No one paid us any attention, but I still stuck to the shadows as Iker went up to the bar. I had the hood of my coat pulled up, obscuring my face, but I wasn’t wearing a disguise like I had in Doend. If the Sixth Line could see through it so easily, then the Fifth would have no problem.
That being said, the longer I could avoid recognition, the better for us all, especially this close to Fortaare. We needed to be in and out of Cyne in a day, maybe two at most, if we were to stay ahead of my father’s assassins.
Iker lifted his chin, directing us to the hallway at the back of the room. We bunched around Avalon, keeping her safe. I stillwasn’t sure what her purpose in this was, but it didn’t matter, because even if she wasn’t fated to be here, I wouldn’t want her anywhere but by my side, where I could protect her.
“What’s going on?” Lierick whispered to Iker.
“I asked for Boot, and they directed me down here. I couldn’t sense any subterfuge, so I thought it best that we just went with it.”
I screwed up my nose. Being led around sat badly with me, and walking into unknown situations made my skin itch. Still, I kept that all to myself and stood a little closer to Avalon.
We made it to the end of the hallway, where Iker knocked four times on the solid stone wall.What the actual fuck?
A large circle of the stone simply disappeared. In the gap was the face of a grizzled man. His weathered skin was almost like a warmer version of the rock wall surrounding his face. “What?”
“Are you Boot?” Lierick asked.
The old guy looked around at our group, his eyes lingering on Hayle and I. “Depends why you’re asking.”
“Liselle from Doend sent us.”
The shaggy gray brows lifted. “Liselle?” Lierick nodded. I could see the man mulling it over, then the hole in the wall disappeared. It went back to being solid stone that would likely have taken me a week to destroy.
“That went well,” Avalon said quietly.
Honestly, I didn’t know what we should do now. Being in Cyne was too close to Fortaare for me to feel comfortable. I thought perhaps Liselle had been correct about Baron Ingmire—this was the Line that had spawned Ephily, after all, even if the Baron was just her uncle.
I was about to suggest we keep moving north when the stone wall at the end of the hall vanished completely. The craggy-faced old man stood there, ushering us in. “Move it,” he grumbled.
Despite his gesture, I hesitated. He wanted us all to go behind a solid rock wall with no way to escape. I looked over at Lierick, who lifted his chin. He thought it would be okay, didn’t sense any ill intent, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any there.
Hayle murmured something to Quarry, whose wing had finally healed enough to fly slowly, and Quarry hopped from his shoulder onto Alucius’s back. Together, they turned and ran from the inn, back out into the night air. A backup in case we needed it. It would have to do.
We stepped into the room beside the man, and I tensed as the wall reappeared behind us. My fingers brushed against it, finding it solid and not an illusion. That was an impressive display of power in itself.
I turned back to the old guy. “We don’t have to flex our powers, Boot. We would like a peaceful conversation,” I began, and he laughed.
“I’m not Boot, boy. Come on, he’ll see you now.”
We walked down a sloping hallway, clearly heading below ground. Avalon swallowed hard, and I reached out to hold her hand. The hallway eventually emptied out into a larger room, with the crowd down here only marginally smaller than the inn upstairs.
However, unlike the inn, everyone stopped and stared as we entered the room, with more than a few hands going straight to weapons.
Craggy Face glared at them all silently and led us through the room. Leaving so many threats at our back went against every ounce of training I’d ever had.
Finally, we stood before a wooden door at the back of the room. “Boot’s in there. He’ll see you now.” Hayle gave the man a nod, and Iker muttered our thanks.
When we pushed open the door, the person behind the desk nearly made me trip over my feet.Thiswas the leader of the Underground in Cyne?
“Well, this is a surprise,” Boot announced, and I just stared at him.
That was a fucking understatement.
Eleven
Avalon
The man in front of us, who—according to all of Iker’s sources—ran the largest underground black market and general anti-establishment organization in all of Ebrus, was a face I’d seen merely weeks earlier.
