Our business with the Guildmasters concluded, Talan blindfolded us again and led us above ground. As soon as we emerged into the open air, I breathed it in hungrily. I’d never join the Underguild if only because they spent too much time in stale tunnels.

After the Guilder removed our blinds, I touched his arm lightly. “Thank you. None of this could be happening had you not taken a wager on us.”

Talan smiled ruefully. “This? It is so assured it is hardly a bet. I’d gamble the shirt off my back for less.”

Nomusa stood at my shoulder. “Time to go. We’d best try and get some sleep with the little night left to us.”

I nodded and looked at Xaron. He was strangely withdrawn, not even casting spiteful glances at Talan like he had the whole time we'd been with him. Kalindi's accusations must have really shaken him. I slid an arm around his waist, and he startled, so I kept the hug brief. “Let’s go,” I said. “I think we all need sleep.”

Talan gave a sweeping bow. “Until tomorrow then, hanims.” The Guilder passed us and turned the corner. Before he was out of sight, he gave me one lingering look, then he was gone. As we set off on our own walk back to Canopy, I tried not to think about it. I had plenty of distractions already — my stomach was rumbling, having missed dinner from all our running about, and I was dragging with exhaustion. Good thing the walk was short.

As we neared our tower, though, I grew more alert, and felt Nomusa and Xaron tense as well. By silent agreement, we went slowly up the stairs of the tower, glancing in at every circle to ensure there weren’t hidden assassins waiting for us. Finally, we reached our door, which looked thankfully undisturbed. Nomusa set to unlocking it while Xaron and I watched down the stairs, expecting at any moment to see the shadows of approaching enemies appear on the walls.

Nomusa opened the door, and we quickly stepped inside, locking it behind. A collective sigh of relief rose from all three of us. Xaron slid down the door to sit, looking more exhausted than I’d seen him. He must have channeled much during his house-break.

“You should get some rest,” I told him. “We’ll need you sharp tomorrow.”

Xaron’s eyes flickered up. “I think he knows.”

I shared a look with Nomusa. “Who?” I asked, though I thought I knew.

His expression twisted into a sneer. “Talan Wraithsbane.”

His contempt for the Guilder came from fear now, I could see. Crouching next to him, I said softly, “Xaron, what happened to Graz and your friends isn’t going to happen to you. Talan didn’t turn you in. Even if he does know, I don’t think he ever will.”

Nomusa crouched on his other side, gently rubbing his back. “We’ll keep a close eye on him. If we see any signs that he’ll betray us—” Her jaw flexed. “We'll see that he won't.”

Xaron straightened up, then slowly rose to his feet. His cheeks were flushed. “I appreciate you two trying to look after me,” he said softly. “But you don’t know what it’s like. Knowing that you could be hunted at any moment, at this very moment. Knowing that one little slip up could give someone the power of life or death over you.” He shook his head. “I need to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He went into his room, not even lingering for dinner. It was so unlike him to forgo any meal that I couldn’t help but feel worried for him. Nomusa and I looked at each other, but we said nothing. He was right; we didn’t know what his life was like. We weren’t hunted like he was.

But I knew one thing. The dark depths of the ‘Thae would swallow us before I let Talan Wraithsbane harm him.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

* * *

I slept fitfully that night. Every moment, I expected the door to creak open, or perhaps splinter at a sudden blow, and cloaked figures to rush in with knives raised. A storm had started up, contributing to my unease. Licks of lightning crawled across the sky followed by window-rattling booms.

I rose before the sun, too restless to pretend to sleep any longer. I checked on our finches for messages, then when nothing had come, I set to cleaning our loft. With our busy schedules, Canopy was in a persistent state of disarray. As I straightened up and wiped down, I thought of all that had happened and reviewed my own actions. I turned them this way and that, questioning my reasons, straining to discover the flaws. They weren't hard to find. In a game of whispers and murder, every move was precarious, and many of mine in this hunt had been downright reckless.

Three sharp knocks rapped on the door, and I stiffened halfway through scrubbing a pot. I was dressed in just the tunic and trousers that I typically wore beneath my robes. No one else was awake, nor likely would be for another turn. I considered waking them, but decided to take a look through the greeting hole first to see who I was dealing with. No need to disturb them if it wasn't anything to worry about.

Despite my forced nonchalance, my heart was pounding as I flipped open the cover to the greeting hole. I waited a moment before I put my eye to it; it wasn’t unheard of for assassins to blow poisoned darts into the hole, and I didn’t want to risk it. But when nothing happened for five breaths, I finally lowered my head to look through.

Eazal’s dark eyes stared back from the other side. “Airene,” he said in a cracked voice.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t honestly expected to see the apothecary again. “Eazal,” I greeted him. “What are you doing here?” I made no move to open the door. My mind whirled. How had he found us?

“Airene, listen to me,” Eazal said, desperation clear in his voice. He sounded as if he’d been up since the night before. I wondered if he’d slept at all in the two days since his friend died. “What I am going to tell you might sound mad, but I need you to listen.”

My breath came fast, but I whispered, “Tell me.”

“I… I need you to come with me. Now. Alone.”

I was shaking my head even before he’d finished. “You know I can’t do that. Now of all times I cannot do that.” It chilled me that he would even ask.

“Please, Airene.” All the fragile pride the man had possessed before was broken. He leaned against the door, his eye pressed so close to the greeting hole he almost blocked out the light from the stairwell lamps. “She has my family. She says she’ll kill them if you don’t come with me.”

Shivers ran up my skin. No need to ask who she was. “How do you know Iela is telling the truth? She could be bluffing.”

A shake of his head. “Do you know what she is, what she can do? Do you know the resources she can access?” He broke off with a sob, and only continued a moment later. “I believe her. She’ll do it.”

I chewed my lip. I still wasn’t convinced that this wasn’t a bluff. But either way, it was obvious it was a trap. Iela must have heard that we were looking into her affairs. Perhaps Eazal himself had told her when she caught up to him, as she clearly had. Even with his family’s lives potentially under threat, I knew too little to heedlessly put my life in his hands.

I shook my head. “I am sorry if that’s true, Eazal. But I cannot go with you.”

He pressed his eye against the hole again so only a glimmer of his eye showed. “She thought you might say that,” he growled, his voice changed. “She said it wouldn’t be enough. And she has a solution for that, too.”

“What solution?” I asked calmly.

He began to laugh like a man before the gallows. “That she knows your family, Airene of Riverport. That she knows where they live. Tryphon. Melitta. Sophene. Linos.”

As he named each of my family members, my blood ran cold. “No,” I breathed. In that moment, I believed it was true. How they had been discovered, I didn’t yet know. But somehow, this warden knew where my family was and could kill them at any moment.

“Now,” Eazal said slowly. “Come with me. We must meet her within the turn.”

For a moment, even though he told me what I needed to do, I couldn’t move. I was frozen in place. It was my greatest fear, my work endangering my family. I had always known it was a possibility. But I’d never believed it would actually come to pass.

“Come,” the apothecary whispered.

I backed away from the door, my body hardly feeling my own. Almost without thought, I began moving to the kitchen, to the bin of dishes and utensils I’d stacked after washing. From them, I drew out a sharp knife we’d used two days before to cut open fruit.

My hands numb, I wrapped it in a cloth, then tucked it into the back of my trousers with my tunic bunched under it to keep it from falling. It stayed for the moment. It would have to do.

I knew I could not hesitate any longer. Not if my family was going to survive.

I went to the door and slowly opened it, then said to the phantom of a man before me, “Lead the way.”