“Juno—”
“You’ll be nearby. The tavern is in the Harbor District. You can wait outside, watch for trouble.” I caught her hand. “But Gideon said come alone. If I show up with you, Cypher might walk away before we even start talking.”
She didn’t like it, but she nodded. We’d learned to trust each other’s instincts over the years. If I thought this was the right play, she’d back me.
The Bone & Barrel was a tavern that catered to wayfarers and scavengers, the sort of place where people minded their own business and kept their weapons visible. It sat on the waterfront, a three-story building of weathered wood with a sign that creaked in the evening wind.
I left Kora across the street, tucked into the shadows of an alley with a clear view of the entrance. Click rode in my satchel, hidden but alert. I’d considered leaving him home, but the truth was I felt safer with him nearby.
The interior was warmly lit by the glow of crystal lamps, the air thick with pipe smoke and the smell of whatever they were cooking in the kitchen. Patrons occupied the tables—rough-looking men and women with the weathered faces of people who’d spent too much time in the Gallery. They glanced up as I entered, assessed me, and went back to their drinks.
Gideon sat at a corner table with a man whose back was to me.
Even from behind, Cypher was imposing. Tall enough that he made the chair look small, broad-shouldered beneath a dark coat that probably concealed multiple weapons. His black hair was pulled back in a messy knot at the base of his neck, and I could see the brass glint of an earring. I made my way across the room, hyper-aware of the attention I was drawing. A young woman alone in a place like this was unusual enough to be noteworthy.
Gideon saw me first. “Ah, Juno. Right on time. This is Captain Cypher of The Night-Piercer.”
Cypher turned, and I got my first look at his face.
The scar was the first thing I noticed. A claw mark that ran from his temple down to his jaw, cutting across his cheekin three parallel lines. It should have been disfiguring, but somehow it just made him look more striking. His eyes were copper, almost orange in the crystal lamplight.
He was handsome in a severe way. Elegant features, a strong jaw shadowed with thick, dark stubble, a mouth that looked like it rarely smiled. “Thisis the scavenger? She looks like she’d blow away in a strong wind.”
Irritation spiked through me. I wasn’t a small woman by any means, he was just being a prick. “I’ve survived the Gallery longer than most wayfarers twice my size.”
He leaned back in his chair, still studying me. “Gideon tells me you want passage to Nytheris. That’s not a pleasure cruise, girl. It’s a death sentence.”
“I’m aware. And I’m not a girl, and I’ve been navigating dead realms since I was sixteen.”
He looked less than impressed. “Dead realms in the Shallows. Collapsed worlds close to home, where you can run back to safety if things go wrong.” He stroked his chin in thought. “Nytheris is different. It’s in the Deep Gallery, weeks from the nearest stable portal. The realm itself is fragmented, floating islands drifting in void currents. One wrong step and you’re food for whatever’s evolved in that darkness.”
“I know the damn risks.”
“Do you?” He turned to Gideon. “This is a waste of my time. Find someone with actual experience.”
I’d known this meeting might be difficult, but I hadn’t expected to be dismissed out of hand like some amateur. “I survived three days alone in the Gallery,” I said. “No ship, no anchor, nothing but the clothes on my back. And then I found my way out.”
That got his attention. He went very still, his eyes narrowing. “You fell into the void and survived three days?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible. No one survives the open Gallery without a ship or anchor.”
“And yet here I am.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea what that would mean?”
I smirked, refusing to look away. “That I’m oddly difficult to kill?”
His mouth twitched, though not quite a smile. “Or that something in the dark decided not to do so.” Cypher exchanged a look with Gideon that I couldn’t quite read before meeting my eyes again. “How did you survive,exactly?”
“I don’t know. I remember falling, and then darkness. Whispers that came from everywhere and nowhere. I felt things moving around me, reaching for me. And then I felt a pull. It drew me toward something in the dark, and I followed it because it was the only thing that felt real. Eventually it led me to a portal. I woke up in a realm I’d never seen before.”
“What realm was that?”
“I don’t know. I was too disoriented to remember details. There were mountains, I think. And a purple sky.”
Cypher was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his tone was different, less dismissive, more considering. “You’re a rift.”
