Page 48 of Hell's Secret Omega
Slowly, he reaches out.
Ekko’s gaze doesn’t waver. Cyrus’s fingers sink into impossibly soft feathers. He scratches gently, a familiar gesture to both of them. A faint trill emerges from Ekko’s throat. The bird steps closer, moving sideways to keep Cyrus in his eye-line. Finally Cyrus remembers how to breathe. Relief comes in a warm rush.
“I’m getting you out soon,” he murmurs. “But you have to trust me, and do as I say when the time comes. You can’t try to hurt anyone.”
Ekko’s eye tilts as his beak drops, an expression of skepticism.
“I might not like them, but the demons with me will be my allies. We need their help.”
He strokes Ekko’s crest as the bird slowly edges into his personal space.
“Trrrr,”Ekko says, ducking his head to bump Cyrus firmly with his beak.
“Soon you’ll be free to fly and hunt.” He scratches the back of Ekko’s head gently. “You’ll meet others like you. There will be wind to soar on, trees to roost in, and a whole world to watch.”
Cyrus aches as Ekko tucks his great head into the crook of his arm. He has no idea if Hell will really be like that for Ekko. But freedom has to be better than this.
It will be, if he succeeds. Otherwise…
Both our ends will be spectacularly brutal.
Then comesthe day Cyrus arrives at the third storeroom in the morning to find soldiers at the door.
He turns tail immediately. Shouts follow him up the hall, but no one pursues.Not good.Letting him flee means he’s already in danger.
Even though Magnus never does more than glance at the ledgers, the Grey Company’s scheme was always a risk. It was inevitable that one day, General Leuther would order someone to audit the store rooms. After all, Cyrus is known to have been appointed by the King.
All that’s saved them so far has been the fact that Leuther is occupied with greater things. Now that the tunnels are finished, though, his eye turns to stock-taking.
Cyrus always makes multiple copies of both the real ledgers and the fake ledgers, a spy’s habit. He’s careful to mark them in code so he can give the Quartermaster the fake ones—the real ledgers are stored in his nest.
He flies to the library, terror giving his feet wings. But by the time he gets there it’s too late. A storm of papers greets him, remnants of books and splintered shelves strewn everywhere. They’ve spared no room or corner. Tapestries lie in shreds. Artifacts are scattered and broken. Bootprints stamp across the carpets.
Cyrus goes straight to his nest. A tiny flame of hope lives on, until he reaches the lintel and sees ichor smeared across the stone.
The tapestry hiding his nest is gone. In its place is a body hanging from the rafters. Sabinus’s blank face stares down at him, horrified.
Cyrus’s throat closes over.I told you! Fool!But Sabinus’s empty eyes turn the accusation back at him.
More ichor stains the entrance to his nest, but he forces himself to crawl inside. His hiding places are empty. The papers are gone—the real ledgers, the copies he made, everything. All the damning numbers.
He stumbles out of the hole and falls to his knees, holding back bile. What if he’d never made copies? How long would it have taken General Leuther to figure it out?
How will he get Ekko out now?
Chapter 29
MEZOR
The bond eruptswhile Mezor is on the other side of the gate. Rage. Fear. Guilt. His heart convulses. For a terrible moment, he fears the worst.
The gate trip back is a blur, more than usual. When he comes down from the pedestal to see Cyrus gripping his elbows with white-knuckled hands, his face pale, something cracks deep inside him.
I need him to be safe.
“Tell me what happened,” he demands, striding toward Cyrus.
The little demon is smeared with black ichor and smells like fear, like death. He bares his short fangs in a grimace of anger. “They found my nest. And someone was killed—one of the Grey Company.”
