Serendipity, you beautiful bitch.
We passed through the stone arch into a cobbled courtyard, enclosed by towering gray stone walls crawling with flowering vines. The blue wards above shimmered in welcome, and the air pressed down on me, pregnant with power. The hum of that power was a gentle buzz in my ears and a prickle across my skin. I breathed deep, taking in the heady, electric scent of magic. This… This was my birthright, and my body seemed to know it, recognize it. Yearn for it. This…missing piece of me. They’d kept it from me. From my family. They’d left us broken and incomplete.
But soon, I’d know what it felt like to be whole, to have magic coursing through me.
The Border House loomed over me, an imposing, if not strange-looking building. It reminded me of a tower house Mother had taken me to see once. A remnant of our past, it had withstood the elements and whatever wars might have been waged upon it. The Border House was a larger, more opulent version of that. Sandstone, if I wasn’t mistaken, with narrow windows looking out at the world inquisitively. What made the building truly strange were the two smaller towers bolted onto the main structure using a metal framework, so that the building looked as if it had arms.
The double doors to the tower swung open, and a tall, whip-thin man came hurrying out. His brown coat flapped about his calves as he took the steps down to us two at a time.
“How bad is it?” he demanded, gaze flying from Drayven to me.
“Mudarks attacked and derailed the tram,” Drayven said. “Onyx escaped but was attacked by Echoes. She needs medical attention.”
“Right,” the man said. “Darla’s in her lab. She’ll fix you up.”
Drayven lowered his body, my cue to climb off. My boots hit the ground, and the world tilted. I grabbed hold of him to steady myself.
“Anamaya, you arenotall right,” Drayven said.
I clung to him for a beat, breathing in his woodsy pine scent and stealing his body heat while the dizziness ebbed. “I’m fine.” I stepped away to illustrate just how fine I was.
“Head wounds are nothing to sniff at,” the Border House man said. “You tell me if you feel faint.”
I wasn’t used to such concern from strangers. “Honestly, I’m fine now.”
“When’s the last time you ate?” Drayven asked me.
“Last night. I think.” Food hadn’t seemed like a requirement the last few days.
“Talbot,” Drayven said to the man. “Get her some dry clothes and get a raven to Vitra to make sure she’s fed.” Then to me, “Good luck with the Superna Coterie.”
My stomach dipped at the mention of Nightsbridge’s governing body. My first hurdle.
Drayven dipped his head in farewell, then bounded back through the arch, a distant speck in a second.
And I thoughtIwas fast.
Now that Drayven was gone, I fully expected Talbot’s attitude to shift—a curl of the lip or derision in his eyes—but he merely sighed and ushered me to follow him.
Well, that was three easy receptions so far.
Unheard of and disconcerting. Were they trying to get me to drop my guard?
Like hell was that going to happen. If they were playing nice, then I could play nice right back. If years of pretending to be someone else had taught me anything, it was never to take anything at face value.
* * *
The insideof the tower was a vast hollow space of sandstone slabs and wooden beams. A metal staircase hugged the walls, winding up but stopping at each floor to connect with a walkway before disappearing into the shadows high above. Ravens flew back and forth between floors overhead, vanishing into large holes carved into the walls.
Talbot caught me staring. “Every raven has his personal nook with an external exit. Maddox and Murder, the head ravens, have assigned each raven a tower to serve, but the Haematophages prefer to use serpentwhisper as their form of messenger.”
“Snakes?” I suppressed a shudder. Snakes were not my favorite creature. “You have snakes here?”
“Don’t worry. You won’t see one unless it wants to be seen, and then only because it has a message for you. Come.”
Did he seriously think that made me feel better?
He led me to an ancient lift in the center of the chamber, which was nothing more than a wooden box in a metal frame with a gridded concertina door. It looked battered and unstable, stretching all the way up into the shadows, connecting to each floor by a rusty-looking framework.
