he will never again lift a finger against me.
In my fury, I killed him.
Baliras are violent when provoked. But be silent and still,
and you may yet see the frailness under their enormous size,
the way they wrap their fins around their young.
—Creatures of the Underworld, by Sir Alamour Kerana
Adelina Amouteru
I’m not sure how long we stay in the alley. Maybe a minute. Maybe hours. Time loses meaning for a while. I only remember leaving that narrow street in a stupor, my hand clenched tightly around Violetta’s. There is a corpse lying on the ground behind us that I don’t dare look at again.
Somehow, we manage to stay hidden in the shadows, the chaos in the city working to our advantage. In the heart of Estenzia, the steady presence of Inquisition patrols has quickly turned into teeming numbers, more white cloaks than I’ve ever seen in my life. Broken glass litters the streets. Shops owned by malfettos are smashed, burned, and destroyed—their owners dragged from their beds, still in their shifts, and thrown into the street to be arrested. The palace is taking its revenge for what we did at the piers.
I am taking my own revenge.
We continue on. It seems like the night sky has started to lighten . . . dawn already? We must have stayed in the alley for some time, I think as we go. Sheer exhaustion suddenly hits me, and I lean into a wall to steady myself against the wave of dizziness. Something happened in that alley. What was it? Why does everything feel so out of focus? A memory comes to me clouded and half formed, as if I had witnessed it through another’s eyes. Someone had been there. A boy. He’d tried to hurt us. I can’t remember beyond that. Something happened. But what? I look at Violetta, who returns my stare with wide, frightened eyes. It takes me a moment to realize that she is frightened of me.
Perhaps I do remember. Perhaps I’m forgetting on purpose.
“Hurry, Adelina,” she whispers as she hesitantly takes my hand. I follow numbly. “Where should we go?”
Through the fog in my head, I murmur back, “The Fortunata Court. This way.” If I can just talk to Raffaele, I can explain everything. Enzo will listen to him. I shouldn’t have left them behind—this has all been a terrible mistake.
I lead us through the waning dark, past burning buildings and wailing people, the air filled with the smell of terror. I stop again when the darkness in my stomach becomes too much for me to handle.
“Wait,” I gasp out to Violetta. Before she can reply, I lean forward and heave. What little is in my stomach comes spilling out. I cough and retch until I have nothing left. Still, the darkness churns in me, relentless, bringing with it tides of both nausea and comfort. I teeter between revulsion and joy.
Through my dizziness, I feel Violetta wrapping her arm around my shoulder. She steadies me. When I look up, I meet her solemn eyes. “Who was he?” she whispers.
Her question sounds like an accusation. It confuses me. “Who?”
Violetta’s eyes turn stricken. “You mean, you don’t—”
This must be what it feels like to lose your mind. I shake off her arm and turn my attention back to the streets. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I snap. I wait for Violetta to say something in return, but she stays quiet, and we don’t exchange another word until we near the arches of the Fortunata Court.
By the time we arrive, the city is full of the sound of screams, and the faint dawn is broken by bursts of orange. We pause in an alley to catch our breath. All of my strength has been sapped, and I don’t even try to conjure an illusion to protect us. Violetta keeps her eyes turned away from me, her expression stricken.
“Get back,” she suddenly whispers.
We shrink into the shadows as Inquisitors come running past the main street and into a nearby shop. Moments later, they drag a malfetto woman out, throwing her down with such force that she falls onto her hands and knees. She’s sobbing. Behind her, white cloaks flutter inside her shop, and the first signs of fire flicker at the windows. We watch in silence, hearts in our throats, as the woman begs them for mercy. One of the Inquisitors prepares to strike her. Up in the windows of nearby homes, neighbors look on. Their faces are pictures of horror. But they