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It was a surreal feeling, striding through the Docks District with the iylvahn beside me. Everything around me looked normal.

The haze hung thick in the air, and dock workers shuffled down the street, hoods up and cloths over their noses and mouths.

High overhead, Solasti blazed in the cloudless sky, alone for a few more hours until her sister joined her for Demon Hour.

For a brief moment, I wondered what would happen if I ran. If I darted into a nearby alley and lost the iylvahn in the crowds.

After all, he hadn’t been able to catch me in the underground city, and I knew these streets like the back of my hand. I could

abandon the assassin sent to kill me and go warn Vahn about the Circle and the Deathless King myself. And then maybe we could

leave the city together, take a strider across the Dust Sea to start a new guild on the other side of Arkyennah. Far from

the Circle, scary iylvahn assassins, and terrifying Deathless Kings. Vahn wouldn’t want to leave Kovass, but he had always

been practical; if I told him what the Circle was planning, surely he would see the writing on the wall. We were thieves,

and this wasn’t our fight; if a godlike Deathless King really was about to be summoned, the smart thing to do was to be far,

far away when it happened.

Assuming, of course, that the assassin didn’t chase me down and slit my throat the second I decided to run.

The iylvahn— Raithe , I reminded myself—walked silently next to me, his head slightly down. At first glance, he looked like everyone else, dressed

in loose, light-colored clothes with his hood raised to keep off the sun. But as I continued to sneak furtive glances at my

dangerous companion, I noticed he moved with a predatory grace the crowds around us couldn’t match. Perhaps it was glaringly

obvious only to me, because no one gave us a second look as we made our way through the narrow streets to the old warehouse

at the end of the docks.

My heart pounded in my ears as I led the iylvahn through the front yard and around the back to the single door. Bringing strangers

into the guild wasn’t unheard of, but I had to play this just right. Stepping up to the door, I gave the secret knock and

waited as it creaked open just enough for a bloodshot eye to peer out at me.

“Just me, Bassig,” I announced as casually as I could.

His eye narrowed as it swept from me to the hooded figure at my back. “Who’s he?”

“New client,” I said immediately. “Vahn wanted me to escort him to his office. Is he here?”

Bassig’s head swung back and forth. “Vahn went into the basement about an hour ago,” he said. “Took that skinny friend of

yours with him. Thought it was a little strange that he was taking him and not you, but hey, it ain’t my business to question

the boss.”

Jeran . I felt a prickle of mingled worry and anger.

Worry for my misguided friend who didn’t know what he was getting into; anger because my head still hurt like crazy, I had been tied up and threatened at knifepoint, and I was now in the company of an iylvahn assassin who still might kill me if he had the mind to.

I was not happy with Jeran at the moment, but at the same time, I understood.

Even though we had a code, we were thieves, and life on the street was hard.

In his situation... well, I probably wouldn’t have done the same, but I’d have been tempted.

“Also,” Bassig went on, eyeing the silent figure at my back again, “Vahn did say not to let any non–guild members inside,

for any reason. So your friend is either gonna have to leave, or wait until he gets back.”

My heart sank, but I sighed and gave the door guard an exasperated look. “Bassig, come on,” I said. “It’s me. Don’t make us

stand outside. Demon Hour is going to be here soon.”

“Ain’t my decision,” Bassig said stubbornly. “It’s what the boss told me.”

Before I could think of anything else, the iylvahn stepped forward. For a heartbeat, I was afraid he was going to kill Bassig,

but his posture was relaxed and nonthreatening as he moved beside me. “The king’s crown is on the altar,” he said in a low

voice, making Bassig’s bushy eyebrows shoot up. “And the stone in the center is green.”

“Ah.” The big man gave Raithe a half-wary, half-puzzled look. “New client, then. Right.” He stepped back, opening the door

a bit wider, and waved us through. “Go on in. You’ll have to wait for Vahn to come back, though. Sparrow can show you to his

office.”

“Thank you,” Raithe said easily, and stepped through the door. Trying not to let my astonishment show, I followed.

Once inside and out of earshot of Bassig, I gave the iylvahn a sidelong look. “Have you been to the guild before?” I asked in a low voice. “I wasn’t even aware of that passcode. How did you know what to say to Bassig?”

