Page 67 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

I half-expect Ruen to suggest we get onto the back of the cart and ride it into the city and fuck, but I really don’t know if I can stomach sitting on that cart with the acrid scent of ash and shit in my lungs. I’ve smelled dead bodies and slept in urine-drenched cells beneath the Underworld’s headquarters, but something about that dusty odor full of decay leaves me feeling light-headed and sick to my stomach.

I sway on my feet as the cart gets further and further away. I realize why Ruen doesn’t say anything about hitching a ride a moment later as the driver of the cart takes a turn and starts heading away from the city and down to the cliffside. Small miracles, I guess.

“Come on, it’s a long walk.” Ruen strides in the opposite direction that the driver and the cart went, the ripple of his Divinity moving over both of us. Smart, since there are still sentries standing on the walls of the Academy and they could see us heading into Riviere. He doesn’t release my hand.

“How did you know Hael would open the southern gate today?” I ask, curious. How much about the Academy does he know that he doesn’t mention? How can I find out that information and use it to my advantage?

Ruen doesn’t look at me as he responds. “I just did.” Well, that’s not at all helpful.

“Does Hael do that a lot?” I can’t help but press for more. “How often? Every week? Once a month?”

The hand around mine tightens and Ruen jolts as if realizing he never released it. Suddenly I’m free and cold air washes over my palm. I sigh and tuck my hand underneath my armpit, folding both arms and doing the same for each hand to keep them warm as we continue walking.

“It’s not always Hael,” Ruen replies, “but they send out garbage a few times a year.”

“A year?” I gape at him. That hadn’t just been garbage. The smell of garbage was nothing compared to the disgusting rot of whatever Hael and the driver had been carting around. They hadn’t seemed to notice the smell though. How odd. “How did you know they’d be there today?” On exactly the day we would need them.

Ruen doesn’t answer me and just keeps walking. I eye him speculatively. Since it’s clear he’s not willing to say more, I should stop him here. “Okay then, well…” I jog to catch up to his side and then bypass him. Flipping around and stopping, I glance back over his shoulder. “You don’t need to come with me. Thank you for getting me out of the Academy so I can go see my brother. I’ll see you when I get back.”

The big man stops and just looks at me. I crane my neck back so that our eyes collide. I wait. His gaze narrows. “I am not about to let you traipse off into the city after you used me to get out of the Academy grounds,” he tells me, glaring down his nose at me. The shadow of a beard grows over the underside of his jawline as if he’d meant to shave it this morning but had woken too late to do so. I hate to admit it, but he looks rather attractive with it. More so than when he’s clean-shaven. With the little pinpricks of hair dotting his chin and jawline, Ruen looks almost … animalistic.

“You can’t come with me,” I tell him. “People would notice a Mortal God walking through the slums.”

He blinks. “You’re from the slums?”

“I’m from the Hinterlands.” I rock back onto my feet. “My brother is staying in the slums, so that’s where I’m going today.” And I doubt bringing along a big, six-foot-plus hulking mass of Mortal God who still doesn’t know what I am will make Regis feel at all like telling me what the hell his urgency had been about. I shoo him back towards the Academy. “So, run along. I’ll be fine. You go back to the Academy.”

Ruen arches a brow. “And how do you expect to get back into the grounds before nightfall?” he asks.

I shrug. “I’ll figure something out.” Sewers if need be. “Don’t worry, I won’t implicate you in your assistance. Your job is done though. You’ve fulfilled your part of the bargain in getting me—”

Ruen steps closer to me and my words dry up in an instant. I stare up at him, at the glittering midnight sky that lingers in his gaze. “If you wish to see your brother today,” he states, “I suggest you start walking, Kiera Nezerac.”

He’s not backing down. This is not good. I curse silently and turn, trudging towards the city. I’ll have to think of another way to lose him. No, that would simply make him more cautious and wary of me. I bite down on my lip and try to think of what to do as we continue towards the city in the near distance.

It takes a solid hour for us to walk to the city’s edge and hail a cab. The second we step onto the streets of Riviere, however, I notice Ruen lifting his hood to cover his face. I suspect he’s used to this. How else would he have known Hael was going to be there today, opening one of the few gates? Though it had been unguarded this morning, I dimly remember that when I’d scoped the area myself there had been a few older Mortal Gods stationed at that gate. Had they been in the middle of a shift change? The old guards usually didn’t leave until new ones came.

More and more, I’m starting to wonder what Hael and that driver had been doing. What had they been sending out of the Academy?

Ruen and I ride in silence, stuffed next to a few other passengers. I’m half sat on his lap and in the sliver of seat left for me after he hauled his big ass shoulders into the cab of the rickety carriage. The wheels whine under the weight of us plus the other passengers as the horse clomps onward, down the cobble-stoned streets. I glance up at Ruen’s face, but it’s mostly shadowed in the dim interior. I have to convince him not to follow me to Madam Brione’s, but … how?

Minutes pass into yet another hour and, finally, the carriage rolls along the edges of the slums. I tug on Ruen’s cloak to let him know it’s our turn to get out. Cold wind slaps my cheeks and nearly pushes my hood off my head as we step out of the carriage onto a street corner. Strands of my silver hair drift in front of me and immediately, Ruen is there, yanking the hood back up and scowling down at me.

“Careful you don’t show your face,” he snaps.

I roll my eyes. “Careful you don’t show yours,” I reply testily, adjusting my hood. “You’re the one with Divinity shining through your skin like a candle in the darkness.”

As the carriage pulls away from the curb, I spot the answer to my problems across the street. A tavern. I grab ahold of Ruen’s hand as he’s pulling away and start dragging him behind me. He stumbles, clearly surprised by my strong hold, but falls into step behind me and I feel confident letting him go because I know he’ll follow me.

Entering the tavern, I pause on the threshold and take in the odd interior I don’t recall seeing in other taverns across Anatol. The inside is dark, but that’s to be expected with the only windows being a row at the front corner of the building. Instead of drunkards, however, the various tables cloistered together are filled with men in suits and hats, talking in low tones as they drink steaming dark liquid from mugs that are shaped similar to tea cups, but a little deeper. This isn’t a tavern at all.

“What’s that smell?” I ask, sniffing at the bitter, but not unpleasant scent drifting through the air and ridding the last memories of that decaying scent from the cart.

“Coffee.” Ruen’s voice rumbles at my back and he shuffles forward, forcibly moving me out of the threshold and further into the place. “Have you never had it?” he inquires, sounding bemused by the fact.

“Of course not,” I blurt. “It’s—” I glance up at the board that hangs above the bar with the prices listed. Expensive, I silently finish with a wince as I look at the denza these men are obviously willing to pay for the dark liquid in their cups.

Ruen steps past me and moves to the counter, and though it’d been my plan to convince him to stay here and wait for me to travel to Madam Brione’s, curiosity has me following him to the counter. A bustling man in a white tunic and black vest wipes down the bartop as he makes a beeline for us.

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