To.
Sleep.
His heartbeat slowed. Too slow. Kara wrenched her hand away as he fell face-first into the dust. She exhaled shakily.
I did it.
That had been close. The ruthlessness of her magic shocked her. It left her feeling a cold that had nothing to do with the night air. She shook it off, grateful it had worked. Realising she’d edged too far from cover, she ducked low again, creeping back towards the shadow of the rocks. She held her breath, waiting for any sign that someone had heard, that she’d been discovered.
Nothing.
Kara let out a slow, shaky breath, nerves spiking again. Sebastian wasn’t back yet. She scanned for him desperately.
He’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.
It was a mantra she told herself again and again. Then – he was there, moving through the dark without a sound, his blade still drawn. His hands were steady and his breathing controlled – but his bloodied lip and split knuckles told her he hadn’t had it as easy as she had.
“Sebastian,” she whispered, reaching for him.
“I’m here.” He grabbed her hand tightly, searching her for injuries. “You did it.”
She nodded. “So did you.”
She brushed her thumb over the cut on his lip, emerald sparking without conscious thought. It sealed at once. She froze as soon as she’d done it.
She hadn’t asked.
But to her surprise he only looked mildly startled, then smiled at her. “I barely felt that.”
“Good,” she murmured, and her emerald wrapped his knuckles, healing his hand as well.
Sebastian angled his head upwards and eyed the wall, dark and sheer, the gate barred from within.
“You can’t break it,” Kara said, gazing at the gate. “They’ll hear–”
“I won’t break it,” he smirked. Crimson erupted across his palm. He looked like he was enjoying himself. “Remember the plan. Stay here.”
“Sebastian–”
But he was already moving towards the wall, his hands finding jagged stones for footholds. He hauled himself upwards as if it required no effort at all. Kara gripped the rocks in front of her, forcing herself flat. But she was hardly able to breathe as his silhouette vanished over the battlements. Adrenaline coursed through her. Any second, she expected shouts, alarms, arrows–
But no such sound came, only a faint scrape of an iron bolt. Slowly, quietly, the gate shifted open, and she scurried from her hiding place to the small gap Sebastian had left for her. He stood waiting in the dark, hidden behind a stone column, eyes focused and alive. He held out his hand to her.
“Your turn,” Sebastian said quietly.
She slipped past him, stepping over two guards he’d knocked out to reach the gate, and into the Fire Temple’s outer courtyard, scurrying behind the column alongside him. Her pulse spiked as they pressed theirbacks against the wall, keeping to the shadows. The place was vast. Easily two hundred paces across. Statues lined the paths – warriors and beasts carved from pristine white marble, stark and gleaming against the dark obsidian walls. Ahead of them, in the centre of it all, the inner temple rose on four great pillars, their surfaces covered in runes that glowed eerily in the torchlight. It took her a moment to orientate herself. The sight of the soldiers forced Kara back to the moment. More, many more than she had imagined. Pairs patrolled the inner walls; another squad gathered near the heavy doors that led into the heart of the temple itself.
Her stomach sank.
There were too many.
Sebastian’s hand brushed hers, grounding her. “Stay close.” He sounded calm, unaffected, but he was scanning every movement. “We take them one group at a time. Quietly. No mistakes.”
They hugged the shadows along the obsidian wall, moving with the rhythm of the patrols. When a pair of guards rounded too close, footsteps echoing off the stone, torchlight swinging towards their hiding place, they joined hands. Molten gold flared from Kara’s palm. The nearest soldier’s eyes found hers in the dark. They went wide – confused, afraid – before they glazed over. He slipped under before he could form a sound, but quicker than Sebastian had expected. He lunged forward as the man’s knees buckled, grabbing him by the arm and twisting to catch the other before he hit the ground. He eased them down, hiding them in the shadows, careful to muffle the sound of armour on the stone. Sebastian looked up at Kara; she could practically hear him thinking how he could have used her on previous missions.
See? Told you I could help.
One by one, patrol by patrol, they cleared the edges, each silence heavier than the last. Without warning, Sebastian dragged Kara back against the wall, his other hand clamping over her mouth.
