Both my parents leapt into action, swiping their papers off the table and stuffing them among the other weapons and supplies crowding the room. My dad motioned for us to go to the door.
“Take an immediate left once you leave—”
“Too late,” Iris said. Her grip on my arm tightened. “They’re already too close.”
I heard the muted voices of Dane and the other guard, followed by even more voices heading our way. Quickly. Not much time until the Deathless and Pack caught me, and then all my big talk about helping the Order would mean nothing.
“Quick, the crawlspace!” my mom hissed.
Clearly on the same wavelength, my dad wasted no time shoving aside one of the shelves at the far back of the room to reveal a blank wall. I stared at it.
“Uh…”
“Back up,” my dad said. He snapped and the tip of his finger glowed. He began drawing a square on the plaster.
“Hurry, Victor,” my mom muttered as the voices outside grew louder. “If they come in—”
“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped. “Give me just a little…There!”
The second he completed the square the part of the wall he’d surrounded vanished, revealing a narrow space between.
He motioned frantically to us. “Inside, now. Follow this to the left as far down as it will go. There should be a ventilation grate somewhere at the end.”
I pushed Iris ahead of me and stooped low to follow, cursing my relative tallness as my head bumped a piece of plywood. I twisted to look back at my parents. My throat had suddenly grown tight. “Will you two be all right?”
There was a knock at the door.
“Victor!” my mom said.
My dad leaned down to plant a brief kiss on my forehead. “We’ll be just fine, love. Worry about yourself. Watch after her, Iris.”
Then he brushed his hand over the opening and the wall instantly reappeared, leaving us in total darkness.
“They know what they’re doing,” Iris whispered, close by. “The Order will protect them.”
I prayed they would. More than I wanted detailed answers about who they really were, I simply wanted my parents back. Unscarred and unhurt.
“Here, scooch over,” I said.
I managed to maneuver toward Iris. We both jumped as a door banged open, shaking the walls.
“We didn’t say you could go in!” Dane was yelling.
“I didn’t ask.” Lukas’ voice, mere feet away, chilled my blood. I tried not to shudder.
“Lukas,” my mom said coolly. “We’ll have to ask you to respect the rules of the Order and listen to our guards. We put those rules in place for all our safety.”
Lukas gave a deep chuckle that made the hair on my arms stand at attention. “Please. If you cared anything about safety you’d have left the Dead City.”
“So you seem to think. We can discuss those details more when Valencia gets here—”
“We can discuss it now. We’re done asking.”
“Oh?” I was surprised to hear a tinge of amusement in my dad’s voice. “But you are asking us. That’s why you’re here. And if you’re here then is it safe to say the throne hasn’t accepted you yet?”
Lukas gave another, deeper, growl. I found myself gripping Iris’ wrist.
“We’ll take that as a yes,” my dad said.
“And do you know why it won’t accept you, Lukas?” my mom said. “Because you’re not the rightful ruler and it knows that. Our daughter—”
“Your daughter…” Lukas trailed off. There was a deep intake of breath, followed by sniffing. “Your daughter has been here.”
I was an idiot. I’d forgotten about Lukas’ enhanced sense of smell and hearing.
“You’re losing your touch,” my dad said casually. “She wouldn’t venture into Cliffside. Not with so many traitors wanting to hurt her.”
I felt a faint tremble in the ground as Lukas stalked around the room. He sniffed again. Iris let out a small hiss of pain as my grip on her wrist tightened.
“Sorry.” My voice came out softer than a breath.
She gently extracted her arm from my grasp. I could feel, rather than see, her hand moving as she conjured a spell. A thin tingle fell over my skin, and my nose suddenly felt stuffed with the smell of mint.
Lukas’ footsteps paused.
“Why would she be here?” he said. “Why take the risk…?”
“This may come as a shock,” my mom said. “But we do happen to be related to her. I’m sure you’re picking up our scent.”
“Like I said, losing your touch.” My dad almost sounded understanding. “It happens to the best of us as we grow older.”
There was a tense pause. I didn’t dare move for fear that Lukas was standing right next to the wall, ear cocked, waiting, like an enormous cat trying to snap up a mouse from deep within its hole.
“She won’t get the throne,” he said at last. “Not if Valencia or Onora have anything to say about it. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“That remains to be seen,” my mom said stiffly. “Now would you stop stalking around for one second so we can talk like civilized people?”
“Go,” Iris whispered.
Unfrozen from my stupor, I stood on cramped legs and carefully, oh so carefully, slipped past the wooden studs and shimmied until we reached a wider point and could move a bit faster. It was only when we’d been moving for a couple minutes and I was confident we weren’t anywhere near Lukas did I feel safe enough to summon a small ball of flame to light our way.
“Thanks,” Iris said as the crawlspace lit up with a faint orange glow. “If I hit my head one more time I’ll be looking at a serious brain injury.”
“Your driving earlier proves you already have one.”
“Har har. Guess I set that one up for you.”
I tapped a board above my head to show her where to duck before sliding under myself. “That was close back there. I thought for sure Lukas was going to rip through the wall and pull us out. What was that spell you put on us?”
“Basic concealment spell. It doesn’t make us invisible or anything, but it masks our scent and muffles some of our sound. Not a whole lot, but it worked this time.”
It sure had. My heart was still pounding like a wrecking ball against my ribs and my worry for my parents hadn’t eased, even with Iris’ insistence that they’d be okay. Despite being denied the crown by Vulcan, driven off the volcano with Onora, and holing up in the Dead City like a muscled, vicious squatter, Lukas’ goal had remained unchanged. I’d have thought, after what had happened…
“What’s wrong?” Iris said when I shook my head.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
There was a pause. Iris knew when to give me time to consider whether I wanted to tell her what was really bothering me.
