The trip to the prison is only twelve blocks, so within a few minutes we arrive at the gates. After they take a quick glance at our IDs, Leuce drives around the building and backs into the loading dock. We tour the kitchen then head to the prisoner quarters, and once we’re inside the cell block, my attention goes on high alert.

  Sweat builds under my uniform as soon as we step through. There isn't as much airflow here, and everything is muggy. They don’t want to waste power on prisoner comfort, it would seem.

  After we round the first corner, Leuce stops at a door and pushes it open.

  “This is the janitorial closet,” she says. “They’ll keep it unlocked while we’re working.”

  I step inside and glance around. It’s bigger than I expect, with a maze of shelves and a dozen or more empty crates in the corner.

  I gesture at them. “We unload too, then?”

  “No, leave everything in its assigned room,” Leuce says as she shakes her head. “Those are from the last shipment, and once the truck is unloaded, we’ll bring them back with us.”

  “Got it,” I mumble as my mind spins, but Leuce is impatient. She waves for me to follow her into the hallway, then turns down a corridor that opens into the cells.

  There are more than I expected, with three stories of barred doors. Voices grow louder as we walk through, and Leuce chuckles at me taking it all in.

  “There aren’t as many inmates as there used to be,” she says as she gestures at the cells. “When we first claimed the city, they say this place was filled to the brim. Nowadays, there isn’t much of a need for it, so prisoners are typically on the bottom floor. Sometimes you’ll see a few on the second, but it’s easier to monitor everyone when they’re clustered.”

  “Like cattle,” I murmur.

  She mistakes my tone for amusement and chuffs a laugh as we walk. Upkeep has taken a backseat, and there are cracks in the concrete floors and rust lining the barred doors. It’s clean enough to meet whatever minimal rules have been put into place, but only just.

  Faces press against bars as we walk past, while others slump on their cots and ignore us altogether. They shout insults and slam their palms against the doors, and more than one death threat finds its way to us. I swivel my head to search the cells, finally landing on a shock of red hair.

  Gideon’s eyes move to mine and widen, but I give him the slightest shake of my head. He returns it with a single dip of his chin, but there’s no time for anything more.

  A door at the end of the row opens to an industrial laundry room. Leuce points out where to drop supplies, and we grab a couple of rolling carts to bring back with us as we retrace our steps.

  Gideon meets my gaze as we pass, and I clock distances and guard presence as we return to the truck.

  Leuce turns to me with her hands on her hips. “Good?”

  “Good,” I agree. “The kitchen seems complicated, so do you mind…?” I trail off with a sheepish smile.

  Leuce rolls her eyes but nods. “If you need any help, you know where to find me.”

  She loads food items, and I grab a crate that’s headed for the supply room. Nobody pays me any attention as I’m buzzed through the doors again, and once I’m inside the closet, I spend some time investigating.

  The shelves are extensive, lined up in rows packed so densely you can’t even see through them. I survey the walls, floors, and ceilings to search for potential escapes, but everything is solid.

  Not wanting to waste too much time and draw suspicion, I unload and hurry back to the truck. After a few more trips, a plan unfolds in my mind.

  A Lu’Mite guard paces inside the laundry room, only half paying attention, and I cast a few sideways glances at the keycard hanging off his belt.

  “Hey,” I say cheerfully as I approach. “Is there a restroom I can use?”

  “Uh, sure, yeah… over here.” His golden yellow eyes move to me as he gestures for me to follow, then leads me to the main hallways. We turn the opposite way, toward another door where he swipes his card to enter.

  “Is your entire security system electronic?” I ask, channeling bored politeness.

  He glances at his keycard before he nods. “Yeah. Back in the day, the prisoners learned to pick the locks, so we had to make some upgrades.”

  He leads me into what looks like a break room, with a few round tables and a refrigerator. The next door opens to reveal a clean, tiled bathroom.

  “Thanks,” I say as his eyes meet mine. I draw on my power, then slip inside his head. “I’ll take your keycard now.”

