I looked down at the chasm of darkness below us, a hollow pit filled with an unending void. I didn’t know how far it went, how long we might fall if freed from the rings, but it seemed clear that we’d never again come out of it, if we were to survive the drop.
Push him,my own voice whispered, and I shook my head.
“No.”
Do it. Do it. Choose. Sacrifice. Choose.
That moment seemed to hold in the air between us for an eternity. The voices hissing in unison, pushing us to make the choice, trying desperately to drive a wedge between us. But neither of us moved and, for one brief, glorious moment, I truly believed everything we’d done, all we’d accomplished, had meant something. Not just to me, but to him as well.
Then I looked up.
Dante watched me, no longer fighting against the ring keeping him aloft. He took a breath and closed his eyes. Tears slipped from them and streaked down his face. “I love you, Adrian.”
“What—”
“I’m sorry.”
He raised a fist and slammed it into the ring around my arm. The ring shattered. And I fell.
Eyes wide, limbs flailing in a desperate search for something, anything, to grab onto, I fell. And as that darkness below consumed me, I stared up at Dante’s indifferent expression, a tear running down my cheek. Only one word came close to what this feeling might be.
Betrayal.
Epilogue
Ksenia
Year 2,411 of the Age Of Sanctum
Pavos was busy this time of day. As the midday sun rose hot on the horizon, citizens of the city rose with it to do their business. They strode about with their ancient heads held high. Women in shining jewels and vibrant dresses sat by spraying fountains to cool their hot skin. Men in embellished tunics and weapons that were more accessory than anything else bowed their heads together in discussion at every corner. There were no children. That was one factor which always reminded me that Pavos was no ordinary city. Despite the busy marketplaces and lively squares lining the shining palace, enormous marble buildings, and perfectly manicured landscaping, if one knew where to look and how to recognize the oddity in the details, it was clear. This was no mortal city. This was a city of the gods.
Or so they called themselves.
I avoided the markets, the fountains, the squares. It wasn’t a good time for a spy from the outside to be meandering around within the city walls, but I hadn’t been given a choice. Deimos had called a meeting of the council, and since that was such a rarity, the man I served had dictated that I be present. Leo needed to know what was happening in Pavos, what had sent the Geist into such a disarray these past few months.
Something is happening, Nia. I need to know what.
It wasn’t an order. Given the way I’d come into his service, I imagined he knew that I’d never been good at following them. I only followed the commands of the people I respected. He was one of them, though I’d never tell him that. I trusted his decisions far more than I trusted those of his father. That, I believed, would create some conflict down the road, but there was no sense in crossing that bridge before we came to it.
I’d reached the main street, the one which led directly to the palace and the attached council chambers. Apparently, we hadn’t been the only ones who’d received the news that Deimos had called the council. As council meetings were open to the public, they tended to draw a crowd but never one as large as this. Still hundreds of feet away from the public entrance, we were stopped. All of us standing in an enormous mass of private citizens standing on tiptoes and craning their graceful necks for a look at what was holding us up.
What it was, apparently, was a simple lack of available space within the public viewing hall.
Rearranging my ridiculous skirts for enhanced mobility, I slid sideways and out of the growing throng who were muttering in their irritation, chattering excitedly about whatever they expected to find inside. It made me uneasy, being around so many of them at once. Thankfully, my natural height and complexion made it easy enough to blend in amongst them, solong as I wore the proper disguise and no one looked too closely. But with every moment I spent within a crowd of bored, waiting civilians, it became more and more likely I would be recognized for what I was. And what I was, was certainly not one of them.
I searched for the side street I knew was nearby. No one would be traveling that way today since they all seemed to be headed for the one and only entrance to the council chambers. But I hadn’t gained the title of best spy in the kingdom without learning a few tricks over the year and a half I’d been slipping into the city unnoticed.
The palace had servants’ passages, remnants of the days in which they enslaved my people to serve their own. They hadn’t been used for that purpose for thousands of years, and if it were up to me, I’d ensure they never were again. They seemed to have been entirely forgotten, lost to time as so many things were. Oppressors were always the first to forget their oppression.
I slipped into one of the passageways from a small canal that ran to the river. It was for sewage and smelled atrocious, but I would prefer even that to standing among them for even a moment more. So I held my breath and slipped inside, sliding through the narrow passageway with my back against the wall.
When I reached the end of the canal, the passage broadened to a hall, and I stepped away from the foul-smelling water and into the warmth of the palace underbelly. I looked down at the ridiculous purple satin gown which had been commissioned for my purpose and sighed. The hem was covered in excrement. I reached up and unzipped myself, letting the fabric fall and pool around my feet. I stepped out of the dress, adjusting my skin-tight black, kevlar and cotton blended jumpsuit. I pulled at the long sleeves with a smile.
It won’t save your life, but it’ll give you a few more seconds.
That was what Roman had told me when I’d first tried it on. I’d loved it right away.
I kicked the satin dress aside and strode down the hall toward the council chambers. Leonid wouldn’t like it. In fact, he would be incredibly annoyed, but I’d need a new dress after this. There was no salvaging that one.
