Page 93 of The Storm of the Empire

I flashed my eyes to Luka and tipped my head back the way we came, and we both moved, putting as much space between us and the ghost as possible so that we could process what we’d seen.

We tucked ourselves inside one of the storerooms, both breathing hard, and gaped at each other.

“What did we just see?” Luka whispered, wide eyed.

“Octavian’s ghost,” I replied, feeling light headed.

“That isn’t possible.”

“That doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” I hissed. “How is he here?”

“I don’t understand. They burned him with dragon fire—I saw them light the pyre.” Luka muttered, half to himself. “How can this be?”

“I don’t know, but it changes everything.” I insisted. “We have to get out of here!”

THIRTY

LUKA

“You can’t possibly want to leave again!” I could not believe what I was hearing. She said she trusted me now.

“Of course I do. Octavian is alive. We all watched him burn to ash, but now he’s right there like some perverted cheat of death.”

“Yes, we agree. Something is not right, which means we need to see this through.”

“No, we need to warn Nyx. After seeing Damona Island and the undead so close to the capital, this could mean they have so much more planned.”

“No, we need to stay and figure out what they have planned. If we bail again, this could all disappear too, and we’ll never know what they are doing.” I didn’t know how she couldn’t see my side of this.

“We can’t wait, Luka. We have to warn Nyx.”

“To what end? For them to vanish again? We can’t keep chasing our tail without getting any real information. You heard the King. If we come back empty handed and they manage to clear out this place too, we’ll be right back where we started.” I wanted to shake some sense into her. This was bigger than us.

“I see your point, I promise I do, but I have a duty to report this.” She looked heart broken but determined.

I wracked my brain, trying to come up with a way to explain my side. “We can’t let them slip through our fingers again. I won’t let it happen. I have to figure this out.” It had been gnawing at my brain since the festival where Kiera was exposed to bane.

“We won’t this time. We will both leave before anyone else even notices us. There will be no chance to tip them off.” She reached for me.

I stepped back, eyes narrowing. “Do you think I tipped them off?”

“No!” she said, but her eyes told me otherwise.

“You’re not being honest.” I wanted to harden against her, but I couldn’t. I’d opened my soul to her, and now she was rejecting it. How could I move on from this?

“You were assisting them. Furthering their cause.” Every hesitation was like her knife in my chest. Right between the ribs and into my heart.

“I was keeping my cover while you were off Goddess knows where. What would you have me do?”

“Decide, Luka. What side are you on? How can you help them if you claim to be with us?”

“I wasn’t helping, I was keeping our cover.”

“How far would you go to keep your cover?” Her words were cold.

“What does that mean?”

“You were helping move bane. Would you help them with prisoners? Paint eggs?” How could she be saying all this? I did this for them.

---