Page 63

Do you have any idea how many times I’ve had to watch you die?

The words came unbidden to his mind. That dream had seemed so real, so tangible that even now, days later, the memory still refused to fade in that way that dreams were supposed to fade.

Stop dying, she had said to him as only Taly could. As though it were an imposition toher.

And if he could go back to that dream, he would scream,“You first!”

Stop dying. Stop being dead.

Come home.

Please just… come home.

Skye stumbled to a stop, catching himself on a rusty piece of railing that jutted up from the ground, just barely avoiding a nasty fall down the darkened stairwell.

The airtram station, he thought, peering into the shadows. In his wanderings, his feet had brought him to the old airtram station just outside the Swap.

Just last night, I had to watch you drunkenly stumble into the old airtram station outside the Swap.

Even through the fog of alcohol that his damned aether was already working to burn away, he could hear her voice clear as day.

You decided to investigate the tunnels…

Such a strange dream. The stairs stretched into the darkness, beckoning.

There are so many terrible things in the tunnels.

You need to stop dying.

But she wasn’t here to tell him what to do. Not anymore. So, throwing an obscene hand gesture toward the darkened night sky, Skye began stumbling down the stairs. If there was anafterlife, he hoped she was watching—and that she was pissed.

Before the Schism, Tempris had one of the most advanced fast transit systems in the Fey Imperium. There were hundreds of airtram tunnels crisscrossing the island, and though some of them had caved in when the gates were shut down, many, like the tunnels that ran beneath Ryme, were still in working condition.

It was wet, and the smell of mildew permeated the air. There were old firelamps jutting from the walls, each one flickering as water dripped from overhead. The light was scant and patchy, devoid of warmth and failing to ward off the chill of the underground station.

Skye emerged from the stairwell and came to a halt. The large antechamber was dank and humid, and a heavy steel door had been dragged across the tunnel entrance. Securing the airtram stations had been a priority when Ivain and the other Gate Watchers locked down Ryme and the surrounding area. Countless stations peppered the island, each one a possible access point into the city, and while some of the sites had been filled with rubble, others caved in—a select few had been left open as a possible means of escape should the city ever be taken.

“Hello?” Skye called, channeling just a bit more aether and sharpening his eyesight. In addition to the reinforced steel door and magical wards lining the stairwell, this tunnel was supposed to be kept under constant guard.

… there were no guards…

Skye’s heart began to pound as those words trickled through his thoughts.

Because the guards…

He had to force himself to breathe.

The guards were gone. And that heavy steel door had been dragged open.

Chapter 14

-The following is an interview with Arcana laureate Savannah Selket

What was Azura like as a teacher? Well, she was tough, stern—unconventional. You never quite knew where you stood with her, though it was easy to see exactly which students she thought were special. She pushed them harder than the rest, purposefully breaking them down so she could build them up stronger. Not all of them made it. Most of them didn’t, in fact.

Me personally—I quit the day of my seal three examination.

The sun had barely begun to rise as Taly surveyed the arena. It was a large, circular space, blanketed with red dirt and surrounded by a ringof crumbling stone arches. A row of training dummies lined one side, each decorated with scatterings of water and shadow crystals. The dummy on the far right was malfunctioning, flickering through a series of combat presets—first a wyvern, then a basilisk, then a mountain of a man with eyes that burned like fire.