“We go down, then into the Division.”
Her confused features continue to twist, while Gladian’s face stays stone-cold.
“You ever been here, Gladian?” I ask.
“Unfortunately. It’s been twenty-eight years since my last visit.”
“Why did you come here then?”
He peers down at me, indecision warring in his eyes.
“Vihaan’s funeral, and the crowning of the new ruler.” He briefly glances at the swords—Creed’s swords—strapped to my back. “I’ll never forget the smirk on his face when his father passed him those swords.”
I swallow down the fury that bubbles in my throat.
“You realize he was a child, right? He was seven. All he knew was what he had been taught.”
His lips tighten.
“Yes. I realize that now. It took me some time, though. Vihaan was a very dear friend to me. Not only me.” He casts his gaze to Sevryn for a fleeting second, then steps toward the black abyss of doom.
It still makes me highly uncomfortable.
“We’re jumping into that?” Mara asks in the highest pitch I’ve ever heard her voice reach.
“Yep,” I say.
“Ready?” Sevryn asks as he wraps his fingers around my bicep. I don’t draw any attention to it, but it definitely helps the sweat starting to coat my skin.
“Ready.”
My eyes slam shut as we step off the edge and plummet through nothing. I fight back the bile that attempts to race up my throat and Sevryn holds me steady as I sway.
Glancing to the side and watching Mara cling to Gladian for dear life helps. A lot.
I bite back my snicker and scan the obsidian stone structure looming ahead.
Wordlessly, we stomp across the rubble ground and tension coils through my muscles the closer to the Division we get. My plan for this part was pretty simple.
If the guards by the door try to stop us, Sevryn or I will stab them, then carry on inside until we find that god who did everything Creed ordered.
See? Simple.
Just like last time, the guards slip out of the walls unannounced, swords at the ready and my arms flinch with the desire to reach back for my own.
Mara and Gladian withdraw their weapons.
Then the guards drop to a knee.
“Ma’am,” they both echo.
My eyebrows shoot up as Sevryn’s, Gladian’s, and Mara’s stares sear into my cheeks.
What the fuck?
I clear my throat.
“Uh…you can rise.”
