Page 94 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

Satisfied with what he discovered, the man reluctantly ushered us inside. The lack of light stole my vision. Ava had mentioned he’d assist us, but I didn’t expect it would mean we’d be walkinginsidethe wall.

“Follow me,” he whispered.

Ahm, where to?my tongue itched to ask. Right, left, up, down, everything was alike. Dark. Chilly. Damp. Similar to our underground.

“What are you planning to do?” our guide asked in a hushed voice as Gedeon pushed me forward, Zion at my front. They had sandwiched me between them. What did they think would happen to me? I’d been sneaking out of the city for months without them.

Ava drawled, “You know, the usual. Steal some women, go sightseeing, maybe trash some rich bastards’ apartments,ifwe have the time before our dinner reservation. Can’t miss it; I heard they’re serving an array of flavorless nutritional bars today.”

“Now sarcasm I remember,” he said with a hint of laughter, as Zion and I snickered. “Either way, the less I know, the better. If I meet you in the city, I’ll act like I’ve never seen you in my life.”

“You wound me, Arlo,” Ava said theatrically, and if not for the utter darkness clouding my sight, I’d bet she’d placed a hand on her chest, exactly like Jayla liked to do.

He snorted. “My shift ends in less than an hour. If you’re not back here by then, I won’t be able to help you get out. You’ll be on your own. But try the northern gates. I can’t confirm, but I heard they are malfunctioning there, so it may give you a chance to slip through.”

“Understood.” Ava spoke from right beside me, and I jumped. I hadn’t heard her creep up to my side. “Anything else we should be aware of?”

Gedeon caught my waist. “Are you okay?” His voice echoed in the damp space.

“Yes,” I whispered to where I guessed his head was supposed to be. His grasp made my feet twine as my steps lost their rhythm in the darkness. “Now pay attention.”

He grunted in response.

“She’s distractingyou, not me,” Zion muttered, and chuckled at Gedeon’s exasperated sigh.

Guiding us along the passageway, Ava’s contact warned, “They have introduced a curfew. Nine o’clock. Spend the night somewhere if you get stuck. They’ll have patrols walking along the streets with orders to detain anyone they catch outside.”

“That gives us about forty minutes,” Gedeon said, his chest close to my back, and a craving to lean into him weakened my legs. I stumbled, catching myself on Zion’s back. His muscles rippled under my palms.

Zion’s voice pierced the dark enveloping us. “It’ll be enough. It’s just a few blocks from here.”

A grating of metal hinges signaled the end of our path, and a strip of evening light flooded the floor and our feet. The slender man hurried us out of the wall, and the door shut behind our backs with a click.

32

KALI

My stomach churned as we entered Ilasall. Saliva soaked with regret for devouring my dinner and two of the most heavenly cinnamon buns in the world before setting out on our mission, filled my mouth. The pastries had been so freaking good, I couldn’t say no. I bit the nail of my thumb. Was it too soon to pester Ryder for more?

As if he knew what I was thinking, Gedeon drew me closer to him. “Ryder is baking today. I asked him to set aside a few cream puffs for you.” His hand on my waist scrunched up the gauzy fabric of the green dress—suspiciously similar to what Jayla had worn during my first night here—Ava had convinced me to wear, much to my chagrin. Not my style, not my color, not even on the edge of my tolerance. But the matching emerald band currently hanging on my wrist demanded certain appearances.

I looked up at him, dusk deepening the dips under his cheekbones. “Why?”

“You keep throwing up at night and they are the only thing that your stomach keeps down.”

Two layers of fabric were all that separated us, and it was too much. He tracked which nights my dinner settled without protest and which forced me to expel it. Brought me glassesof water while Zion rubbed my back. Soothed me through the scorching tears after I’d vomited and didn’t push me to explain what haunted me.

“Thank y?—”

“We have spectators,” Zion warned, cutting me off, and tugged the long sleeves of his pale blue button-up shirt—the one he’d complained about every ten minutes during the entire ride to the city as, apparently, it was unbearably restricting—to hide his tattoo and scars from the soldiers watching us from the other side of the street.

“Time to pretend to be nice and complacent citizens whose tiny brains cannot resist their brainwashing,” Ava gritted out.

We fell into a rehearsed formation, leisurely walking down the streets as two green-banded couples. A nagging need to tear them off and repeat it with every passing resident burned the soles of my feet, each step like a new blister bursting with a liquid scream to do it.

“Breathe.” Gedeon squeezed my hand as we turned a corner and our shadows twined into one on the brick wall.

“I’m trying,”I growled. Endless glints of passerby’s wristbands transformed into arrows with Alora’s image attached to them, flying straight into my heart, clattering against its cage of stone the overpowering shade of gray, identical to the color palette of this cursed city.