Prologue
Warren
Icouldn't hear what my sister was saying.
They'd pushed her toward the tenth tunnel as soon as she emerged from the ninth. I had only a moment to see the new band she’d earned, to marvel once more at all nine of them running up and down both arms from shoulder to elbow, before the crowd converged and moved as one toward the Tenth. She stood with her back to it now, eyes sweeping through the mob, posture defensive like a caged animal. I couldn't hear what they were saying, could barely see over the head of the person in front of me to watch what was going on, but something in the pit of my stomach turned acidic at the look on my sister's face.
Cosmo was saying something to the rabble and my sister was shouting back, but it was all lost in the distance between us, the murmurs of the horde surrounding me.
"What's happening?" a familiar voice spoke to my left. I knew, without looking, it was Sophie. "Why can't we get through to see her? Why are the priests and acolytes blocking her off like this?"
That pit in my stomach yawned ever wider. Something was wrong, very wrong. Anna's face flashed through my mind, andher voice, the words she’d spoken against my subconscious just before they'd killed her, before he had ordered her killed.
I have the diary. We can do this, Warren. We can—
I flinched in memory of the moment the spear entered her gut. I’d never forget the surprised expression on her face as her lips popped open, the blood pouring from her abdomen as the guard removed his weapon and she slouched to the ground, dying too fast to save.
"We need to get through," I spat and pushed forward, heedless of the crowd pressing in around me. "We have to get to her."
"Warren," my older brother's firm tone emanated from behind me, but I ignored him.
Maurice wasn't a fighter. He would be content to wait it out, to see what happened, to let Adrian handle this herself. It wasn't that he wasn't protective of her. In fact, Maurice was probably the most protective of us all, but he had far too much faith in his siblings as well and, as the older brother, knew when to take a step back and allow us to learn a painful lesson. This wasn’t the time for that. Cosmo wasn't about teaching lessons. He was about power and pain. Nothing else. I'd be damned if I watched another person I loved fall to his particular brand of evil.
A woman hissed in irritation as I pushed her aside and a child darted out of the way as Dahlia pressed up next to me, clearing the path forward without a word. I glanced at my wife and gave a grateful nod. She returned it and kept shouldering through the crowd. Sophie muttered apologies to those we uprooted as we went but she and Harrison were both forcing the crowd apart as well. They felt it too, I could see it on their faces and in the slanted set of their brows. Something wasn't right. Something was brewing. Something was going to happen.
“Tell them, won’t you?” I nearly stumbled at the sound of Adrian's voice crying out above the throng.
I redoubled my efforts at the fear I heard plainly in her tone. I shoved now, threw elbows and growled and pushed my way ahead by any means necessary. That was my sister. My sister needed me.
An instant later, we broke through the front of the crowd to find ourselves stopped by an impenetrable line of priests and acolytes just ahead. Some stood facing the tunnel. Some stood facing us. I met the gaze of the one directly ahead of me. Lips set in a somber frown, he shook his head once in warning. Craning my neck, I peered over their heads to find her. She was still there, standing at the entrance of the tenth tunnel. She was looking at someone further down the line of priests. I followed her line of vision to see Bria amongst the acolytes, tears streaming down her red face as she shook but held the line.
“Tell Maurice and Warren. Tell my mother. Tell them I did it; I won the Trials. Tell them I’m better off and that I love them,” Adrian's voice cracked and my heart cleaved in two. “Tell them not to mourn for me.”
Bria nodded once. With a roar, I surged forward.
"Warren!" Maurice shouted as a cluster of priests converged upon me, shouting for me to get back, shoving me with robed arms, and kicking at me to force me away from her.
"Adrian!" I screamed. "Adrian, we're here! Come here! Come home!"
But she was gone. I saw the tenth tunnel over their heads as the priests wrestled me back from their line. It was empty.
She was gone.
I slumped, defeated, breathing heavily from the exertion of fighting off six men. I shook my head, not understanding.
"And so go another pair to serve the gods," Cosmo announced, bowing his head.
Every priest and acolyte in the line before us bowed their heads as well. I stared at them, slack jawed in wonder. Serve thegods? What was he talking about? Where was Adrian? Where was my sister?
"Assholes!" someone screamed.
Cosmo's head lifted slowly, deliberately, as his gaze swept across the crowd. His serpentine eyes narrowed on our pocket of disheveled priests and out of breath Third Ringers and a chill ran through me.
It was Harrison who'd said it. The crowd pulled away from him, whispering and wide-eyed as they glanced from Harrison to Cosmo and back. The patriarch of House Viper cocked his head as a glint of danger entered his gaze. In it, I saw the man who'd ordered the execution of the innocent people in white who'd simply proclaimed a belief in something other than his precious Geist, who'd worshiped my sister and her partner as saints returned. Now, their blood stained the cobblestones of the Deck not far away.
"Who dares question the will of the Geist?" Cosmo called out calmly..
"Is it the Geist's will? Or yours?" Harrison spat back.
