My head cracked along the sandstone, my vision blurring, fading to black. I shook my head slowly, begging for my eyes to work, and after far too much time passed, I could make out my surroundings again.
The guard straddled me, a blade’s tip poking above my heart.No… no.It pressed deeper, threatening to pierce, but recognition flashed across his face, leaving only a look of disgust.
“The missing sacrifice,” he snarled, a slight lilt to his tone. “Bounty on your head is big.”
I laid still against the pressing stone, every sensitive spot of my back searing.
“So, I’ve been told,” I managed to spit.
“Not coin. No,” he replied mischievously as if contemplating how he would turn me in. “But royal status.” The blade inched its way through my leather vest, digging into the flesh underneath.
He reached behind him and pulled forth a set of shackles. His calloused hands scraped my skin abruptly, yanking my arms forward. The metal locked around my first wrist, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
The tether connecting Noctis and I faltered under the shackles, my body losing strength as the first one dragged my arm down under its immense weight.
I failed. The entire realm would soon fall, and it would be in my name.
Laziel seized the guard’s head from behind and wrenched it sharply aside. A brutal crack split through the office, loud as breaking stone, and my stomach lurched violently in response.The guard’s body went slack at once, drifting lifelessly to the floor, his life’s cord severed. His eyes stared out into nothingness, fixed and unseeing.
“Oh, Zyrphria…” Laziel muttered under his breath, swollen eyes glued to the dead mer guard. The God of Peace and Forgiveness would not bless a murderer, but he tried anyway.
“Heattackedyou,” I attempted to calm his nerves. I could see the panic seeping into Laziel the longer he stared at the guard's motionless body.
“But Ishould havebeen attacked. We are sworn in here to protect the Abyssal Hold and crown with our lives.” His eyes lingered on the mer before lifting to mine, a moment of something sharp and conflicted passing between us, quickly buried beneath something more calculating.
“The same crown that is killing innocents just above us. The same one sacrificingourpeople.”
“Not everyone in the depths is an opponent,” Laziel’s voice cracked as he pointed at the guard.
There was no doubt the truth in the statement, yet the meaning refused to settle in me, slipping beyond understanding. There was not a being in the depths that did not bringmepain and suffering.
“Good thing we know the God of Forsaken Souls, right?” I tried to break the tension.
“They’ll never accept me back after this.” His words were nearly lost in the space between us.
“I think that was finalized after you lied about me as a prisoner to the front-line guards. But you can join our crew. You don’t have to be alone.”
Laziel’s lip quivered as he dropped to the guard’s side, but the violent shake of his hands felt more like performance than panic. After that staged act to get us into the prison, I knew I’d be looking past every reaction he gave, searching for what he wasn’t showing.
“Here,” he whispered, offering the shackle’s key.
“Part two?” I asked quietly. The key clanged against the lock as I jammed it in, the metal at my wrist digging in like it meant to stay.
“Part two.”
Silence was a curse—one that spread through the prison like the one spreading through my blood. Our movements rippled through the depths, easily marking us as targets, evidence of our movement trailing behind.
We had only one more level to descend before reaching the prisoner chambers, but every time I pushed my tail to move closer, I wasn’t sure I could complete the mission. My body dragged heavily, wracked with the degenerative curse and the lesions peppering my skin.
Completing the heist would cost a lot—possibly too much to bear according to Laziel’s relaying of the creature I would soon approach. But I’d do it regardless. Besides, Iwasthe decade’s sacrifice anyway.
Murmurs and metallic clinking carried through the water, traveling far longer and wider than air. Iron rich scents lingered in my nose, tears lining my eyes at the stinging sensation.
“South exit. Don’t linger,” Laziel ordered, voice stern but worried. He branched off at the next intersection, leaving me purging forward alone through the Abyssal Hold.
The stairs eventually plateaued, revealing a stretch of flat stone. I peered around the corner, just enough to inspect the other side. Chambers and barred up cells lined the walls—the exact location I hunted for. And at each iron gate holding in a prisoner stood a mer guard at attention.
I forced a breath, filling my lungs as I fiddled with the distractor in my pocket.
