from the same cloth, hells, we’re not even made of the same thread. Yet we both ended up here—soaked in piss-scented stormwater.
Fuck, am I jealous?
Gods be good, the emotions whirling through me are a hurricane of confusion. With a quick step, I shove down the feelings I refuse to name. “Let’s just focus on getting through these tunnels alive. It’s gross down here.”
“I don’t remember much of Sovereign," Saphine says, her eyes dimming in the torchlight. “I’ve tried, but it only comes in little pieces now.”
For a moment, my chest aches, disarmed by her honesty. She doesn’t look to me for a response, lost in her own ghosts. “I remember the observatory and the palace where my father grew up, but only in glimpses.”
“Neither do I.” My lips thin and I wonder why I’ve even entertained her admission. “Your father was of Ceti blood?”
Saphine nods. “Yes. He and my mother met at the temple. She was a priestess actually…you can guess how that played out.”
My shoulders straighten, and both sets of boots behind us falter. “Your mother was a servant of Astora?”
“I know, it’s forbidden, but they loved each other. I don’t remember much of them, but I know in my gut they did.”
Holy hells. Samkiel’s message spoke of a Ceti heir and the punishments enacted on him. Could it have been for an affair with a priestess? The secret descendant…either Saphine has been incredibly well briefed on our findings or her truths align with ours.
“My mother worked in the temple, too. It seems the oath of chastity was more of a suggestion…” It’s better she doesn’t see the tremor in my hands, so I tuck them into my pockets.
“Isn’t that always the case? This damned continent was forged from broken promises and secrets and our faction wasn’t any different.”
The suspicion in my veins simmers, replaced by a far more dangerous feeling…
hope. I don’t doubt Saphine is just as experienced in playing roles for her jobs, but this feels different.
She’s offered me information only known within our circle.
I glance at Jace, now staring right at me.
The same sentiment glitters in his eyes.
“What do you remember before the war?” I ask, the frost melting from my tone.
“Not much, unfortunately. I was so young. On occasion, I’ll get a little instance of memory—from a color or scent, but it’s blurry. Have you met other survivors?” she asks.
I take a breath, staggered by the mirror she’s offering. Every experience she speaks of is just like my own. “One other, but he died.”
Yaris’s lifeless body thrums through my thoughts. He was a survivor, too. There was a time when I hated him, brief as it was. If we hadn’t shared my mother’s blood, would I keep him at arm’s reach? Just as I do with Saphine?
The battle between instinct and my heart rages on. The jealousy, the suspicion…did it blind me to the woman walking beside me? The survivor, now reaching for my lifeline.
“I’m sorry,” she says and the violet in her eyes sparks.
“Let’s just make it out of these fucking tunnels…” I reply, recoiling. “How much further?”
Saphine goes rigid before she can respond.
Panic blinks through me when the sound hits. First a low murmur, indistinct, but human. Then, slow and measured footfalls echoing through the passageway.
I freeze. Boots splash through puddles somewhere beyond sight. Jace grips my hand, leaning close. His heat anchors me as I strain to hear.
There’s a chuckle of casual conversation, whispering from the dark. Whoever’s coming isn’t expecting company.
“Stop,” I say.
Saphine halts beside me. Her eyes flick to mine, alert, and understanding. “We’re not alone.”
“There’s too many footsteps for one person.” My hand hovers near my blade. “Other mercenaries?”
“Or merchants,” Saphine replies as she extinguishes her torch. “Whoever it is will most certainly be armed. No one comes down here without protection.”
We sliver into an alcove, our heartbeats racing with the impending confrontation. When the strangers appear from the darkness, my breath steadies.
No crimson cloaks. No Smoke insignia, just three couriers holding large, cloth-wrapped packages, trailed by a hooded man.
The limp in his step suggests he’s aged and weathered and a long since faded memory roots in my chest. I know that walk—the slight hunch to the left, countering an age old wound in the heel.
“I don’t typically take on jobs myself, but I was feeling quite generous when your client came calling, and I have urgent business in Sea.” A voice I thought I’d never hear again hits me like a shockwave. Finnick’s tracking link ripples through me like an itch.
I falter against Jace’s chest, the solid ridges of muscle holding me steady. Our eyes meet, and he catches the anguish molded to my features.
Silently, he taps Isra on the shoulder and gestures to me. I shake my head. In the pitch dark, I doubt they can translate the mouthed words from my lips, but I try anyway—Finnick.
“I’ll expect an additional endangerment fee, though.” Finnick’s laugh, cold and cruel, sucks the air from the tunnel.
“Urgent business, eh?” his companion replies.
“I’m looking for something that slipped from my grasp,” Finnick says.
Fuck, he means me.
Cosmos aligned, the timing is almost unbelievable, but I should’ve known he’d come sniffing after my extensive journey across the continent.
There’s no reality where the old mercenary would simply allow me to fade away.
His wealth was built on my blade, and the blood of those I’ve killed. He wouldn’t give that up so easily.
There’s a shuffle of boots and a crunch of parchment. They’re closing in on us, but we’re tucked so far into the darkness even the wraiths couldn’t find us.
I gesture to Jace and point down the passageway.
His jaw clenches so hard, it could cut through bedrock. Isra shifts closer to us, unsheathing his blade in time with a boom of the wind above. The tracking link blazes to life again and incites a shudder at the back of my throat.
Fuck. I’m not sure if this is worse than encountering Samkiel down here. Finnick and his couriers are nearly upon us when a second crack rumbles through the alcove. Dust shakes from the ceiling. The walls stammer, along with my heart.
“Fuck…cave in!” a stranger’s voice cries, panicked and shaken. “Take cover!”