He heard the thud of music and sprinted towards it, picking up the pace until he rounded a corner and ploughed into a square crammed full of dancers. He skidded to a stop, apologising to the grumbling artemians he’d nearly slammed into, before edging past them deeper into the thrum of people. He dropped Aelia’s jacket from around his waist and slouched his shoulders to help him blend in with the crowd, stooping so his head wasn’t sticking out over everyone else’s. He doubled back rather than going the obvious route directly across the square, positioning himself immediately next to a street vendor cooking skewers of meat. The succulent aroma made his mouth water. For a moment, he wished he could find out what the chunks of chicken had been marinated in, wondering if he could replicate it for Aelia, but the baying of hounds snapped his attention back to the present.
The crowd scattered as the Dogs charged into them, closely followed by the Astraea. They shoved anyone who wasn’t quick enough to the floor and screams quickly broke out as people rushed to move out of their way. Keeran waited until they’d ploughed right past where he was hiding behind the strong-smelling meat, then ducked out and pushed his way back the way he’d come.
He broke into a jog to keep up with everyone else around him, his heart in his throat as he forced himself to keep the pace slow, but as soon as he was a few streets away, he broke into a sprint. He tried his best to follow the route he’d taken, trying to overlap his scent as best he could, just in case the Dogs came back this way.
When he was a couple of turns shy of the garden, he ducked into an alley. Breathing heavily, he risked a glance into the street. All was quiet, no one was giving chase, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He hungback, hugging the wall as he waited for guards to come tearing past. No one did.
Still, he waited. He couldn’t risk leading them straight to Aelia
Aelia. The moment he’d seen the flash of light from inside the warehouse, he’d known it was her. The power of it had been electrifying, charging down the pair bond like lightning. Keeran dropped his head back against the wall, breathing heavily from both exertion and shock. He should have known Aelia wasn’t artemian, he should have recognised it sooner. She couldn’t Shift, was phenomenally strong,andthey’d pair bonded. He closed his eyes as he remembered seeing the silver light in her eyes; he’d been so stupid for disregarding it.
Keeran pushed off the wall. This was no time for retrospection. He hugged the wall to peer around the corner, only leaving the alley once he was sure he had lost them, his gait much calmer than his erratic heartbeat.
Get her out, get her out, get her out,it seemed to pound.
The garden was only a few turns away, with no sign of an armoured pursuit behind him, and he felt a little of the tension ease from his shoulders.
Something caught his eye, and he jerked his head skywards to see a Bird circling over him. His heart sank into his boots. It was a mark.
He’dfeltsomeone watching him and he’d just sat tight and waited. He cursed his stupidity as a band of soldiers rounded the corner. He turned back the way he’d come, only to find a second band closing in from behind.
There were no side streets, no exit points, nowhere for him to run.
Keeran looked at the sky and felt the lure of freedom it offered. Instinctively, he reached for the magic that hummed at the base of his skull, ready and waiting to transform him into thestuff of nightmares. The soldiers closed in, but it didn’t matter. In mere moments he would wipe them all from existence like the insects they were before vanishing into the sky.
Then his chest tugged uncomfortably, and the magic stilled, his hand pressing to his sternum. If he Shifted now, the city would be on red alert, and the only road out would be closed off. Aelia would never get out.
The pair bond was silent, even when he reached for it, and for the first time, he wished they’d cemented it so it was less fucking unreliable. He would have done anything to have felt her, to know she was still safe.
In that moment, brief as it was, his mind was made up. Without a shred of remorse, he let the magic slip from his grasp.
And then they were upon him.
He didn’t draw his sword. No mortal man would be able to kill so many soldiers, and that’s what he must be in their eyes if Aelia stood any chance at escaping—a mortal man like any other. It didn’t mean he was going to go easily though.
A grim smile played on his lips as he dropped to a crouch.
The guards didtheir best to restrain him, and for the most part, he let them, allowing them to take him to the main gates of the Inner City for the relatively meagre price of a little payback.
“Pack it the fuck up,” the guard to his immediate left said, his voice notably more nasal since Keeran had head-butted him square on the nose.
“Make me.” Keeran grinned through the blood on his own face, not all of it his.
They’d put him in manacles, so tightly bound in front of him that his wrists screamed every time he moved, but he couldn’tresist having a little fun. The guard snarled and went to ram a gloved hand into Keeran’s stomach, but he came a little too close, just enough for Keeran’s knee to slam into his groin. The others holding Keeran yanked him roughly back by his manacled wrists, his hands threatening to fall off altogether, but he forced himself to smirk through the pain.
“Ah, don’t worry too much, it’s not all that bad,” Keeran said as the guard doubled over, groaning. “Now you have a matching pair, a squashed nose and a squashed?—”
Keeran saw the fist coming from his right, but he let the punch land. A mortal man wouldn’t have been able to avoid it, and so, as far as these idiots were concerned, neither could Keeran. The guard who had thrown it smiled smugly, though the gap Keeran had created between his teeth ruined the effect somewhat.
“How’s that for making you?” he leered. “Now fucking walk.” He shoved Keeran, knocking him forward a few steps.
“Would be a whole lot more impressive if you could say it without a lisp.”
Keeran did walk, though, escorted by his whole bleeding entourage through the gates and into the tunnel to the Inner City.
A small part of him was elated at being taken into the belly of the mountain. He hadn’t expected to see the Inner City whilst he was here and the thought of laying eyes on his home, his true home, set something ablaze in his chest.
What he didn’t understand was why they weren’t taking him to Llmera’s commoner’s prison; to the cells that dimpled the mountain peak like a well-made Gouda, only nowhere near as savoury. They couldn’t know what he was, no fool would have sent so few men to bring him in if they did, so where were they taking him?