  With a methodical nod, he removes it from his belt and passes it to my waiting hand, his expression smooth.

  My fingers wrap around his wrist, and my power swells at the physical contact. “You won’t realize it’s missing until your shift is done, and you won’t remember where you’ve lost it.”

  His mind is like clay—soft and easily molded into the shape I need.

  Rewriting memories is something most Cavese could never do.

  Luckily for me, I’m not like other monsters.

  His eyes flare for just a moment before they settle into a calm acceptance, and he nods. He leaves the room without a word, and I tuck the card into my pocket before making the walk back to the cell block.

  Gideon is pressed against his cell door, and I slow my pace as I pass the keycard through the bars.

  “Wait for my cue,” I mutter, and he scrambles to shove it into his waistband as I continue on my way.

  The Lu’Mite guard circles around the laundry room, no wiser to what happened, and I make several more trips back and forth until the supply truck is cleared out.

  “I’ll grab the crates from my side,” I shout at Leuce as she wheels back to the kitchen with her empty cart, and she gives me a thumbs up without sparing me a glance.

  Now comes the hard part.

  On my first pass of the cell block, a different guard is on his rotation, then on the second, voices echo from the break room. It’s too risky when I don’t know where they’re headed. My nerves ramp up as my window of opportunity shrinks, and I’m realizing I might fail as I return to the laundry to load the final crate.

  I push into the cell block, and the Fates are on my side.

  The coast is clear, so I move faster as I meet Gideon’s eye. “Now,” I hiss, and he swipes the card over the lock.

  A few heads turn in our direction, and outraged shouts echo as Gideon scrambles inside the crate. I pull his cell shut, thankful he had the foresight to make his bed look occupied, then settle the lid as the inmates grow louder.

  The furious yelling is indecipherable by the time we reach the door. Two guards meet me there, peering around me at the ruckus.

  The one in front sighs. “They always get worked up on supply days.”

  “Yeah,” I drawl as I nod over my shoulder. “One of them flung something at me, and I didn’t stick around to see what it was. I’d maybe give them a minute to settle.”

  He grunts as he holds the door open for me, and I try not to show the strain of pushing a two-hundred-plus pound man instead of an empty crate.

  “Thanks for the heads up,” he says. “Shift change is in an hour, and I might conveniently forget to do my last round so I don’t have to clean it up.”

  “Secret’s safe with me,” I promise.

  He huffs a laugh and gives me a two-fingered salute before both guards return to the break room. The rest of my path is clear.

  “Kitchen’s done!” Leuce yells.

  I roll the cart towards the truck, nodding back towards my wing of the prison. “There are two left in the janitor’s closet.”

  “I’ll grab one, and you come after me for the other,” she calls over her shoulder, already walking away.

  I hurry to offload Gideon’s crate onto the truck floor with a loud thunk. After a glance behind me to make sure I’m alone, I lift the lid.

  Gideon glances up at me, wincing at the crack of light that shines into the dark box.

  “Are you getting enough air?” I ask.

  “Yeah. How—”

  “There’s no time,” I hiss. “Stay here and stay silent until I say.”

  I don’t even wait for his nod as I drop the lid and hurry to grab the last of our load. Leuce doesn’t bat an eye as we slam the roll-up door closed, but I can’t let my guard down as we climb into the cab.

  Halfway back, I spot the alleyway we’ve planned for the extraction.

  “Hey, Leuce?” I grip her forearm and call on my magic again. It takes more coaxing this time, but obediently penetrates her mind. “Pull over between those buildings.”

  Her brows furrow, but she flips on her signal and waits for a clearing to steer the truck into the alley.

  “Stop here and wait three minutes before you drive to the distribution center,” I command. “You don’t know what happened to me.”

  She nods slowly, hands on the steering wheel.

  I’m shaking and sweaty from the use of so much magic as I jump out and run to the back. Light invades the shadows as I fling the door up, and I slide the lid off the crate.

