The sound of glass shattering fills the dank, cold air. An unnatural darkness swallows my senses as shards rain down from the lanterns overhead and, instinctively, I draw my other blade and adopt a defensive stance.

  My chest throbs as magic saturates the air, a sudden pressure that sets Zeph on edge. It rubs against his senses like static before a storm, a prickling charge that winds him tight. I grit my teeth and swallow it down. Not here!

  Obscured by the spell, the faint echo of hurried footsteps—too light and too sure of their path to belong to Kyros or his lackeys—fades into the dark, and I know that she’s gone.

  Godsdamn it, Dani!

  ‘Oh, she’s good.’

  Shut it, Zeph.

  A flicker of light sparks at the other end of the aisle, the small flame chasing away the consuming darkness, and I blink.

  “Mages,” Kyros grunts as he ignites the pages of a book and tosses the burning tome onto a small pile at his feet. “They never fight fair.”

  Hesitantly, I sheath the daggers and cross my arms, arching an eyebrow despite my racing pulse. None of this is going to plan and Dani’s little stunt may have made things worse. How am I supposed to protect her now?

  How is she supposed to trust me after I held a blade to her neck?

  ‘Would you blame her if she didn’t?’

  “She’s hardly a threat,” I say, keeping my tone dismissive as I push Zeph’s concern aside. “Even less so now that she’s used magic without a license. It’s not worth hunting her down.”

  If there’s one thing I know about the Imperium, it’s that they value their laws above all else. Any mage caught weaving outside their regulations usually ends up on our list.

  Maybe it’s enough to convince them to let Dani live for now?

  “Maybe not for you, Squeak,” Selene huffs. “But I’m not about to let some jumpy little magic twit get one over on me.”

  Fuck. Of course she won’t let it go.

  I narrow my eyes. “Then I’ll handle it.”

  “We’re in this situation because of you,” Kyros snaps, shadows dancing across his furrowed brow as he glares over the makeshift bonfire. “If you hadn’t made yourself known then we probably could’ve slipped out unnoticed and spared her life.”

  ‘He lies.’

  I know. Dani was as good as dead the moment she set foot in here.

  Speaking of . . .

  “Why the library, Kyros? What made our contact think that the Hand would be here?”

  His jaw clenches, as if weighing his next move, before sighing.

  “Apparently he had an appointment, but it seems he was pulled away for other reasons. Though that hardly matters now. This was more than just an assassination, Ashe. Our employer wanted the hit to look convincing. They wanted it to seem like the Covenant was searching for the Astravarum.”

  The Astravarum? As if framing them for the death of David Vossler—an accused apostate whose affiliations would ruin the Imperium’s reputation—isn’t enough motivation to incite fear, now they need to tap into legends, too?

  None of this feels right.

  “That book’s only a myth.”

  “Yeah, and so’s our intel.” Damen frowns as he disassembles his spear and tucks it into the sheath strapped to his back. Both tips peak above his shoulders like silver-edged barbs. “This was a bust. Never trust a godsdamn mage.”

  “This was never about trust, Damen—gods know that mages don’t deserve that from us. But myths have power in them.” Kyros opens the satchel at his hip and pulls out a talisman the size of his hand. “And now, we have leverage.”

  “Aw, Kyros, you sentimental savage!” Selene croons. “First dinner, then a show, and now jewelry? You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

  “Not one of your usual tools of the trade,” I say, appraising the faint runes carved into the obsidian sides of the faceted diamond. It pulses with a dark energy that prickles my skin like a thousand icy needles and makes my birthmark itch again. Magic. “Is that how you were able to disarm the wards?”

  The look in his eyes speaks volumes. “It’s how we’ll bring the Imperium’s entire empire crumbling down. It’s how we end mages for good.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Impossible.

  ‘But what if it’s not?’ Zeph’s question lingers on my tongue. ‘That stone can nullify spellwork, Ashe. What if he speaks the truth?’

  My throat tightens at the possibilities.

  “And they just . . . gave it, to you?”

  “They wanted the job to be quick, clean. This thing was the only way to dispel the magic in this place. But if it can do that, imagine what else it’s capable of.” He pockets the artifact. “Let them play politics for a while and tear themselves apart. When the dust clears, the Bladesworn will be there to finish what our ancestors should’ve done long ago.”

  I don’t bother masking my skepticism as I ask, “And Roren knows about all this?”

  “Why do you think he agreed to this missive in the first place?”

  I force myself not to react to his words, not to let the shock show on my face, but it still feels like the floor drops out from under me. Roren’s in on this?

  Part of me is not surprised, though. Of course Roren would have known, at least to some degree. He approves the details of every contract that crosses his desk and his aversion toward the Imperium is no secret to his hunters—many of us even share his views on mages and their magic.

  But the fifth tenet of the Bladesworn’s code maintains that political neutrality is essential for the Society’s longevity and influence. Our blades are unbiased, never to be used for personal vendettas.

  Would he really risk the Society’s reputation to use this device against one of our largest benefactors? Would he use this mission to invoke another Cleansing?

