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Cyrus shrugged, because what else was there to say?

They worked in silence, scouring every inch of the space. Feeling for hidden compartments. Digging through ash and soot and more debris. And hours later, they had nothing but cracked and bleeding hands and fingers.

Cyrus sank down against a wall, wiping sweat from his brow. He could feel the smudge of dirt the movement left behind. Cassius wasn’t any better off. Ash stained his brow, his cheek, his jaw. He was still sifting through what they thought was the remains of a cabinet of some sort.

This was going to take time they simply did not have.

They had thrown around the idea of using a tracking Mark like Scarlett had used to find the mirror gate in the Runic Lands, but she had known what she was looking for. They didn’t, which made using the Mark even riskier.

Cassius turned to him, huffing a sigh as he raked a hand through his hair. “I guess we dig our way into another room?”

“Yeah,” Cyrus said, arms resting atop his bent knees. “But food first.”

Cassius nodded, making his way over to him and holding out a hand to pull him to his feet. “I know a place.”

They made their way back through the passages, pulling themselves up through the hidden hatch, and then Cassius had him back on the rooftops. Eventually they dropped down over an overhang, swinging themselves through the upper window of a tavern, and both coming to a halt as they beheld the person sitting at the table, drinking from a mug of ale.

“Nuri,” Cassius said carefully.

Her hood was down, gloves off. She winked at them as she took another drink of her ale.

“What are you doing here?” Cassius asked.

She tipped her head, studying them. “I suppose you two have no way of knowing, do you?”

“Knowing what?” Cass asked, angling his body so he stood between her and Cyrus.

Cyrus just watched Death’s Shadow. There was something different about her from all the other times he’d interacted with the Contessa.

She looked…tired.

“Nothing,” she replied, sipping from her ale again. “Find what you were looking for at the Fellowship?”

“Do you know what we were looking for there?” Cyrus countered, and her honey-colored eyes flicked to him.

“Doyouknow what you are looking for there?”

“Nuri,” Cassius sighed. “Are you going to let us leave, or are we going to have to fight our way out?”

She shrugged. “I’m not going to fight you. Not right now, at least.”

“What does that even mean?” Cyrus asked.

“Obviously at some point I’m going to need to fight you. Blood Bond and everything.” She shrugged again. “But that day is not today.”

“Why?” Cassius asked.

“You’re annoying as hell, but I don’t want you dead.”

There was a patterned knock on the door, and Cassius went rigid. “Who is that?”

Nuri pushed to her feet, sauntering to the door and pulling it open. The person who entered was tall and broad, a hood in place hiding his features. But when he pulled it back—

“Fucking hell,” Cyrus said, fire already flaring in his palms and a shield in place around him and Cassius.

“Relax,” Nuri said with an eye roll, taking one of the mugs of ale the male held. “He brought you something to drink.”

“Not a chance,” Cassius retorted, sword drawn, focus bouncing between her and the seraph commander.