  “Hurry!” I yank Gideon to stand and help him climb out of the cramped box. “Your brother is waiting down the right side alley and through the blue door. Go!”

  He doesn’t need to be told twice and jumps from the truck before bolting out of sight. I follow behind him, stopping to close the roll-up door when the crunch of gravel makes me turn.

  Fuck.

  A military vehicle parks only feet away.

  “Stop right there!” a soldier orders as the doors fly open.

  I sprint in the opposite direction as Gideon, refusing to lead them to the others.

  To Bash.

  Adrenaline replaces my sapped strength as I force myself to speed up. I shove through the rear entrance of a restaurant and into a busy kitchen. Surprised shouts call out as I push brooms and boxes in front of the door, and I charge through the lobby and into the bright sun of the main street.

  It isn’t as crowded as I’d like, making it impossible for me to get lost among the people. My feet thunder against the pavement as I charge toward the alley across the way and duck into the shadows as more shouts follow.

  Lightning bolts of pain shoot through my legs as I pour all my energy into running. We mapped this area, and I try to picture the diagram that showed the closest escape. There should be a sewer entrance a few blocks away.

  I fly around the building and collide with a soldier who snags my arm.

  “Let me go,” I command, and his grip on my biceps slacks. Nausea twists my stomach from expelling too much power, and I stumble as I start running again.

  I round a corner, and two more soldiers block my way.

  “Fuck,” I wheeze. “Why are there so many of you?”

  My hands and arms tremble as I dig for the remnants of magical reserves swirling in my gut.

  The bigger guard charges first, and I focus all my intention onto him.

  “Stop… your partner,” I rasp.

  The smaller soldier yelps as she’s shoved against the brick wall.

  My vision sways as a hot drop of blood trickles down my lip, but I keep running. I burst out onto the crowded main road, crashing into a few people who shout in alarm as I attempt to catch my footing.

  A sudden weight hits me from behind. The air is pushed out of my lungs as I hit the ground with a body on top of me.

  “Let me… let me go,” I try to order, but the world tilts, and there’s nothing left.

  He chuckles in my ear as my wrists are zip-tied. Rough hands yank me to my feet, and I’m nearly feral, baring my teeth and slinging curses.

  There are too many of them, though, and I’m surrounded.

  The big fucker behind me—a Bhotan, of fucking course—yanks on my elbow so hard my shoulders twist, and I call out as he drags me along. Spectators stop and stare, and as we approach the same alleyway this all started in, the string around my middle cinches.

  My gaze swings desperately into the crowd, searching for him in the chaos. It lands on Cato and Jayce, both wearing somber stares as they restrain Bash between them.

  He fights them with everything he has, thrashing and straining to break free.

  My heart shatters as I recognize the shape of my name on his lips.

  It’s that day all over again.

  Those same desperate eyes burning with helpless fury, and the same screams tearing from his throat. He reaches for me, ready to charge headlong into an army if it means getting to me.

  He’ll share this fate, gladly, when I only ever wanted to shield him from it.

  “Xeni!” he shouts, the sound cutting through the noise like a knife.

  I struggle to keep my gaze locked on him as I’m shoved toward the car, the world blurring around the edges from my exhaustion.

  “No, Xen! I’m coming!” he roars, but the crowd swallows it, muffling his pleas as the guards haul me closer to the open door.

  I’m leaving him again, I realize, after I swore I wouldn’t.

  All those tentative threads of possibility, the quiet moments of almost-believing we could heal, the fragile hope we’d only just begun to rebuild… they’re crushed.

  Destroyed.

  The pain of it steals my breath amidst the struggle, with hands grabbing and voices barking orders, and I only have one thing left.

  One truth I can give him before they take me.

  “I love you,” I whisper, hoping against all odds that he can read the words on my lips.

  He screams my name one last time as I’m shoved into the backseat of the sedan, and the door slams with a finality that echoes like a gunshot in my soul. The silence that follows is deafening, and my head falls against the back of the seat.

