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“Berath et sharem.”

“She wants you to be careful, and stay safe.”

“Narem, Mira.”I force the words past the lump forming in my throat. This woman has shown me more kindness in the past coupleof days than I could ever have imagined. Her small kindnesses have been constant since we arrived—language lessons, proper clothing, now medicines for the journey ahead.

She pats my cheek, and nods, stepping back. I tuck the packet into a pocket of my tunic.

Varam signals that it’s time to depart, and Tisera moves to the far wall and presses against a stone block. A section of the wall slides inward with a grating sound, revealing a narrow passage behind it. She lights a small lamp and disappears into the dark without a word, clearly expecting us to follow.

Sacha gestures for me to go next. “Stay close to Tisera. I’ll be right behind you.”

I hesitate at the threshold, one hand braced against the rough stone edge. Despite my frustration with Sacha's secrecy and the anger still smoldering beneath my fear, this chamber has offered a strange kind of safety. A place to catch my breath. After the desert. After the tower. After all of it.

Beyond this hidden door lies a world actively hunting the man behind me, a world filled with people who want him caged or dead. And a world where I still don’t belong.

"Ellie." My name in Sacha's voice pulls me back to the present. It's softer than I expect, almost gentle. When I glance over my shoulder, his expression is unreadable in the shadows, but there's tension in the line of his jaw. "We need to move."

I take a deep breath that tastes of dust and secrets, then step into the passage. The darkness closes around me, pressing against my skinlike something alive. Tisera's lamp wavers ahead, casting just enough light to prevent me from colliding with the walls.

The air grows heavy with the scent of damp stone and earth that hasn't seen sunlight in centuries.

"Stay close," Sacha murmurs behind me, his breath warm against my ear, startling me with how near he is. I hadn't realized he was that close.

He says something to Varam, words I can't understand but recognize the cadence of farewell. Then the stone door slides shut, sealing us inside this underground vein of darkness.

Whatever waits ahead, there's no going back.

Chapter Twenty

SACHA

“Deviation is corrected through isolation. Silence ensures stability.”

Authority Codex

The darkness closesaround me as I follow Ellie into the tunnel. The stone door slides shut behind us, cutting off the last of the surface light. For most, it would mean blindness. Not for me. I see every crack, every flaw in the stone.

Ellie moves ahead of me, following Tisera’s lamp through the narrow passageway. Her shoulders are tense, spine straight. Despite our argument, despite her accusation that I’m withholding truths she deserves to know, she remains composed. She follows orders.

Where others would crumble under the weight of displacement and pursuit, she continues to adapt. Another demonstration of the resilience I’ve witnessed time and again since her arrival in my world that both impresses and unsettles me.

My mind circles back to the chamber. The fire. The argument. Her eyes flashing with justified anger as I evaded her questions again. Then that pulse of energy that split the air an instant before the hearth ignited.

My magic had reacted instinctively, shadows coiling protectively around me. They recognized something I hadn’t noticed before. Something emanating from Ellie. Not old magic in the chamber like I claimed to deflect her demands, but something else entirely. Something that makes my familiar stir restlessly within me even now.

The tunnel narrows, forcing us to walk in single file through passages carved centuries before the Authority’s rise. Water trickles somewhere beyond the lamplight, a constant background melody accompanying our descent. Tisera moves confidently, her lamp illuminating just enough to guide without revealing the true nature of our surroundings. For Ellie, at least. I can see everything.

These tunnels were once trade routes connecting Ravencross to settlements long abandoned. During the war, we repurposed them, creating escape networks that allowed our operatives to move undetected beneath Authority patrols. I remember mapping these passages myself, reinforcing the weakest spans, and marking safeholds in the stone.

They carry us now as they did then. A lifeline for those hunted by the Authority.

“Watch your step.” Tisera warns. “The next section floods during heavy rains.”

I translate for Ellie, who nods.

We’ve been moving steadily downward for nearly an hour, the air growing cooler and damper with each turning of the path.

By the time the Authority’s soldiers begin their sweep, we’ll be well into the foothills, following routes their patrols rarely check.