I prayed my next words wouldn’t be my death sentence. I needed this bounty gone. I had business in the south I couldn’t postpone. The Myad was my only hope of ever going home. “Then take me to Cruor.”
His green eyes widened a fraction. “Your logic escapes me.”
“Good thing it’s not your job to understand how I think. Take me to Cruor, or Iky will end you. Plain and simple.”
“As if you could kill me.”
Iky snapped another finger without my prompting, and the man hissed.
“What were you saying?” I asked.
“Fine.” He rotated his head, peering around trees before jutting his chin to the left. “You won’t like this.”
Tendrils exploded in a swirling vortex that blanketed out the Kitska Forest. Rivers of black surged beneath our feet, and my stomach turned itself inside out. We were thrust forward, and yet we hadn’t moved a muscle. Intertwining shadows sped through us, around us, careening us toward a destination I couldn’t even begin to pinpoint. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, and I sucked in a breath.
And then we came to a screeching halt, the outside world slamming back into us as the darkness abruptly receded. I white-knuckled a fist against my stomach and glared at the assassin in Iky’s arms. His smirk was maddening.
The comfort of Midnight Jester was now what felt like a world away.
Slowly, I unfurled my hand and caught sight of my Charmer’s symbol, weighing Iky’s branch and my apparent insanity against his time. Every beast had a weakness, and his was a shelf life. Two hours of strength for every twenty-two hours of sleep. With every minute that passed, Iky’s limb retreated to the base until it would fade from existence, forcibly returning him to the beast realm to regain his stamina.
I had fifteen minutes, give or take.
Stepping to the side, I gestured to the woods. “Let’s get this over with. Iky, pick him up.” His hooks retracted a fraction, and Iky cradled the man to his chest like an overgrown child.
The assassin scoffed, unintelligible curses dropping from his lips.
The void had transported us close, but I still couldn’t see the hidden death grotto known as Cruor. Yet I could feel it. The weight of eyes and shadows. My hairs stood on end as we made our way through the suffocating foliage, darkness dripping from limbs like tacky sap. Above us, birds squawked and feathers scraped together as they took flight, swirling upward and chasing the setting sun into the horizon. A heavy branch creaked. A shadow more human than night rocketed from one tree to the next. The assassin stared after the figure without saying a word, but smugness laced his expression. One of his brethren, then, going to alert the others.
Icy hands wrenched my heart, and I gripped the book-shaped locket hanging about my neck—the miniature bestiary all Charmers carried—and begged the gods for favorable odds. I could have waited. Could have called forth another beast, but Iky’s strength took a serious toll on my power, and my arsenal that could fight off the legendary might of Cruor was small. Besides, summoning another could be the difference between a peaceful negotiation and a declaration of war. The latter I would surely lose. I needed every chance to run I could get, in case negotiations went south.
Mangled iron fencing battled against the overgrowth of the cursed forest, marking the edge of Cruor’s property, and I paused at the gates. In the distance, the evening sky birthed a manor shrouded in darkness. Alone on a hill and two stories tall, with more windows than my eyes could count, the guild was just shy of a castle.
Slate black and covered in vibrant red gems, a rycrim core glittered from between neatly trimmed hedges and the side of the house. Magic energy pulsed from it in an invisible dome over the mansion.
I’d begged Dez to invest in a rycrim core for months. Changing every candle by hand, warming the bathwater over a fire—I wanted the simplicity of self-lighting fixtures, a faucet that immediately poured scalding water. But convenience cost more bits than we could afford to spare. Murder apparently paid well.
Iky whined aloud, a low vibration thrumming through the air. Less than ten minutes left.
With a heavy breath, I pushed the gate open and tried to shake the eerie grating of hinges as I stared down the winding path leading me straight to death’s door.
Two
Noc
The wooden double doors banged open, and a gush of cool air swirled into the