“Is it over?” she croaked.
“It is now,” I said.
The Sovereign Court never dirtied their hands without reason. They were lazy—they had wanted me to find her. Wanted to prove they still could touch what was mine. Or at least what they thought was mine.
Nadia was at her side, tearing at the knots with shaking hands while I looked over the room for traps. “Lena—hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
I crossed the room and tore the ropes apart with one pull. The fibers snapped, useless. They clung to each other.
“I was so scared,” Lena whispered.
“I know,” Nadia said, voice cracking. “You’re safe now.”
I could feel the court downstairs, listening, watching. The air pulsed with their silence. If they meant to stop me, they would have already. This wasn’t a battle. It was theater.
“Come, we’re leaving,” I said.
Lena grabbed my sleeve. “Wait.” Her eyes were glassy. “There’s someone else. A man. Ezra. He was trying to help me.They caught him too. I heard them tell someone to lock him in the basement. Please, he’s still here.”
“No,” I said. “We leave now.”
She flinched, and Nadia’s voice broke in, low but firm. “Cristian. Please.”
That word shouldn’t have undone me. But it did.
I exhaled through my nose. What was one more stray human? “Fine.”
We descended the stairs. The court lounged in their ridiculous opulence, pretending not to watch. Hammond swirled his wine. Ambrosia smirked like a cat that had already eaten the canary.
They let us pass. I didn’t question it—yet.
In the basement, the air was damp and metallic. Wards burned faintly along the stone walls. A single lantern flickered over a man chained in the corner. Human. Late twenties, maybe. Lean build. Dark hair, glasses hanging crooked on his nose.
He stared as we approached. “You—thank God. I thought?—”
I didn’t answer. I tore the chains free and checked the walls for traps. The wards hummed weakly, but not enough to stop me.
Everything tonight was a message. The problem was deciphering which part was the threat. And what exactly they were threatening.
Ezra rubbed his wrists. “You saved me. Thank you.”
I grunted, already looking toward the stairs. “You’re free. Leave. Stay clear of them.”
Lena shook her head. “We can’t just abandon him. He’ll be killed the second he steps outside. He helped me.”
“Isaved you,” I said, sharper than intended.
Lena glared at me. “He’s human. You can’t leave him.”
I didn’t understand this kind of logic. This was how mortals got themselves slaughtered. Yet when I glanced at Nadia, herexpression was soft and open in that infuriating way that made me feel both stronger and vulnerable.
She’d never survive in my world with a heart like that. And I hated that part of me wanted to protect it anyway.
Lena turned to Nadia. “You’re the one house-sitting, so it’s your decision, right? Can Ezra and I stay with you for a while? Just until we know it’s safe? I don’t want to go back to my apartment alone.” Her lower lip quivered.
Nadia hesitated. “The house is huge. We probably wouldn’t even notice. More people for you to drink from, Cristian.”
I didn’t find it amusing. Ezra smiled faintly—too faintly—and something primal in me coiled. He was too calm for a man who’d just been nearly drained. Too observant.
