I glared at him once before my gaze dropped to the dagger in his hands and the blood dripping from the blade onto the carpet below. His daughter’s dagger.
I turned and glared into the corner where Myrine stood.
“He’s going to carve into my flesh until I give him the answer he wants,” I told her, verbalizing my own fear as an extension of Cosmo’s threat. He would do it. I knew he would and she did too. “You’d let him do it, wouldn’t you?”
Myrine stiffened the same way she had this morning when I’d accused her of standing by while her son was abused.
“Would you feel anything while he made me bleed?” I asked, ignoring Cosmo as he said my name in an attempt to regain my attention. “Anything for the girl you helped raise to become your own daughter? Did you feel anything for your son?”
“Enough!” Cosmo bellowed from my side.
My head was wrenched sideways as his palm connected with my cheek. A million little fireworks exploded in my vision as the sound of the slap echoed through the room and my face stung and heated in sizzling pain. Still turned toward the side, still facing Myrine’s corner, I met her horrified gaze as I spat blood onto the carpet. Then I raised my chin again and turned back to the wicked man standing over me.
“I will never tell you anything,” I vowed, letting my fury fuel my adrenaline until I no longer felt the pain. “You can cut through every inch of my body and you will still not know where your precious jewel is. I will bleed and die on this gaudy emerald carpet before you get your filthy hands on what you want.”
Cosmo’s lip trembled for a moment before he threw the dagger onto the carpet and stormed from the room, slamming the door open so hard it hit the wall and shook the empty dresser beside it. I watched him go with some satisfaction, though the pain returned at his departure as well. Myrine scrambled forward to retrieve the dagger, holding it away from her rather than sheathing it at her belt again as she made for the exit.
“You’re a shit mom,” I said before she could leave. “No wonder Dante was willing to do whatever it took to get the hell away from you.”
She only quickened her pace, shutting the door behind her as she went.
I waited until I was sure they were gone before tumbling straight off my chair and into my own blood on the carpet below.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Milo
Cosmo could not get his hands on this necklace.
No matter what happened with Olympia, no matter what I’d been briefly considering in my desperation to free her, Cosmo could not have this jewel. I’d been right all along to dedicate my attention to the journals while a rebellion brewed in the lower rings. This was the most important thing in this city and I finally understood why it had been entrusted to my family centuries ago. I wouldn’t be the one who betrayed that trust. I couldn’t. So if Cosmo wanted this necklace, he would have to raze the city to the ground to retrieve it.
“Are you sure about this?” Nascha hissed in the dark for the tenth time as I helped her through the courtyard and to the gates of our House.
“I thought you’d understand,” I replied, wary of her uncertainty. “You were the one who believed in the gods in the first place.”
“I do understand but this–”
“I know. Quiet now.”
We moved in silence, keeping to the shadows and going as slowly as we dared. I knew my grandmother wasn’t as spry as she once was. I imagined that had more to do with the absence of the jewel around her neck than either of us cared to admit. Still, I didn’t mind the pace she set this time. Rushing would get us caught and we could not afford to get caught, not now.
We waited in the shadows until Nascha had enough strength to hurry to the nearest set of stairs and then down we went to the Second. We gave the House of Harlowe a wide berth, knowing the Vipers likely had eyes on it ever since they became aware of our entanglement with its leader. Instead, we snuck around the House of Valin, hiding in the cover of their massive statue. We waited from time to time for those out this late to pass, mostly couples seeking privacy away from their families or teenagers giddy with the risk of getting caught. Once they passed, we’d hurry to the next shadow, the next hiding spot.
I felt for the blade at my side for the dozenth time. I had no skill with using it, not really, but I’d brought it along anyway just in case and had instructed Nascha to run if she saw the color green. I’d take care of it myself, ending up dead or on trial like Olympia. It wouldn't matter as long as my grandmother got away, but I couldn’t think about that now. I had to focus on our surroundings, especially once we made it down to the Third to find more people out than usual.
Perhaps they were rebels, going to or from a secret meeting. Perhaps they were simply out for a drink or a visit with a friend who’d worked all day or on their way back from a shift above. It didn’t matter. We couldn’t afford for any of them to see us down here. Nascha and I were two of the most recognizable people in the city. We couldn’t risk them running off to tell someone the news that would eventually make its way to Cosmo. And we certainly couldn’t risk violence erupting from any lower ringers who fashioned themselves true rebels.
A party was going on at the eighth down on the Deck. I hesitated only for a moment, a memory of another party just like it I’d attended so long ago tugging at my heart. I pushed my grief aside and slid against the wall, pulling Nascha along beside me, until we faced the tenth.
“Are you ready?” I whispered into the night.
“Perhaps we should rethink this,” Nascha started breathlessly beside me. “The gods won’t like–”
“They’re not really gods, remember?”
She faltered but seemed to regain some courage at the reminder. She shot me one determined nod and I took the chance to pull her forward across the Deck.
No one from the party glanced our way even as their strobing light bathed us in neon glow. Nascha went as quickly as she could but it wasn’t quick enough. We were so close now. I simply wanted to get this over with.
