Page 63 of Between Smoke and Shadow

She’s out there.

Someone grabbed them in the stairwell. It’s the only explanation that makes sense, but I realize it doesn’t matter now. She’s out there, and whether they’ve found her yet or not, she’ll have nowhere to go. No one to help her. She’ll be so scared, so alone?—

I burst through the Chapter Building’s entrance. Rain pours over the empty street, blurring my vision and making it difficult to hear anything but the sound of water against metal. I can’t see anyone. There are no hunters, no commoners…no Rune.

I look left, right, left again. If she was stolen from the building, that means the hunter already has her. I can’t let myself imagine it, and so I hope for some miracle alternative. Maybe she left on her own. Maybe she and Alven were exploring or escaping, and if that’s true, they might be far enough to be safe. It’s enough to calm me down. I suck in heavy breaths and force myself to think.

If they came out here to escape, they probably went south, where the buildings are most crowded. They could hide there for days without anyone finding them. The thought sours my gut—would have Rune truly left me, without even saying goodbye?

Of course she would, a cruel voice whispers from within my own mind.You weren’t going to help her. Fucking prince of Savoa, and you couldn’t save her.

I will, I vow. It doesn’t matter that I’m arguing against myself. I promise it anyway, that when I find her, when I bring her home, I will give her whatever she wants. Even if that’s a life far from me, I’ll get it for her and it’ll be somewhere safer than this fucking place.

A brutish scream erupts from the other side of the building, cutting through my thoughts. It’s the opposite way I planned to go, but I don’t hesitate now. I lunge toward it, sprinting until I almost collide with my brother.

Malek.

Of course it’s him. Of course he’s hunting when he knows I’m here.

“You—” I cut off, realizing who’s pinned beneath his forearm. Malek has Alven Tjor by the throat, pushing hard enough that his face is tinged blue.

Malek shoots me a lazy grin. His eyes are glazed over, so drunk with excess magic I’m not sure he knows where he is. Clearly Alven was not going to be his first kill, and I use my brother’s gluttony against him. I have a vine around Malek’s throat before he knows what’s happening, and I scream as I launch him across the alleyway. His body smacks against the side of the metal building, falling motionless in the shallow water.

When I turn back to Alven, he’s gasping for breath.

“Thank you,” he sputters. A bluish tint clings to his skin as he touches his throat. “I was sure?—”

I cut him off, choking him with one hand, covering the bruise Malek just left. Alven’s eyes widen, mouth bobbing without noise.

“Where. Is. She.” My voice is a growl, an animal’s last warning before striking. I only press hard enough to keep him in place, but I’m planning my next move if he refuses me. Or, worse, if he says my brother killed her.

My magic flares again, a burst of it that sends an unintentional shock against Alven’s skin.

“Where?” I scream, tightening my hold. I don’t have time for this—and neither does Rune.

“Building. Green roof,” he says, voice strained. “She ran for the…for the building with the green roof. That way.”

He manages a nod toward the nearest sloped street. I can’t see a green roof. He might be lying. He might not actually know where she went. He might know she’s already dead.

I don’t have time to hesitate.

I shove away from him and take off down the road. The colors and shapes of the City run together, but I don’t let myself slow, even as my lungs burn. I only stop when I hear a voice. It’s familiar, I realize, as I brace in the center of the roadway. Cold water bites at my ankles.

“I’d fuck a boar before I’d fuck you,” it says. Taunting and loud, yet vibrant too, like he’s having fun. I swivel toward Sorace’s voice. “Now open your eyes before this gets ugly.”

I sprint toward Sorace, dread filling my stomach when I realize he has someone pinned beneath a green roof. Hoping it’s not Rune, that she got away, that Alven was wrong. Hoping it is Rune, so I can save her and get her home. If it’s not her, I’ll break Sorace’s neck and keep moving. She can’t be far.

Unless she’s already dead.

Unless Alven sent you the wrong way.

I am surrounded by my own untamed magic when I finally reach them. It whips around me in violent streaks, flaring so bright and hideous I’m almost blinded by it. My mind struggles to process everything at once. Sorace and Rune. Him pressed against her. His hands on her face. Her body unmoving.

Blood trails from Sorace’s fingers, dripping down her pale cheeks. Rune’s mask is gone, probably in the water. Maybe stuffed in his pocket like a sick trophy.

I scream, throwing him as if I’m trying to move something ten times his size. I don’t know how my magic presents, whether it’s tangled vines or shattered stone. All I know is that when he hits the neighboring building, the entire structure shudders. The metal dents from his impact, and his body is reduced to a mangled pile of ripped flesh and broken bones.

Five steps, and I’m in front of her. I catch her waist as she collapses toward the water. She’s unconscious, her eyes frozen upward.

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