  Two guards say nothing as they climb into the front, and my consciousness wanes as the car pulls forward. I have a fleeting thought that I hope Leuce made it out of this unscathed.

  Twists and turns lead us back onto the main road. I should pay attention, but exhaustion and defeat are crushing. Instead of planning my escape, I listen to the hum of the tires.

  Traffic gets louder as we drive, and the taller buildings grow closer. The familiar shape of the skyline feels alien as my sluggish heart thuds in my chest.

  Darkness encompasses the vehicle as we pull into an underground parking area. The door is flung open, and I’m yanked to my feet fast enough to make my head spin.

  In a pitiful act of rebellion, I jam my heel into the guard’s shin. An exhausted smile tugs at my lips at his outraged howl, but my amusement fades as I’m yanked into an elevator and the doors close behind us.

  “So, do you come here often?” I ask.

  The guard holding my left side gives me a hard jostle while the other snorts. “Shut your mouth,” he growls.

  I click my tongue as the elevator keeps climbing. “Is this the part where you frisk me? Because if you’re looking for weapons, I’m only carrying one. If you can’t figure out where it is, I’ll give you a hint.”

  “Shut… up!” he snarls, and pain lances through my shoulder as he shakes me again.

  “You aren’t very good at this game, are you?” I ask with a popped brow. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell you. It’s—”

  “I said shut up!” he bellows.

  “—between my legs.”

  The front of my body is slammed against the wall. My vision blurs from the impact as I gasp for a breath.

  “Is this your idea of foreplay? Come on, choke me properly if you’re gonna play dominant,” I wheeze as the elevator dings. “I’ll even call you sir while I come.”

  The doors slide open, and the air becomes thick. Bodies move in my peripherals, but my missing eye keeps me from being able to see much besides shadows.

  “Do we have a problem here?”

  The deadly calm voice makes me freeze, and the guards release me to stand at perfect attention.

  “No sir, no problem, sir!” they bark in unison, their eyes dropping subserviently to the floor.

  Dread clenches my stomach as I stand straight, turning towards the open door.

  Calm arrogance lines his voice as he steps closer. “Imagine my surprise when I learned who was wreaking havoc in my city,” he says, taking a judgmental sweep of my body. “And here I heard you were dead.”

  “Sorry to disappoint,” I retort.

  He moves quick as lightning as he clutches the neck of my armor. “Do not take that tone with me, boy.”

  His teeth are bared as he sizes me up, and he snatches my eyepatch and rips it off to expose the hollow socket and scarred skin that surrounds it.

  I drop my head so my hair falls to shield it, but he grips my chin and lifts my face to his.

  Hate shines off his features, bright as the sun and just as hot.

  A Cavese like me, but his build is thicker and his horns are much longer, twisting and curving to represent the hundreds of years he’s lived. His solid white eyes are shrewd, and his pearly hair is pulled back in a series of intricate braids that expose the harsh points of his ears.

  My gaze drops to his leather-covered chest and all the patches that mark him as important.

  A High Commander.

  One of the six most powerful leaders in existence. They run the world, make the rules, and enforce their whims.

  But this one…

  He’s the worst.

  The Architect.

  The one who planned the invasion of this world and overthrew the humans. Tossed them into cages and killed anyone who dared speak up against his master plan. Cold and calculating on a good day, cruel and maniacal on most.

  He can order a man to drown himself without breaking a sweat and can orchestrate an army with his mind. He fancies himself a king among royalty.

  “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Xenesis?” he demands.

  My eye snaps up to his, showing him every ounce of the hate that lives inside me. I lift my chin and plaster my most perfect smile on my face, coating my tone in syrupy subdued anger.

  “So great to see you, Father.”

  Bash

  “Xeni, no! I’m coming!” The words tear from my throat as he stares at me across the churning sea of heads. Two guards flank him, dragging him away as blood trickles down his pale skin in a stark crimson trail.