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“What about Draven?” she asked.

“What about him?”

“He can get us out quickly and quietly, with his shadows, right?”

“No.”

“Why not?” She dropped her chair to face him, already knowing it wasn’t possible, considering he walked them all the way to Markoth. Tidbits of anything about the man were nice to know, and Croll seemed to like answering her prying about his Diseased nature. It would make it easier to face him when he arrived tomorrow morning.

Croll closed his book. “The Serpent’s condition affects his body. Since he carries a god and not a simple soul, its enhancements extend beyond just revival, healing, or strength—it connects its body to its specific influence. Compare it to Caiven for example. He carries a Diseased soul the color of the Serpent, but he cannot connect with shadows like Master Atwood.”

Lily nodded, gazing at the doorway. Must be nice to go wherever you want with only a thought. No restrictions or barriers—

“That’s it!” She launched from the table, startling Croll and the few patrons still in the lobby. Lily withered her excitement to a whisper. “A graft.”

The minuscule possibility gave Lily more hope than any of her other ideas. Caiven’s ghosted artifacts came through Kael who smuggled anything Reave’s lower districts had to offer. If she were to find one, she could slip inside the estate as planned and then get the girls to safety without ever having to go back through the house.

Lily snatched her coat hanging over the back of the chair.

Croll stared at her, flabbergasted. “You’re leaving? Now?”

“Is that a shock?”

Croll clenched his jaw. “Not that it would be of any bother to me if you got yourself caught by a patrol on a fruitless quest for a ghosted artifact or people you’re not going to find, but I’d prefer if you didn’t go anywhere tonight.”

Croll’s words pinched inside her chest. Finding Reina or Xavier here after so long was unlikely, she knew that, but after she spent her first night here tossing and turning from stress, Lily decided to turn the wasted time into action she couldn’t do last year. Gridian was the largest city in the central continent, and they had both expressed visiting more than once. If they managed to leave Reave after the war broke out, this was a possible destination for them to end up.

Lily had no choice but to come clean on her whereabouts the following morning when she trudged into the lobby after a long night, finding Croll exactly where he was now, sipping on a mug of tea and wearing a stunned look that told her he was picturing all the ways Draven might punish him if he learned she snuck out on his watch.

Croll may have been right that her search was pointless, but it now gave her a place to start looking for a graft.

Lily shimmied her coat over her shoulders. “Draven’s not due ‘til tomorrow morning. If he comes early, tell him I forced my way. That I held you upside down and threatened to feed you to the birds.”

He snorted. “It’s not amusing. He’ll be cross.”

“Cross men are my specialty.” Croll glowered at her, and she hoped his master wouldn’t truly take out his anger on the tiny man. “I’ll give him a glowing report for you when I get back. Now drink up. It’ll help you calm down.”

Croll pushed the tankard away with a thin finger and dropped his head, returning to the book in his lap. Lily bid him farewell and skipped through the inn, securing her glasses tight to her face and touching her stiff hair to make sure the color wasn’t budging. She burst through the door and into the brisk air of Gridian’s innards.

Lily spent most of the last hour shoving her way through the bustling streets. Night had overtaken the sky for some time, yet the city was still completely alive.

Gridian was a spiral of walkways and roads traveling down an old quarry. Shops upon shops lined the area she and Croll were hiding in. The streets extended into the rock wall, creating back alleys and roads that were less frequently traversed but still populated. While not deep, the quarry was wide, and every nook and cranny was exploited for space. Lily made it to the inner railing once in hopes to see the muddied springs at the bottom of the hole but only saw tin-plated rooftops aglow with the reflection of lanterns and trails of chimney smoke.

Lily stopped at the tavern she’d discovered the night before.

It reminded her of a haphazardly constructed airship. Overlapping sheets of metal covered the walls in a tight curve around a splintered staircase leading upstairs. Wood tables, metal chairs, and ripped cloth couches were strewn about like those who attended brought whatever junk they could find as payment.

As she made her way to the crescent shaped bar, a roar of cheering exploded from the second level, igniting everyone else into a wave of hollers and yapping from whatever game was being played. In the middle of it all, she found a man exactly where she met him yesterday. Lily had been flirting with one of the barmaids for information about Gridian’s immigration process when she caught his stare from across the room. Lily’s gaze immediately locked onto his hands—stained and calloused like Reina’s used to be from working with metal all day. After a few drinks, a little flirting, and the promise of a paid reward, she convinced him to look around for her while she spent the day posing as one of Caiven’s guards.

Already a pint of ale down, Lily smoothly took up the space next to him, perching herself up on the stool. Tonight he wore a deep blue coat and brown pants. His curly hair was blond, his eyes blue. He blew out the smoke from his drag and glanced at her.

Damn. What was his name? She presented her best smile until it came to her. “Axel! You’re here! I’m a little surprised you came back.”

He smiled. “How could I not?” He took another inhale, reached into his pocket, and offered her a smoke.

“I hope I didn’t put you through much trouble,” Lily said. She plucked it from his hands and reached into her coat to pull out her lighter and copper.

“No trouble at all.”