Chapter 25

Exceptfor the dragon patrolling the wall, the Underworld creatures walking the streets, and the perpetually black-and-orange sky, Edis was like any big city I'd visited: dirty, crowded, noisy, and full of unexpected dangers.

We emerged from the not-so-secret passageway into a dark alcove behind market stalls selling bread, roasted meat, and weapons. Narrow alleyways branched off in several directions, disappearing into the maze of the market and the buildings around us.

Creatures of every size, shape, description, and smell packed the market, talking, laughing, shouting, growling, and arguing in a dozen languages, none of which I knew. I spotted a few humans among them—or beings in human form, in any case. All the competing magics and the fact most of the beings around us weren't alive in the strictest definition of the word made it nearly impossible for me to know for sure what anything was.

As we entered the market, two vendors and several of their customers were embroiled in a fight that had resulted in bloody injuries and damage to nearby stalls. It came to a quick halt when three very large creatures in black moved in and separated the combatants, who shouted at each other as they were dragged away in opposite directions. We used the distraction to slip out of the passageway and blend into the crowd.

The noise and chaos were overwhelming, especially after our very quiet train ride and several days in Lucy's jeep. Ronan didn't give me time to get used to the sights, sounds, and smells of Edis. After taking a moment to look up at the towers and wall and orient himself, he headed off into the crowded market with Daisy at his side. Most shoppers and porters took one look at his imposing robed figure and Daisy's glowing eyes and got out of their way. Lucy and I followed in their wake, moving unnoticed through the crowd.

My skin prickled and my stomach churned from the masking and Look Away spells I wore. The former was my own spell, held in a crystal in my left arm cuff, and the latter one of Carly's amulets, which I'd invoked and hidden in one of my pockets. On Ronan's recommendation, I'd given one of each to Lucy as well to hide her. Word would travel fast about anyone arriving in the city, so the longer she and I could stay unnoticed, the better.

He made little effort to hide his own identity, however, and Daisy certainly garnered the attention of everyone we passed. I thought of Charon's revelation that Ronan had a price on his head. Someone else might have chosen to keep a low profile, given the circumstances, but not Ronan. He wasn't about to keep his head down or avoid a fight. I was dying to know who'd put the bounty on his head and why. Maybe we could get the story out of him during our return trip—assuming there was one. In the meantime, I was having fun imagining what the answers might be.

The market was packed, but once we left that area, the streets were less crowded. Carts pulled by beasts or by hand rattled along the wide paved roads, which pedestrians shared in lieu of sidewalks. Narrow roads and alleys seemed designated for pedestrians only. Many pushed small handcarts full of everything from paving stones to food as they hurried past.

I had to walk fast to keep up with Ronan's long strides. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, weaving through slower pedestrians and large carts toward our destination, the Great Hall he'd mentioned. I pictured an oversized courthouse, where the Furies served as ministers of justice. Was that the equivalent of judges in the human world, or something a bit more hands-on, like judge, jury, and executioner?

As we made our way toward what seemed like the center of the city, I had a chance to put together a couple of things: Ronan's explanation of the origin of the Erinyes, what Charon had said about Ronan ignoring messages from his "brothers and sisters," Torryn's description of Ronan as a man with two swords—only one of which we'd seen—and the flash of silver-blue I'd spotted when he intervened to help me rein in my dark magic. That silver-blue magic had nagged at me since the night I first saw it at Hawthorne's. I'd seen it, or something similar, before, but I hadn't been able to remember where…

Until now, when the clues clicked into place like a jigsaw puzzle, and I knew.

I stopped so suddenly in the middle of the street that Lucy had to hop to one side to keep from running me over and Esme nearly lost her footing on my shoulder. "Holy shit," I said.

The front edge of a handcart full of bricks rammed into my shin. I bit back a yelp of pain and stumbled. The thing pushing the cart—a tall creature who looked like a cross between a troll and a stack of firewood—blinked at me in confusion. It hadn't seen me because of my masking and Look Away spells, and it still couldn't quite see me, though it knew it had run into something. Finally, the cart continued up the street as the creature grumbled.