“You know I saved Lukas’ life on the volcano, right?” I said.
“I do. Saved him from being roasted werewolf, only slightly less tasty than a burnt marshmallow covered in fur.”
“Ew, Iris.”
“As a friend, ew right back for saving him.”
“That’s just it. I thought doing that…I don’t know what I thought.”
“That it would change him somehow?” She gave me a gentle pat on the back. “You’re a good person, Riley. You believe in the best in people. But some people don’t change, no matter how many chances you give them.”
I knew that, didn’t I? At least I hoped I did. Because continuing to believe otherwise could end up getting those I cared about hurt.
I squinted ahead and extinguished my fire. It was replaced by bars of light.
“Must be a vent of some kind,” Iris said. “Hopefully big enough for us to fit through. If not, we’ll bust our way out.”
Hopefully there’d be no busting required, not with more than a few unfriendly paranormals down here with us.
We continued moving carefully until we reached the vent.
“Let me get around. I should be able to pry it off with a little magic,” Iris said.
But no sooner had she started moving then I heard something—or someone—nearby. I grabbed Iris’ arm.
“What—"
I put a finger to my lips and pointed outside the vent.
“—is no doubt already using brute strength where finesse is required.” Valencia’s cold, sophisticated voice leaked through the vent and filled the tight space. “Though these Order leaders are a witch and mere human, convincing them will require tact.”
“If that’s the case then maybe you shouldn’t talk to them,” a deep voice answered. My heart constricted. Jasper. Valencia had brought Jasper here?
Valencia chuckled, though she didn’t sound amused. I leaned over Iris, nearly pressing my face to the wall, to see out the grate. Valencia and Jasper stood among a few more vampires in the hallway. Valencia was stroking Jasper’s cheek the way an owner might stroke their poor, stupid pet. Just watching her do that made me want to break her hand.
“My tact convinced you to join us, didn’t it, dear Jasper?”
“I don’t consider death threats tactful.”
“I wouldn’t have killed the Outcasts if you’d refused us.”
Jasper wasn’t delicate in knocking her hand aside. “Of course not. You would have just maimed them or made them wish you’d kill them.”
Valencia’s smile made me shudder. “But you did join us. Even if your performance during the trial was a grand disappointment. I warned you about what would happen if you failed to obtain the crown for me.”
Jasper crossed his arms, unfazed. “Is that why you dragged me here? To punish me with boring political talk? If you’re pushing me to kill myself in order to escape the blood oath, just being stuck around you will do it.”
Valencia waved at the rest of the vampires. “Continue to the meeting room and stop that oafish shifter before he can do anymore damage. Jasper and I need to have a little chat.”
“Mistress…” one of the vampires hissed. “What if he tries something?”
Valencia once more brought her hand to Jasper’s face. Her sharpened nail flashed, so fast that I blinked and missed it. A thin stream of blood leaked down Jasper’s cheek. He didn’t so much as flinch.
“He won’t. He can’t make a single move against me. Isn’t a blood oath marvelous, Jasper?”
The hatred in Jasper’s eyes was unmistakable. Even with Iris’ concealment spell, I worried that the vamps could hear me grinding my teeth together while I resisted kicking the grate open and attacking Valencia.
The other vamps bowed low and scurried off. Valencia wiped a fingertip of blood from Jasper’s cheek and licked it off. “Since you’re so curious, I brought you to help us find that little elemental toy you cling to. We’re speaking with her parents, after all. Perhaps there might be some tidbit of information they let slip that would help lead us to where they’re hiding.”
“If they did, do you really think I’d tell you?” Jasper said.
Valencia raised a hand and Jasper let out a soft groan of pain. He dropped to one knee, fingers clenching his chest. Iris grabbed the back of my shirt as I leaned forward even more, hands digging into my thighs.
“I own you, Jasper,” Valencia cooed. “You seem to have a hard time remembering that.”
With his face to the floor, only I could see as Jasper’s expression of agony was replaced by calm. He pretended to writhe in pain until Valencia waved her hand to release him.
“What was he doing?” Iris whispered.
How could I have forgotten? I’d asked the Charmsmaster to break the blood oath on Jasper. Though he hadn’t been able to completely sever it, he’d lessened its brutality. Jasper was smart to let Valencia keep thinking her punishment was as effective as always.
“Your failure during the trial has irked me. You know this,” Valencia said.
“I told you, I tried my best,” Jasper gritted out. “Between facing off against an elemental and the true ruler of the throne, a muscular ghoul, and leader of the Pack, can you really blame me?”
“You are a Forsworn, and one of the strongest among the Deathless,” Valencia snapped. “They should have been nothing!”
A cocky grin quirked the corners of his lips as Jasper looked up at her. “What can I say? When it comes to the big things, I have performance anxiety.”
Valencia smiled right back, which scared me more than if she’d started hurting him again. “You were enchanted by your childish affection for that elemental girl. You’ve failed me once, and now you’ll make it up to me.”
“In case you didn’t notice, the trial’s already over. Riley won. She’s going to be the next queen.”
“I don’t care about that.” Valencia brushed her nails beneath Jasper’s chin, easily lifting him to standing with her vampiric powers. “What I care about is removing her, for good.”
Jasper’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t kill Riley.”
Valencia’s teeth practically glittered with malice. “Oh, I won’t. You will. You’ll kill the girl, or I’ll kill you.”