Page 13 of Martyr
Guilt swamps me. It’s my fault that they left Sterling Falls. My favor that sent them to Emerald Cove, a timely mistake that could set them against me.
My favor—the person I asked them to free.
I haven’t been entirely truthful with, uh, anyone. I knew, almost two and a half years ago at this point, that Kade was keeping tabs on me. I was living a relatively normal existence, working a security job I hated, trying to grapple with what I saw overseasandmy teen years.
And one day, it just occurred to me that I could fucking leave.
So I went to Emerald Cove, and I got looped in with the Cyclopes.
I met Ouranos.
Didn’t tell Kadethat, did you?
I met Ouranos, and I didn’t buy the hype. In a way, he reminded me of my father. The type of guy who thinks the world owes him something. He spoke in fantastical ways, built an empire on selling dreams to his followers.
It seemed overreaching. Impossible—but not in a good way.
I was there when he found out his brother had been killed. I wasn’t supposed to be—I was passing his office. But I heard him on the phone, promising to bring Sterling Falls to its knees for what that city did to his brother.
Still, I wasn’t going to do anything. What did I care about that wretched place? It held Terror. It curated to the dark and depraved. Sterling Falls could rot.
But then I went on a job. One last job with the Cyclopes, and I met a girl.
A literal child.
She was more stuck than I was at her age—and that’s fucking saying something. I tried to get her out, and it blew up in my face, and that’s why I left Emerald Cove in a hurry.
Did they get her out?
Could they succeed where I couldn’t?
I close my eyes and stay where I am until Daniel shouts about their arrival.
6ARTEMIS
“I thinkyou actually can hear me,” I whisper in the dark.
Lyssa hasn’t squeezed my hand again, and I had to leave before the nightly bed check. But once the coast was clear, it was easy to sneak out and back down here.
I go to the window. The moon is bright, the snow-laden trees casting shadows in the yard. In the distance, the water reflects the light, too.
“Maybe some fresh air will wake you up?”
There’s only a portion of the window that slides, so I flick the latch and shove it open the designated six inches. It squeals, metal on metal, and I wince. Pause.
I glance back, just in case Lyssa flinched at the noise, but she’s totally still.
Bummer.
Instead of returning to join her, I drag the chair closer to the window and prop my elbow up on the narrow sill. The cold air that seeps in is welcome, even though the chill never quite left me.
Stupid Saint.
“Fuck.”
I straighten and slowly glance over my shoulder. The voice was distinctly male, and it came from outside. I stay perfectly still, unconcerned about being seen—the room is dark, with only the moonlight illuminating it—and wait.
Finally, a shadow seems to peel away from the tree line.
