Up. Over. Down.
The alley on the other side is empty. Renan emerges from the shadows, already moving toward the tunnel entrance.
"Clean?"
"Clean enough." Koshin's voice is tight. "Go."
We run.
The city blurs around me—streets I used to know, passages I never mapped, Renan leading us through turns I can't track. Seris is crying against Caius's shoulder, muffled sobs that shake her whole body.
I killed him.
I killed my father. He begged and I killed him anyway—one shot, and the same hands that used to shake when he raised his voice just put a bullet through his skull.
It felt good.
He deserved worse. He deserved what Koshin did to him first and then the bullet and then whatever comes after. If there's a hell, I hope it's full of daughters he can't hit back.
The tunnel entrance opens ahead and we pour inside, into the dark, into Discord's underground. Renan pulls the grate closed behind us and the city disappears.
Lungs burning. Pulse hammering so hard I can feel it in my teeth.
I'm alive.
Seris is alive.
My father is dead on his bedroom floor.
Best night I've had in years.
Caius stops and sets Seris on her feet, keeping one hand on her shoulder to steady her. She's still crying, quieter now, her face blotched and wet in the dim light.
She looks at me.
I look at her.
"He's dead." The words sound far away. "He can't hurt you anymore."
She doesn't answer.
That's fair.
I don't know what I'd say either.
Koshin's hand finds my hip, warm and steady. "We need to keep moving." His voice is low, just for me. "Can you?"
I look down at the gun still clutched in my hand. Blood on the barrel. His blood.
I feel tired.
Wrung out.
Empty in a way that might be relief or might be something else entirely.
"Yeah." I slide the gun back into the holster and my fingers are steady. "I can."
We keep moving. Seris stumbles after us with Caius keeping pace beside her, Koshin's hand on my hip guiding me through the dark, Renan leading the way. Behind us, House Solyne is waking up to a dead patriarch and a missing heir.