  ‘There is still much work to be done,’ those were his parting words the last time we spoke. Is this what he had planned all along?

  My mind reels and for a moment I can’t breathe, but I can’t afford to lose focus. There’s too much at stake for me to lose my head now.

  “That’s great, but we still have a loose end to tie up and a missing mark to hunt down,” Damen grunts as he tosses another book into the dying fire. “Not to mention a library to ransack.”

  “I’ve always loved a good chase.” Selene snaps her fan shut with a sharp clack! as she meets my glare with a knowing smirk, the cunt. “The twit is mine, Kyros. I saw her first.”

  “No.” The word is out of my mouth before I can stop it. All three of them turn to me and I swallow, forcing my voice to remain level. “She’s my mess. I’ll clean it up.”

  Kyros lets out a short, humorless laugh. “You? After all this? You forced our hand and now you’ve let a witness escape. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cut you down right here for your insubordination and find the girl myself.”

  This is it. The line I have to walk.

  I meet his gaze, channeling the cold arrogance he expects from a rival Bladesworn. My words now are every bit as lethal as my blades. At this moment, caution means everything.

  “Because you have a bigger problem. The Hand of the Imperium is a no-show, which means that either our contact is playing us or he was warned ahead of time. Seeing as how this is your mission, you need to find out why he wasn’t here.” I take a half-step forward, careful to keep my hands visible. “She’s one girl, Kyros. A terrified student who just used illegal magic. You can send an entire hunting party after her—which, let’s be honest, is a waste of our resources—or you can send one hunter to retrieve her.” I tap a fist against my own chest. “Between the four of us I’m the best tracker here, even you can’t deny that. Let me clean up my own mess while you deal with finding the actual target so we can complete this mission and go home.”

  Kyros stares at me for several long, agonizing seconds. I can see the calculation in his eyes. He doesn’t trust me, but my logic is sound and it feeds into his ego. He’s arrogant. He wants the bigger prize, he wants to be the one to report back to Roren when it’s all over, and he enjoys the thought of me fucking it all up.

  In his mind, he can’t lose.

  “Fine,” he finally says, his tone dangerously soft. “We’ll regroup at the Gilded Crown. You have until dawn. Find her. Silence her. And bring me something to prove the job is done.” He steps closer, the shadows writhing across his face highlighting the menace in his eyes. “But know this, Ashe: if you’re not back by sunrise, I’ll not just be hunting them anymore. I’ll be hunting you.”

  My hands ball into fists at my sides, nails digging into my palms as I fight to stay grounded. “I’ll be there.”

  I know it’s a lie as soon as I say the words, but if it buys me some time then I’ll say whatever he wants to hear.

  “See that you are.” Kyros turns to the others without a word, signaling for them to follow his lead.

  Selene shoots me a look of pure venom but she soon falls into step behind him. Damen gives me a single, unreadable look before shaking his head and joining them.

  I don’t move.

  I don’t breathe.

  I listen as their footsteps fade until the archives are once again plunged into an oppressive, echoing silence, broken only by the crackle of Kyros’s dwindling bonfire.

  After a while, I’m alone. But the race has only just begun.

  Dawn. I have one, maybe two hours at most to find her. The rest we’ll just have to figure out as we go.

  ‘He bought it.’ A mixture of surprise and relief swell in my chest, but the feelings are short-lived.

  “For now,” I mutter aloud, weaving through the dark aisles. My gambit may have paid off but I still don’t know where Dani went. She could be anywhere in the city. But she’s terrified, alone, and she just used unsanctioned magic.

  She’s not a hunter. She won’t be thinking about evasive maneuvers or covering her tracks. She’ll be running to the only place where she feels safe. It’s a start. I can only pray to gods I haven’t prayed to in a long time that we find her before our luck runs out.

  ‘We need Spooky.’

  “I know.”

  In my haste to rush out and search for Dani, I had left Spooky back in my room—considering how sideways this all went, in hindsight that was probably for the best. But the hotel is a detour and I’ll need his keen sense of smell to pick up her trail. It’ll cost me time I don’t have, but no one can track a scent the way a khaji can.

  My heart sinks as a sudden realization washes over me.

  Ever since Roren adopted me, I had given everything to the Blades Society. The Bladesworn weren’t exactly the family I had dreamt about as an orphan, but I had fought tooth and nail to earn their trust all the same. They took me in, gave me a home, and offered me purpose. I had given everything to their cause when I took my oath and now I was about to throw it all away.

  Am I really prepared to do that?

  ‘It’s what’s right.’

  “If we do this, there’s no going back to Moonshadow Hall. We’re as good as dead.”

  ‘We can’t let her die. We made a promise. We keep our promises.’

  “Zeph, old boy, if we somehow make it through this alive then you and I need to have a serious talk about commitments and loyalty.”

  How is it that we always find ourselves on the wrong side of trouble?

  ‘Trouble’s the one thing we’re good at. Besides killing.’

  I gnash my teeth. “Just remember who’s godsdamn idea this was!”

  I burst through the side exit of the library and into the cold night air, the clock tower in the distance striking half past five. The hunt is on.