Perhaps sensing I'd fallen behind, or having heard the impact of the cart against my leg, Ronan backtracked with Daisy. He bent his head so he could murmur in my ear. "What's wrong?"

He smelled like the sea. I should have recognized that, even if the silver-blue magic didn't tip me off, but I'd paid more attention to the smell of leather and tequila. Damn my hormones. Malcolm was going to tease me forever about this.

I decided not to tell Ronan I knew what he was. He'd gone to great pains to hide his true nature; his scars and his wounds from the fight with the werewolf pack were proof of that. He might decide keeping it a secret was worth killing for.

"Sorry to fall behind," I murmured. "I'll do better about keeping up with you."

He held my gaze with his own glacier-blue one. "Are you getting sicker?"

I was, though as a mage I'd worked and fought through pain frequently enough that I'd gotten good at ignoring discomfort. I disliked admitting any kind of weakness, but better he thought I'd stopped because I was queasy than suspect I'd finally put two and two together.

I gave him a wry smile. "It comes and goes. I'm all right."

Clearly unconvinced, he turned and resumed his purposeful stride. Daisy trotted at his side, her lip curled to show her teeth. She appeared to enjoy her role as Ronan's menacing sidekick, complete with her spiked leather halter.

"You good?" Lucy asked in an undertone as we walked quickly.

"Yeah, I'm good." A sharp twinge in my belly almost made me flinch. My arms and legs ached too. Whether it was the dark magic eating at me or my body rebelling against being in the Underworld, or both, I wasn't sure. I snuck a protein bar out of my pocket, tore off the wrapper, and ate it quickly, and that seemed to help. I pushed the discomfort out of my mind and focused on keeping up with Ronan.

The farther we got from the market, the fewer carts and pedestrians we encountered on the streets. I had no idea what time of day it was in Edis, or even if they had days and nights. It felt like afternoon to me, for some strange reason, despite the pitch-dark sky. Maybe my body was still on topside time, where it might well have been mid-afternoon.

I pictured Malcolm waiting beside the doorway, worrying about us. I still sensed his reassuring cool blue-green trace in my mind. He could probably sense me too, so he knew I was still alive. It wasn't much, but given where we were and what we might be up against, it was worth a lot.

Ronan led us through a narrow alley into a street lined with what might have been homes. We'd gone only about a hundred feet when our attackers came out of nowhere.

Three of them attacked Ronan with grunts and roars: one of the troll-woodpile creatures and two smaller but stockier creatures with silver fur and very sharp teeth. All carried weapons ranging from a sword to nasty-looking daggers. One of the silver creatures also had a mace that dripped something from the tips of its spikes. I was willing to bet it was poison. Triple shit.

Before I could form blood magic blades or my whip, I heard Ronan's voice in my head: Do not use your magic. Let us handle this. It was a command.

With the order came a definite nudge to obey, but one I could resist. Either Ronan didn't have as strong of an ability as Lucy, or he hadn't wanted to actually force me to do something against my will.

What, if anything, Ronan said to Lucy I didn't know, but she shoved me into a doorway alcove, barked "Stay here," and drew her sword.

Ronan and Daisy fought with the troll-woodpile and the silver creature with the mace as the other attacker circled, looking for an opportunity to use his blades. I wanted to run into the fray to fight at Daisy's side, but I had to trust her to take care of herself. If I stepped out now, I'd expose myself and put us in greater danger by attracting more attention than we already had.

With the benefit of the masking and Look Away spells, Lucy was almost but not quite invisible. She used that to her advantage. She crossed the distance between my hiding place and the fight and took the head off the second silver creature before it knew it was under attack. In the moments it took for its body to hit the pavement, she was already moving toward the other silver creature with the mace, her sword dripping black blood.

The street was empty except for us. Where were the black-clad giants who'd broken up the fight in the market? Never a cop around when you needed one.

