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Lily returned Reina’s small smile before delving into the innards of the plaza. Steel rods from the frame of the broken ceiling jutted against the lightening blue of the early morning sky. Shattered glass crunched under her boots as she cautiously approached the farthest wall in search of a staircase. Reina and Xavier’s voices grew faint as darkness surrounded her. Lily pressed hard into her gun, and it responded with a flickering glow that illuminated the area around her.

She found the stairs and started her ascent. Halfway up, sunlight filtered through the buildings decay, causing her to slow at the landing, her attention snared by a mural.

Before her was a fading portrait of the imperial family. Clad in a golden robe, Emperor Valen Hazevale dominated the frame, his hands outstretched, palms cupping two orbs of light. Behind him stood his incarnations—the first of his biological children, both gifted a fragment of his soul. A reflection of him in flesh and spirit. The figure at his left, a young man with olive brown skin and dark hair, was the very image of how he was depicted three hundred years ago.

But the face of the figure at Valen’s right had been slathered by a paint so thick it looked like tar. It twisted and curved, covering his face and the length of his body, except for a single spot at chest height—a careful omission by the vandal.

Lily glanced at Valen and then to his second, untouched son, Caine, finding the gold of both their eyes—the soul they shared. They carried the Guardian, a Dawn Flare, one of six original souls that made up the Pantheon, souls that harnessed energy equal to that of a god.

But this one didn’t belong to them. It was a stolen deity, cut into pieces by Valen.

Lily scowled, spitting at the emperor’s feet before hurrying up the stairs.

Agreeing to come up here was a mistake. Lily’s own Flare was easier to ignore below. Easier to blend in. Reminders like this never did her any favors.

Voices she didn’t recognize weaved through the air.

Shit.

She hurried to the railing at a crouch. Xavier was nowhere to be seen, but Lily found Reina sneaking in front of the doorway when all of the men were in the building. They started, turning to face her and dropping the cases filled with the stolen stock.

Lily positioned her rifle, taking note of each thief through the scope as Reina engaged in tense conversation. The tall, hulking man at the front of the group didn’t turn, staring aimlessly off in the direction he was facing. Despite the freezing temperatures, he only wore a pair of torn pants. His chest and head were bare, feet red with chill. Lily’s focus drifted to his arm, built of the same black, glassy material that made her weapon so lethal and impenetrable.

Ghostsoil. A coveted metal in the Reatian Empire not only capable of harnessing soul energy but also interacting with human tissue.

Specters were humans fused with the material. It slowly destroyed their minds as it took over their bodies. They were unpredictable, only responding to the will of their handlers.

Separating him from the group would be the best option for Reina and Xavier.

Lily’s fingers on the grip twitched. Below, Reina held her ground, making whatever threats she’d used on the vagrants in Reave’s slums. But judging by the relaxed posture of these men, Lily could tell it wasn’t working. When one took a step forward, and Reina one back, Lily readied her rifle.

She twisted the knob on the right side of the plate, and the gun came alive with a hiss. The beam ignited inside the shell, echoing down into the space like a lightning bolt reeling to strike.

Two of the men ducked, one frantically looked around, and the specter continued to do nothing. One of the thieves lifted his hand, and the specter reacted, searching the space until he froze, staring at Lily.

She fired.

The beam shot out of the rifle with the gentlest pull of her finger, eager to find its mark. A fiery light blew straight into the wrist of the specter’s prosthetic. The mechanism sputtered with sparks as he recoiled. The destroyed ghostsoil poured to the ground as glittering, black sand, leaving the hand as nothing more than a jagged stump.

The fight with the thieves broke out. Xavier charged his weapon over shouting and grunting, and the specter turned toward the fray. Lily took another shot, this one landing between him and the group. He spun around, anger crossing his features, chest heaving.

He sprinted in her direction.

She leaned over the railing, shooting again and again as the specter clambered up the debris, but he dodged each attack, moving under the walkway and out of sight.

As Lily searched, an inexplicable panic quickened her heart, like she’d been frozen in the shock of a fall without ever tripping. Her skin prickled, sending jolts of electricity up her arms and down her spine. The world seemed to spin away as a fear all her own dropped low in her belly.

I know this feeling.

Lily was yanked to the ground. Her rifle clattered to the floor and slid out of reach. She flipped onto her back, meeting the orange glow of the specter’s soul behind his eyes. She kicked at him with her other foot, freeing herself for a moment, but she was caught again. He lifted his mangled arm, poised to come down hard onto Lily, but he stilled, tilting his head toward the way she came.

Lily thrust her knee straight into the specter’s throat. He choked, loosening his grip long enough for her to reach around and grab her rifle. She swung it at his temple, knocking him off of her. She hopped up behind him and brought the weapon down on the top of his head.

She rose to strike for a third time, but he toppled to the ground. When he did, what she found standing in the collapsing opening to the plaza surprised Lily like a slap to the back.

Is that a… kid?

Whatever it was kept their head covered by a ragged cloak, but judging by their height, she was certain it was a child.