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Whatever snarky reply I’d been ready to hurl at him died on my tongue and I fell silent as that throbbing hurt dug its claws into me once more.

Of course they’d been lies. My gifts had made liars of countless Fae before him in their bid to make use of my body.

In fact, I was starting to wonder whether they hadn’t made liars of everyone I’d ever known aside from Moraine and Dalia.

Now they were gone and I was just…left behind.

At the end of the corridor we came across a narrow staircase leading down into the lower levels of the House of Sin and I hesitated at the top of it while trying to listen for any Fae who might be lurking in these passages on the lower levels.

But the general commotion of music, raised voices and shrieks of laughter made it impossible for me to tell.

“I’m going to take a guess that you’re looking for those tunnels so that you can claim a pretty piece of that comet for yourself for all of your hard work up there with the Siren?” Bastian asked.

“Yes,” I replied flatly, not needing to mention the fact that it was more than simple greed for the knowledge that comet might provide me with that drove me on because from the moment I’d stepped into this corridor I’d begun to feel a tug in my soul, urging me to take this path and I didn’t want to give too much thought to what that might mean.

But Moya had taught me well and I knew not to disregard the ether when it came looking for me.

I could feel Bastian’s eyes on me but I ignored him, moving towards the stairs. He snatched my wrist before I could leave, yanking me to a halt and I whirled on him, ready to throw him down the stairs headfirst if I had to.

“Whoa, little psychopath,” he teased, raising his hands in surrender, though if I knew him at all I knew he would never willingly surrender to anything.

“I just thought you might have forgotten what my element is? I can sense footsteps in the stone and if you really are serious about creeping down into those tunnels then I can probably feel their location with my magic too.”

“Really?” I asked, my mind whirling with that information, wondering if it was something Dragor and his councillors knew about the Stonebreakers or not.

If they could detect passages through the earth beneath our feet then we would have to always assume they were capable of finding any concealed places or hidden stores.

I dragged my thoughts back to what was important right now before I could get lost down that train of thought and waved a hand towards the stairs in command.

“Go on then. Find us a way out of here and take me to the tunnels if you really can.”

“I’ll need another boost of power. I wasted most of it on tying you up I’m afraid, spectre.”

I sighed irritably and drew the vial of Moraine and Dalia’s blood from beneath my tunic, holding it out for him to grasp. I didn’t take it from around my neck and he clearly knew better than to bother asking me to.

The heat of his flesh called to me as he stepped closer but I remained still, waiting while he recovered some magic from my necklace and pressed his hand to the wall so he could detect the layout of the building as he’d claimed.

Seconds ticked by, the scent of smoke and iron coiling from his skin mixed with a rich and earthy note which had me inhaling deeply to try and figure out its source.

“There are two floors beneath us; the one directly below I think is full of rooms where Fae go to fuck in private, then the ground floor which we saw plenty of ourselves. Beneath that is another level with fewer Fae moving across its floors and the entrance to the caves is there, behind an iron door,” Bastian said.

I arched a brow in surprise. “Well aren’t you just a handy little duck?”

“Having thoughts about keeping me, spectre?”

I scoffed. “Ducks quack far too much for my liking.”

Bastian stepped past me to lead the way down the stairs and though it rankled to allow him to do so, I was already trusting him to lead us through this place so it seemed pointless to object.

Vesper .

I stumbled over my own feet at the sound of my name.

There was no denying it this time, the call more urgent than before and louder too, though it was clear that Bastian hadn’t heard a thing.

I glanced around suspiciously but Bastian was already leaving me behind and I hurried to catch up to him, pushing the voice from my thoughts.

We slipped down one staircase then another, sneaking along a short passageway to reach the third before Bastian stilled by the door which led out the basement level, placing a finger to his lips in warning.

I cast an amplification spell and flinched at the sound of pots bashing together loudly followed by the cries of kitchen staff.

