Page 145 of Bloodwitch

Vivia’s teeth ground. If Cam spoke the truth, then every one of these people was at risk—and with each step, Vivia felt more and more inclined to believe him. Cam’s story might be fragmented and wild, but he had spoken words that only Stix could know.

Noden and the Hagfishes ought to bend to a woman’s rule.

“That way,” Cam murmured when they reached an intersection, and Vivia walked faster, towing Cam along where he pointed. Three more intersections and they reached a narrow tunnel at the edge of the cavern. She’d seen this space before, but it led nowhere, so she and her workers had left it alone.

Now, though, she followed Cam inside, and when they reached the stone end, Vizer Sotar stepped closer, lantern light spraying over it. A rectangle as tall as Vivia, framed by a hundred tiny boxes with diagonal lines.

“This is it,” Cam said, and he patted the stone with his unbandaged hand.

“This,” Sotar said flatly, “is a wall.”

And Vivia was inclined to agree. It was as if someone had started a door here, but then given up.

“No,” Cam insisted. He turned earnest, pleading eyes on Vivia. “The door only goes one way, sir. You can leave the mountain to come here, but you can’t go back through. The original Six made it that way for safety. Iswearthis is where I came in.”

Only goes one way.A breath hissed from Vivia’s lungs. What the hell-waters was she doing here? She wasn’t really going to trust a boy she barely knew just because he’d quoted something Stix had said…

Was she?Couldshe?

“Please, sir,” the boy whispered. He laid a hand on Vivia’s sleeve. “You gotta believe me.”

She turned and met his eyes. Sincere, innocent eyes—no shadows, no deceit. Merik had trusted this boy, and clearly Stix had too. And if Stix had truly sent Cam here because she believed that Vivia and Lovats needed warning, then Vivia couldn’t risk ignoring him. No matter how impossible his tales of magic doorways and Sightwitchesmight seem. Vivia would rather empty the under-city and be hated than lose hundreds of lives.

She turned to Vizer Sotar, and said, “Evacuate the under-city.”

He reared back. “You cannot be serious.”

“Do it,” she countered, fidgeting with her cuffs. “Then evacuate the entire plateau, Vizer. Or at least try to. I want every wind-drum in the city pounding.”

Sotar’s mouth bobbed open. Then shut. Then: “Please reconsider, Your Majesty. To empty the city would take—”

“Every woman and man inside Pin’s Keep,” she interrupted. “I know exactly what it would take, and I also know exactly what’s at stake if we choose to ignore this boy. If he’s right, Vizer Sotar… We cannot risk that. Now go. Please.”

At that name, Cam suddenly straightened. His eyebrows suddenly jumped. “Oh. It’syou,sir. I’m so sorry—I didn’t realize, or I’d have told you sooner. The captain also had a message for you.” A solemn bow to his head. Then: “She said she’s sorry she missed your birthday yesterday. Next year, she swears you’ll go to the Cleaved Man.”

It was like watching a wind change. One moment, the sails caught the breeze and Sotar’s ship flew. The next moment, he was dead in the water. His shoulders deflated, his eyelids fluttered shut. “I hate the Cleaved Man,” he said under his breath. “And she blighted well knows it. But she makes me go every year, all the same.”

Vivia inched closer to Sotar and, just as Cam had done to her, she laid a hand on the man’s sleeve. “You know what we have to do.”

“Hye.” He nodded slowly, almost to himself, and when he opened his eyes again, it was to offer a slow salute for Vivia. “It will be done, Your Majesty. We will evacuate the underground and the city.”

“Thank you.” She swallowed. Then she smoothed at her shirt, her coat, and said, “Also, I want you to bring me every witch in the city, Vizer. We need to block this doorway, and we need to block it fast.”

FIFTY-EIGHT

Te varuje.

I trust you as if my soul were yours.

Aeduan had never thought he would hear those words spoken to him. Not since his mother had died. Not since he had learned he was a demon—and that all demons died alone.

Te varuje.

Iseult vanished into the darkness of the cave.

And Natan bellowed his fury. The layers of his blood stank with it. The cackling laughter and mountain cold, the endless hunger and bloodied knuckles.

Aeduan had only two paths before him. He could fight Natan and let the battle overwhelm him. Or he could hold the battle and let Natan kill him. Both choices ended in his death, both choices ended in Iseult with danger on her heels.