Page 113 of The Scribe (Irin Chronicles 1)

“What kind of story?”

“Something not serious. What’s your favorite childhood memory?”

He broke into a smile. “Swimming at the beach. We’d go to the North Sea in the summer when we lived in Germany.”

“Wasn’t that cold?”

“Freezing.” He put an arm around her, thankful for the distraction. “My father had a good friend with a cabin there. I think it’s still there, probably. It was quite old, but very nice. My mother and father and I would stay for two months in the summer. Living in a retreat can be very hectic sometimes. Families live in their own homes, but the children go to school together, the adults all work together. Even meals are communal. So my parents tried to make some time for only the three of us. That was our family time. I would play in the water even though it was frigid. My mother thought I was crazy.”

A tentative smile crossed her face. “You were.”

“We should go there,” he said. “When we have children, we’ll take them there.”

There was a smile on her face. “We should.” Ava took a deep breath. “We’ll really have children, Malachi?”

“Hopefully.” He squeezed her. “Irin don’t have many children. One is normal. Two is fortunate. But I hope we have two.”

The visionof children Jaron had sent her flashed in her mind again. A dark-haired boy with his father’s eyes. A golden-eyed girl laughing. It should have warmed her, but there was a dark side to the vision, as well. The animals had stood at attention, prowling around the girl and boy. Clearly guarding them, but from what?

“Do not fear the darkness.”

The memory of Jaron’s voice calmed her as she sat. Then she tensed again when she felt Malachi’s arm tighten.

“What is it?”

“Grigori,” he said, freezing as he watched two men enter the hotel lobby. “Two of them just walked in. Damn it.”

Ava looked around them. They were completely exposed in the center of the square. There were no barricades to hide behind, no buildings they could duck into without being conspicuous.

“I can’t kill them in the hotel lobby or out in the open here,” Malachi said. “We’ll have to wait for them to come out. Draw them somewhere isolated.”

“Is it just the two?” Ava’s eyes landed on the grated door of the Theodosius Cistern. Though it was locked, it was only with a simple padlock. No guards stood nearby. And the dark passageway had a view of the hotel.

“More coming this way,” he murmured, taking her hand. “From the direction of the mosque.”

Looking uphill, Ava spotted two attractive men strolling down the street toward them. They were looking toward the hotel, not at Ava and Malachi, but Ava knew as soon as they saw their friends leave the lobby, the Grigori would start looking for them.

“More from that street, too.” Malachi pulled out Ava’s phone and sent a quick text to someone. Somehow the drop location had been compromised.

“We have to get out of here,” he said.

“How?” Ava’s heart raced. Six streets converged at the cistern park, and from each direction, a group of men strolled toward them. There were two there. Three there. “Malachi, they’ve cornered us.”

“No,” he muttered. “There has to be a way…” His eyes landed on the locked grate leading to the cistern entry just as the call to prayer started and birds scattered in flight. The Grigori converging on the square turned their heads toward the mosque on Divan Yolu, and Malachi used the distraction to drag Ava toward the cistern. “This way.”

“That goes underground!” she hissed. It was one thing to stroll through the Basilica Cistern with its dramatic columns and modern walkways, but the Theodosius Cistern looked like nothing but a black cave. “Malachi…”

“We’ll watch and wait for now,” he said, twisting off the lock that held the grate closed. He opened the door, and Ava was grateful the calls of the muezzin hid the rusty groan. “We can see the entrance of the hotel from here. There are too many to fight alone while I’m not at full strength. If we run, they’ll catch us. Until Max and Damien get here, we need to hide.”

She knew that ritual had been a bad idea. The thought of a weakened Malachi sent her heart into overdrive. “Did you text them already?”

“Yes.” He shoved her farther into the shadowed passageway, and Ava almost tripped over the heavy rubber boots covered in mud that the workmen had left on the platform. “They should come soon. They’ll create a distraction, and we’ll grab the car. We can figure out documents later. Right now, I just want you out of this city.”

“Okay.”

Malachi sucked in his breath and darted back from the door. “Brage.”

Ava’s heart sank. From the darkness of the metal walkway, she could see the blond Grigori soldier walking out of the Antea Hotel and turning his head to look up and down the street. His eyes were narrowed with purpose.

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