Houses of Sin were hardly known for their fine dining but aside from the buffet laid out for revellers to sustain themselves, there was usually a menu for slightly upgraded fare which could be ordered to the tables in the front section of the hall.

I’d spent enough time sneaking through The Waning Lands on missions for Dragor to know that each of them had places just like this one and they all used a similar method to run their establishments.

Moraine had once told me that the similarities between the nations dated back to the time before the war when trade and commerce were a part of everyday life.

It was why we all used karmas and kismets as currency – though the coins from each nation differed slightly in design these days.

But when the war had broken out, no one had been willing to give up their claim on the currency and allow another nation to take ownership of the terms to define the coins so they’d all kept on using them.

Such titbits about life predating the Endless War had fascinated my friend and I wished now that I’d listened to her more when she spoke of them, rather than taking for granted the time we’d had.

Bastian pushed through the door, beckoning me after him and I had to stamp down the desire to take hold of the offending finger and snap it for him.

The bustling sounds of the kitchen staff came from our right but Bastian guided us left to a large wooden door which had been emblazoned with the same gang insignia I’d seen outside – one which I highly suspected belonged to Zayad.

I reached for the handle. “There are no magical locks,” I said in relief.

That was one thing I liked about the Flamebringers and their gang bullshit – the biggest, meanest bastards often left their doors unlocked as a show of bravado because they wanted the whole world to know they were untouchable and believed that no one would ever dare break into their personal space.

And I quite enjoyed being no one.

“Through to the back,” Bastian directed as we stepped into a huge lounge area filled with gaudy trinkets and embroidered armchairs.

The scent of musk and the spicy cologne Zayad had been wearing tainted the air, the space lit by a dying fire in the hearth to our right.

Several doors led from this chamber but I followed Bastian’s instructions and headed to the farthest one, moving on through it.

Vesper .

The ethereal voice was setting my teeth on edge but there was clearly no one here and I wasn’t in a position to waste time focusing on it either.

I glanced up in the direction of the sky, wondering if the stars might have chosen to single me out and speak into my mind the way they conversed with the Reapers but if it really was them then they had a funny sense of timing.

Bastian pointed along the corridor and I heeded his instructions once more, creeping down the thickly carpeted passage between red-painted walls.

At the far end we found a wide, iron door once again inlaid with that same gang insignia. This one was locked both physically and magically, the power which had been used to defend it so strong that I could sense it without even reaching for the door.

“Shit,” I muttered, wondering if I could risk trying to disable it.

There were probably detection spells weaved into the lock too, ready to alert Zayad and maybe even some of his cohort to our presence if we fucked it up.

But the urgent need inside me to enter that place wouldn’t be denied and I refused to turn back despite the madness of this scheme.

“This way,” Bastian said, placing his hand on the wall several feet along from the door.

“Which way?” I began but his smug grin answered me alongside the bricks in the wall as they began to tremble and quake beneath the power of his magic, shifting themselves out of position and wriggling aside until a narrow entrance appeared in the wall itself.

“No one ever thinks to guard the walls outside of Avanis,” Bastian said. “Honestly, it’s kind of insulting that you all underestimate my people so vastly.”

“Noted,” I said, brushing past him with a sense of anticipation racing down my spine.

The mine wasn’t lavishly decorated like the rooms above it, only a roughly-hewn stone passageway in tones of yellowish brown leading deeper into the ground greeted us but a shiver ran over my skin all the same.

Vesper .

Once again the voice was louder, more urgent and I was suddenly struck with the realisation that it wasn’t the stars deigning to speak with me but something closer to home, something which had been calling to me in the dark for weeks and which might just lie at the end of the path ahead of us.

“There’s something down here,” I said in a low tone, the scent of sulphur reaching me while I spoke.

“Are you frightened of monsters, spectre?” Bastian teased as he commanded the bricks to rearrange themselves at our backs, sealing us into the dark.

“I am a monster, Dragon. Best you don’t go forgetting that.” I cast a Faelight, sending it out ahead of us and took the lead down the narrow path into the mine.