Page 66 of The Queen’s Shadow

“A toll barrier?” She nodded.

“Yes. The more time we spend there, the more you will see that nothing in The Court of Greed is free. Not even entrance into the city. It is considered an entertainment district. You need to ‘pay to play.’” She explained, and I sighed. Of course we did. Luckily, I had packed a significant amount of emerald shards, not knowing how much I would need. I guess this explained why The Court of Greed was so damn rich with gold. I was starting to understand Dossidian’s desire for us to build an alliance with them.

Cerenah pressed an image of the destination into my mind. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. It looked hot, and arid. The ground was cracked and sunbaked and there was a wall that rose roughly 1,000 feet into the air. The sandstone-colored wall was completely bare and smooth with no room for foot or hand purchase. It would be extremely difficult to scale, though not impossible, if you were like me and could fly. There was a tiny opening at the base of the wall where a thick stone door stood. It looked small, in comparison, though I had a feeling it would be larger than it looked. This wall must be the toll barrier.

I shuddered.

An ominous feeling washed over me, and I realized that a wall like this would likely be just as effective at keeping citizens in, as it was at keeping enemies out.

“Hurry up Kitten. We don’t have time for you to get cold feet.” Rycon snapped and I jumped. He was right.

“Alright, alright.” I mumbled, calling my shadows forward. I met his golden gaze as the darkness crawled up our legs and dissolved us into space.

“Let’s go get Kasha back.”

Raven

We materialized in front of the giant wall, and I immediately had to regulate my environment to keep the hot sun from cooking me in my armor. I suddenly wished I had stripped off my outer layer as Rycon had.

My assumption about the door had been right. It was huge. It towered over us. It had to be at least 20 feet tall and seemed to be made of solid stone. Across the top of the door, in giant script, were the words: ‘The City of Midasara: Where Dreams Turn to Gold.’ I narrowed my eyes at the slogan, wondering if all the slaves who were serving their sentences in brothels felt that their dreams had turned to gold.

Cerenah gestured to the wall by the door, there was another inscription carved above a thin horizontal slot.

Pay the toll, your weight in gold,

Or forfeit your soul, a price untold.

Enter our gates, where riches are found,

Yet gamble with freedom, and remain forever bound.

Well damn. They really weren’t fucking around. I raised an eyebrow at Cerenah.

“Our weight in gold? I brought a bunch of shards but not that many.” I huffed, “I’m also not willing to trade my soul or freedom to get in there. I need to go back to the palace and get more money.”

“Run your finger over the lip of the deposit slot.” Cerenah instructed.

Intrigued, I did as she said. A piece of parchment and a quill appeared. The sheet was a form. There was a line for your name, the weight you were willing to trade in gold for entry, and an alternative box where you could write the number of souls you were willing to trade for safe passage.

Jesus fucking Christ.

One day, when I was in charge of shit, I was absolutely outlawing the use of souls as currency.

“How much do you all weigh?” I grumbled, laying the parchment against the wall, and filling in my name and The Court of Pride as the billable address.

Once I had filled in our combined weight on the line that asked for pounds in gold, I slipped the sheet back in through the slot and stood back to wait. It only took a moment for the magick to assess my deposit before the door began to slowly creak open. The stone door scraped against the ground as it swung inwards, revealing an opulent, bustling city.

There were no guards, no one to check for weapons or do background checks.

All we had to do was step inside.

I glanced around in awe. We entered on an elevated landing, which allowed us an uninterrupted view of the sprawling city of Midasara.

The city was huge. It carried on for miles and miles before us, structure upon structure crowded around busy streets filled with daemons of all shapes and sizes.

Most of the buildings looked to be roughly three to four stories high and were built of sandstone. Colorful pergolas stretched out in front of restaurants, blocking out the scorching sun. Palm trees lined the roads and bright blue glistening swimming pools and outdoor bars twisted around hotels and bed and breakfasts. The buildings seemed to become more and more extravagant as my gaze travelled down the city center.

“That is Greed’s Gauntlet.” Cerenah pointed to the center of the city, where a massive sandstone palace sat in the center of the bustling metropolis. The structure was enormous, with square open-air outcroppings built with large columns reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture. I could see the sparkling blue of a private pool from here. Everything about the palace screamed wealth and opulence.