Page 137 of A City of Flames

“Well, that was until your friend—” He looks over his shoulder at a sheepish Freya “—told me you’d landed in the dungeons and as the gentleman that I am I had to come and return the favor of getting you out.” His attention shifts to me as his lips arch into one of his alluring smiles—still annoying, conceited, idiotic.

However, knowing that Freya had told him of what happened means this was what she’d been trying to tell me. She already knew the shifters would come.

Relief fills my chest before I lift a brow judgingly towards Darius. “With your mask?”

His smile only brightens like he’d waited for me to comment on it. He shrugs saying, “It brings out my eyes.”

A retort won’t suffice, not under these circumstances and not when aggravatingly enough, Rydan interrupts with a wistful sigh. “It really does.”

Darius looks back at him and by the ‘oh my,’ swooning reply from Rydan I imagine Darius flashed him a smile. “I need you all to head back to the den,” he says turning to me once Freya jabs Rydan in the stomach. “Your brothers are waiting for you there.”

“Shall I go with them Darry?”

Darius smiles down at Tibith. “You’re here to protect them, aren’t you?”

Tibith nods when another roar ripples above the arena and with time limited for us, I quickly say, “Wait.”

I look between Darius and the rest, knowing that I’d previously had a plan and I want to make sure it still happens. Walking past him, I reach Freya and she blinks up at me. “Do you still have the keys?” I whisper and she nods.

“I made sure to keep them safe.”

“Then get them out, first,” I say without any other explanation. Freya’s eyes become a mask of determination and our talk the other night over how I wanted to free Adriel comes back into mind. “I’ll see you three soon, I promise.” My eyes jump to Rydan and Link, both staring at me like they’re not sure whether to believe that or not.

I am for the sake of Solaris, my brothers, them, I am.

Freya envelopes me into the tightest hug imaginable before she regards me with a saddened gaze and retreats backward with Tibith running at their sides.

I watch as they disappear into different sectors of the arena and then turn halfway around to Darius. His eyes are on me but there’s a strange gleam in them. It crackles with heat between us as I tell him, “You didn’t think I’d leave you here to claim all your glory in saving me, did you?”

His laugh comes off arrogant, but a smile full of soft amusement stays on his lips. “Of course not, Goldie. I expected you’d take charge instead.”

I grin at him before lurching toward the screams and uproars.

* * *

I grind my feet to a stop, skidding across the floor as a rümen blocks my path. Taking a slow step backward I bump against someone and sneak a glance over my shoulder seeing Darius’s back facing the other way to me.

Another rümen is at the other end of his side, walls entrap us and everywhere I look the more people scream and push past others, trying to get out of the arena. Dust and smoke ascend through the air, blocking the sun. It’s hard enough to breathe, let alone concentrate.

Still, I try and focus on the rümen in front, snarling as its wings flutter outward.

“Now would be a good time to tame them again,” Darius lilts quietly.

I don’t have time to ask him how long he’d been here, if he’d watched everything from the stands. If he’d used his glamor. If he’d believed in me enough to get me out of this.

“They don’t seem to be on my side anymore,” I say and the rümen cocks his head with a growl at me.

“Right then,” Darius mutters, and a hiss of power sounds from behind me before there’s a screech and the rümen in front of me pounces forward. I lift my dagger just as teeth near me and the reek of carrion filters through my nostrils. I swing my blade across its neck, and I exhale sharply at the crumple of its body hitting the ground.

I’ve always thought myself to be confident but just then, even the death of an awful creature makes my stomach turn unlike before.

I wipe the blade clean at the side of my thigh and glance above the maze walls. Squinting up at the balcony, Sarilyn is no longer there, nor is the general and phoenix warriors.

Flames fly into the sky, causing my gaze to jump there. “Is Gus here?”

He’s normally been the one to plan the attacks in the first place.

Darius chuckles. “Spent one day with him and already prefer him to me?”

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