To my horror, the troll sent Daisy flying with a powerful kick and charged straight at Lucy as the mace-wielding creature went after Ronan. The troll must have been able to see or sense Lucy despite the spells. Daisy hit the side of a building and yelped.

I spooled blood magic. Ronan's head whipped around, his angry storm-cloud-gray gaze finding me in my alcove. He must have sensed the rise of magic. Do not, he snapped in my mind.

I shoved him out of my head with a furious curse. I was sick and tired of people talking in my head without my permission and trying to force me to do things against my will.

The creature growled something at Ronan and swung the heavy mace with surprising speed. Ronan barely avoided the weapon. One of its spikes tore a hole in his robe. Lucy clashed swords with the troll, who was bigger and slower but many times stronger. The force of his blade striking hers sent her stumbling back. The troll bellowed.

Somewhere out there, Mariela was making her way to Edis to find the Furies. She might already be in the city. We didn't have time for street brawling, and injuries sustained now might affect our ability to fight later if it came to that.

I spun my blood magic into round blades in both hands and spooled dark magic. Glyphs ignited on the blades, and the edges of my vision turned red.

Damn it, Alice! Ronan roared in my head.

I threw my blood magic blades at the troll and the mace-wielding creature. The blades buried themselves deep in the troll's back and the other creature's side. Both snarled and turned to see who or what had attacked. And both died immediately, as Ronan and Lucy swung their swords in nearly identical arcs and separated the creatures' heads from their bodies.

Ronan confronted me as I emerged from my alcove. "What part of do not use your magic did you not understand?" he demanded.

"The part where you gave me an order." I knelt as Daisy joined us and checked her side. "You okay, Daisy-dog? Did that mean old troll hurt you?"

"I didn't want you to waste your magic on this." Ronan was still pissed. "The more you use, the faster you burn through your reserves of energy, and the more likely you are to draw attention to yourself. The lieutenant and I would have dealt with this."

Lucy cleaned the blood off her sword and said nothing. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

Daisy seemed fine, so I got to my feet and offered him the leash. "No need to be condescending. I'm very aware of how magic works."

With a thunderous frown, he took the leash.

"And I didn't give you permission to invade my thoughts and talk to me in my head," I added. "Don't try to make me obey you. I've had enough of both of those things."

"It was for your own good."

My expression went flat. "I was held prisoner and told it was for my own good. I was tortured, enslaved, and forced to destroy property and kill people, and more than once they told me it was for my own good. Someone manipulated my thoughts and feelings for years because they wanted their own way and tried to tell me it was for my own good. So now the only person who gets to decide what's for my own good is me, Ronan."

He slid the loop at the end of Daisy's leash around his arm and flipped up his hood, his eyes dark with anger and something else—an emotion I couldn't quite read. "You were cruelly mistreated, but that doesn't mean everyone who expresses concern for your well-being is doing so to exploit you."

"You didn't express concern for my well-being—you gave me an order and a push to obey you and shouted at me in my brain." My stomach cramped. Blast it, I needed to eat again. "Did these scumbags come after you for the bounty?"

"Yes."

"So you were recognized by someone. Word does travel fast here. More hunters are probably headed this way. We should get moving. Are we far from the Great Hall?"

His forehead creased. Either he didn't like that I'd abruptly changed the subject, or the fact he'd been recognized displeased him. "The sisters are not at the Great Hall at present. We'll find them at their tavern."

"How do you know?" Lucy asked.

"Just a wild guess." He turned on his heel and strode away, leaving the bodies of the bounty hunters on the street where they'd fallen.

Lucy and I flipped up our hoods and followed. She kept her sword in her hand. "That's quite a wild guess," she said, not bothering to lower her voice. He ignored her.

"The Furies run a tavern?" I asked, catching up.

"Doing so suits them," he said over his shoulder, breaking into a jog. "We have to move fast now. Time's running out."

I didn't ask how he knew; it wouldn't have done any good anyway. I just ran.