Page 104 of The City Of Fractured Memory

Chief Starling lies slumped against the ruined doorway of the Division, half-buried in rubble, blood matting his greying beard and pooling darkly beneath him. His chest rises shallowly…barely.

Riven drops to his knees so fast I hear the crack of bone against stone.

“Stay with me,” Riven demands, gripping his friend’s shoulders, voice breaking. “You’re not dying here. Not like this.”

Starling’s eyes flutter open. He focuses on Riven first, then his gaze slides toward me, confusion washed in pain.

“You…shouldn’t be here,” he rasps, coughing blood. “They are—after you–”

I freeze.

My stomach twists into something cold and sick, but I force myself forward, kneeling beside them both, the flames scorching a suffocating wall of heat up my back.

“Chief,” I whisper, voice shaking. “Who did this? What did they want?”

The flames crackle louder around us, the building beginning to groan as another section collapses inward. But Starling manages to lift a trembling hand, gripping Riven’s wrist.

His voice becomes surprisingly firm given his grievous injuries, like he’s using up all his energy just for this. “It’s too late. They’re going to use it. Tonight.”

Riven goes dangerously still.

My breath stops.

The Codex?

Guess I was right about him being in Riven’s pocket after all.

He lets go of Riven and turns his head to me, grabbing my cloak with both hands, his eyes desperate. “Octavia, please forgive me. I took you off that case because I thought whoever sent you those notes was trying to point you to Riven. I had no idea it was Riven himself sending them. I was trying to protect him.”

“Henrick, no–” Riven starts.

I nod shakily. “I understand.”

I don’t.

He continues, his breath starting to rattle. “When you—when you started getting involved with those murdered seers…he told me to let you. So that night when you broke into the morgue I made a show of arresting you. I knew Blackwood would come to your aid, he’s so predictable. I let you convince yourself he was the only reason I let you on the case.”

Starling was in on it the whole time?

Before I can demand more answers, he starts coughing up more blood and his hands slip limply from my cloak. I grab his shoulders in panic, trying to lift his head, but it’s no use, the blood keeps coming. He pins me with a terrified expression, the look of a man who knows death is imminent. He grasps blindly for me, pulling me close again as he whispers in my ear.

“Stay close to Riven. You—you can trust him.” He pauses, choking on his blood. “I’m sorry…I failed…you.”

He falls limp, quiet.

Slowly, the hand clutching me slips, his last breath an ominous rattle in his chest. Riven bows his head, jaw clenched so hard it trembles. No tears, but something just as visceral flickers across his face.

Behind us, the Division continues to burn.

“No!” I run my fingers through my hair and they come back covered in blackened soot. “If one more person dies for this stupid, Voyding conspiracy–”

I can’t take this anymore.

I jump to my feet and kick a piece of debris into the roaring fire, frustrated tears streaming down my face, tightening my skin where they congeal with the grime and soot plastered to me.

I scream.

Every awful, confusing, frustrating thing that’s happened in the last two weeks rips from my mouth in the form of a blood curdling, guttural scream, my throat feeling like it’s tearing to pieces as I let it out and inhale the burning smoke.