I clench my fist and then stretch my fingers to keep them from wrapping around his scrawny neck. “Where did you learn of Denver’s abduction?”
The sniveling rat has the audacity to smile. I clench my teeth.He isn’t worth your vow. He isn’t worth a piece of your soul.
“It matters notwhereI learned of it, Mr. Shaw. What matters is that the information is now in my possession to do with what I will.”
“Where did you learn of Denver’s abduction?” I repeat in a menacing growl.
Jayan tilts his head, the moonlight glinting in the slick of his hair. “Why, Mr. Shaw, could it be that you’re questioning the loyalty of your faithful followers? Perhaps it was Calloway, inviting the wrong man to his bed. You know how loose words can be in the throes of passion. Or maybe it was that shrewd littlejovehMaxwell, desperate and hungry for a piece of power the world has always denied her.”
Rage consumes me and I want to sink my fist into his perfectly straight teeth, but I keep still. He is goading me, trying to worm his way between my strongest allies. It’s true that Max, Cal, and Aggie are the only ones who know of the prophecy, but unfortunately for Jayan, my faith in my friends is one of the unassailable truths in my life. More enduring than the sun itself, it will never fail.
And no secret is safe in Ferusa. Not when the warlords pay a king’s ransom for information. Not when the Darkness itself ferrets them out to wield as weapons.
Jayan glances at his watch. A miniscule movement that most people would miss. A sense of foreboding slithers down my spine. “What was the cost of this information?”
My gaze narrows on the waver of his throat. For the first time, he stutters. “I—I don’t know what you mean.”
Jayan is nervous. He didn’t expect me to guess the truth so quickly, which means his show of strength is calculated. There is a reason he hasn’t run from me yet.
My daggers are against his throat before he can speak another word. People around me scream as I shove him against the bricks. Metal scrapes against leather, the sound of his guards drawing their swords from his scabbard. “If anyone moves toward me, I will slit his throat.”
They freeze, eyeing me warily.
“The Chancellor has been abducted!” Jayan shouts. “This man knew and said nothing! He should be arrested for treason!”
A crowd has gathered. Evie pokes her head out of the bakery door, her gray eyes wide. “Shaw! What in godsnames—"
Her voice fades as she takes in the scene.
The hole inside me ices over, hoarfrost crackling in my veins. “I will see you cold in the ground for this,” I snarl at Jayan.
Jayan’s thin lips curl into a sneer. “No, Shaw. It is I who will trod upon your grave. You have always been only raw, empty violence without any power. You’ve never understood that if the world is too slow to change, one must be a steward of one’s own fate. You and Denver have never had the guts to reach for what is in front of you, and Nadjaa won’t suffer from removing such weakness from its seat of power.”
I shove a dagger into his shoulder and he screams in pain.
“Shaw! Stop!” Evie cries, running toward me. Her auburn hair is wild around her cherub face, her eyes desperate. “You cannot attack a council member!”
His men are now joined by the City Guard, dressed in their crisp white uniforms and they gather around me, closing me in.
“None of these men will be able to get to me before I gut you here in the middle of the street. Start talking,” I snap at Jayan.
He grips his shoulder, his lip wavering in pain. “A stranger gave me the information!” he cries. “Told me to do whatever I wished with it, as long as I told you in front of the girl and kept you talking for ten minutes.”
* * *
Mirren.
Oh gods. It was all a means to separate us, to get her alone. Is it Shivhai who’s caught up to us? Or someone else, someone who’s heard whispers of prophecies and magic?
The fire in me sings to life, burning away the ice in my veins and around my heart and spurring me to action. I grab Jayan’s neck, viciously going after his pressure point until he slumps over. Cal slides in from behind the alley. He must have climbed over the roof to get between the guards and I, but I don’t have time to marvel at his ingenuity. There is so much to explain, but all I manage is, “Mirren.”
Cal nods, pulling his sword. “Max was with her,” he tells me, his eyes grave.
“Shaw,” Evie says evenly, her eyes narrowed on me. I feel an echo of regret. Evie has always been kind to me. She doesn’t deserve any of this. “Come with me to the Council House. There is obviously a lot we need to unravel.”
I shoot her an apologetic look just as the guards surge toward us and the square descends into chaos. Panicked celebration guests scurry in all directions, their harried screams echoing in my ears as I plow my way through them. Cal is hot on my heels, sword glinting in the moonlight as he covers my back. “You got this?” I shout.
He grins, bringing the flat of the blade against a guard’s head. “I thought this party was getting a bit stale.”
