Page 7

Her pale skin might have been excused by a lack of sun, but her ash-gray hair absolutely marked her as an Ashbourne descendant long before she ever stepped on this side of the continent.

The disappointment faded when she learned how Reave worked. Dusks stayed below and minded themselves, and the Dawns above rarely intervened. The lower levels hid her—not only from the Guardian’s dynasty, but from the other Imordials searching for the vessel of the Wraith.

Until this morning.

Xavier sighed, eyeing her. “At least you blend in well enough.”

Lily ran a hand over the stubble on her scalp and glanced at her reflection.

Flare’s created souls—life giving energy that resided in the Aithre Domain beneath the earth. At birth, a soul would leave the plane to inhabit a body; at death, it returned to the Aithre where its energy fed the land. Each soul bore a shade, a color that marked which Flare had created it.

Xavier, Reina, and their now-retired employer all knew she was Ashin-descended. They knew her eyes were the shade of the Wraith—purple. What they didn’t know was that she carried the Wraith itself. Like the other gods, the Wraith was indistinguishable from the hundreds of thousands of souls it created. But purple marked its children, and for those who feared the Wraith, that hue alone was enough for the empire to damn every one of them.

In the seven years she’d been in Reave, Lily managed to hide by following the lead of other Ashin folk that also lived in the lower districts. She shaved her hair to hide its color and rarely left the warehouse without a pair of tinted glasses.

“If you don’t want to go back up there, I won’t ask you to,” Xavier said, placing a hand on her knee.

Lily’s smile fell. That wasn’t a worry since she’d be long gone come morning, thanks to the sale of the escence. How far it would take her, she wasn’t sure. There was time to figure it out.

“I’ll take you up on it,” Lily said, placing her hand on top of Xavier’s. The Wraith’s presence was being particularly intrusive, and the lack of fabric between her skin and Xavier’s warm touch sent a nervous shiver down her spine. She hesitated before lightly brushing her fingers along his knuckles and turning back to the mirror.

He stood from the bed with a sigh.

“Where’s Rey?” Lily asked, applying a little kohl to her eyelids, hoping the question would take the focus off of her mood.

“Pinpointing whatever hole Aarin crawled into.”

“What?” Lily spat, spinning around. “You could’ve opened with that!”

Xavier lifted his shoulders. “You could be more forthcoming.”

“I don’t like her being alone with him.”

“Rey is”—Xavier waved a dismissive hand in the air—“Rey. You think I could’ve stopped her?”

“I guess not, but—” Lily cut herself off with an exacerbated sigh. Sever the line. It’s not your problem anymore. But it wasn’t that easy, no matter how much she wanted it to be. It was why she was leaving. It was what was best for them. “Get to the Flux and find her. I’ll catch up.”

Xavier chuckled under a smile as he closed the door. “Don’t be late.”

Lily returned to her task, finishing it with rough and angry movements. She slowed, noticing a kohl stain on the back of her hand. A cold sweat broke across her back. She quickly wiped the smudge away then snagged her gloves, sending several perfume bottles clattering to the floor. Only after they were secured over her skin did her heart calm.

“I’ll be there.”

The star that illuminated Eizreth set hours ago, leaving the night to its two moons.

Theila rested closest, static and shining brightly night after night. Its sister, Rion, waxed and waned over the course of a thirty-nine-day month, with a full year consisting of twelve months. During Rion’s dark periods, as the sun rose, a morning star made its appearance on the horizon to remind Eizreth of its gift of existence.

Erebria. The dark sun. Where the Flares’ energy originated.

Rion was waxing, so it wouldn’t appear for some time.

Lily’s gaze fell from the sky to the rooftops, then beyond to the sheer rock face separating Reave’s highest districts from its lowest.

The city was the third and last of the Reatian Empire’s major conquests. Sometime in the last three centuries, Dusk souls were relegated to the bottom half while Dawn’s inhabited the top. Valen entrusted the city to a loyalist who was there during the early stages of the emperor’s rise to power. Perex, Lily thought his name was.

Along the edge, the gentle glow of lamplight highlighted a carving made into the rock. It extended along the mountainside in a serpentine shape until it faded from sight into the night sky.

A pair of hands clasped Lily’s shoulders. “Something bothering you?”