The faintest hint of a smile crossed his face. “I’m observant,” he said, equally softly. “I’ve been trained to blend in, which

means taking on the mannerisms of those around me. The Circle, as you call them, runs the Thieves Guild of Kovass, among other

things. Which means I learned everything I could about the guild and its practices before I came here. And one ma’jhet was kind enough to tell me the code before he died.”

My awe—and fear—of the man increased. I wanted to ask him more, but I saw Rala gazing at us curiously from behind the bar,

and I hurried across the floor to the steps on the other side.

Down in the basement, I stared at the brick wall, trying to remember which one opened the door to the sewers. I had an excellent

memory, but I hadn’t known I should be paying attention when Vahn pressed the secret brick, and it had happened so quickly,

it was over before I could really focus on what he was doing. Raithe stood quietly at my side, patient and unhurried, as I

stared blankly at the flat wall. After a long moment, he tilted his head as if listening for something.

“Someone is coming,” he said in a low voice. He didn’t tell me to hurry or ask what was taking so long, but the implication

was crystal clear: I needed to get us out of there now.

Taking an educated guess, I stabbed my fingers into a random brick and nearly broke them as the brick remained just that: an immovable brick.

Gritting my teeth, I moved my hand over a couple of spots and tried again, and this time, there was a scraping sound as the brick moved and a click sounded from somewhere beyond the wall.

With the grinding sound of stone on stone, the narrow section of wall slid back, revealing the darkened tunnel beyond. But

a new noise echoed behind us—the thump of footsteps on the stairs. Immediately, Raithe and I ducked into the passageway as

the door began to close. Through the gap, I saw Rala descending the stairs and looking around in confusion. The gap disappeared

a moment later, plunging us into absolute darkness.

I cursed myself for not thinking to grab a lantern, but then remembered Halek’s glowstone. It was still tied to my belt, and

I quickly untangled it, feeling guilt gnaw at me as I thought of the Fatechaser. Hoping it wasn’t broken, I raised the stone

to my lips and breathed softly, and the tunnel was instantly bathed in a faint orange glow.

I looked up at the iylvahn, whose pupils had constricted sharply in the unexpected light. “An escape tunnel,” he mused, gazing

down the narrow corridor. “Clever, but I expected nothing less. Where does this lead?”

“I don’t know, exactly,” I replied. “A big cistern, somewhere underground. I’ve only been there once, with Vahn, when the

Circle asked me to get the stone.”

He nodded, indicating that I should take the lead, and in the faint light of the glowstone, we started down the tunnel.

I remembered the path well enough and soon began seeing familiar signs. When the tunnel opened into an enormous room with dark pools of water on either side of a walkway through the center and pillars reaching up to the ceiling, I knew we were close.

I started forward, but suddenly felt a firm hand on my shoulder, fingers tightening in warning. “Careful,” Raithe breathed,

his pale eyes sweeping the room. “This place feels wrong.”

As he spoke, an eerie sensation crept over me, as if hundreds of tiny, invisible spiders were scuttling beneath my clothes.

My skin crawled, and I cringed, fighting the urge to flap my arms and beat at my clothes. But almost as soon as the feeling

struck, it faded, leaving me shivering and strangely cold. Raithe, if he had felt anything, showed no signs of it at all.

“Magic,” he whispered, his voice gone hard. “It’s starting. We have to move, quickly!”

We were halfway across the room when around us, the water started to ripple.

Nearly a dozen skeleton creatures broke the surface, rising from the glassy water, and the smell of decay filled the chamber

as they turned their hollow eyes upon us. They were different from the ones in the ancient city; these were much bigger, their

canine jaws capable of crushing my skull. They wore the tattered remains of golden armor and carried shields in one hand and

curved swords in the other. They didn’t shamble across the room; they moved with smooth, lethal intent, stepping from the

water onto the narrow stone path, blocking our way forward.

I cringed. Raithe drew his blade and shoved me behind him as the monsters stepped toward us, their jaws gaping open in silent snarls.

Pinpricks of green light glimmered in through their eye sockets, slowly growing into dancing flames.

“The king’s elite guardians,” he muttered.

“The Circle must’ve raised them to protect the ritual. ”

I glanced toward the exit, wondering if we should run, and saw more skeletons had stepped onto the path behind us. “We’re

surrounded,” I told the assassin, who didn’t turn around. “Should we run?”

A tremor went through the chamber, spreading ripples through the water and causing dust to rain from the ceiling.