“I’ll hear the full story after we save your cousin,” he says. “But right now, we need tomove. She’s in the kommandant’s office in the Porta Nigra. The headquarters were already fairly empty this morning; the explosion should draw all jägers to the basilica. We have a window now, and we have to use it.”
I don’t know why I’m challenging him about helping me. I just want another moment in the dark, another second to pause.
But Liesel doesn’t have another moment, another second.
I feel through the vials in my pouch to find the one I need and press it into his palm. “For protection,” I say. “If you’re willing.”
He doesn’t hesitate. I hear it uncork. A beat later, he presses the empty vial back into my hand.
Maybe the Three are watching over me still. If they brought him to me.
Heart in my throat, I twist so I’m holding his hand. “Take me to her.”
24
OTTO
Her fingers are laced through mine, her palm warm, her grip strong. We splash through the tunnels, the water icy cold, the darkness overwhelming, but all I can think about is how her hand is in mine.
The trust in me her touch implies.
We start to see more light slowly, as the main passage into the Porta Nigra comes into focus. Waterlogged, we pound up the iron staircase, speed more important than silence.
They’ll all be gone by now, I tell myself. The explosion had to have been heard by the entire city. Everyone would have rushed there.
As Fritzi and I wind round and round the spiral stairs, going straight up from the tunnels to the floor for the headquarters, I repeat that mantra:They’ll all be gone by now.
But I’m wrong.
I push through the door at the top of the stairs and am met not with silence and shadows, but a man, sword already drawn. “Schiesse!” The curse bursts out of me, pure verbal shock.
The man in front of me adjusts his grip on his weapon. Bertram. His lips snarl. “Everyone else went to the basilica,” he says. “I heard you stayed behind. Forconfession.And I’ve been thinking about the way the hexe escaped in the tunnel. I didnotimagine how she was ripped from my grip. It was you.”
“Don’t make me fight you, Bertram,” I say, still standing in the doorway, one hand on the iron ring. I feel Fritzi behind me, trying to push ahead, but if she has any spells, I don’t want to waste them on this excuse for a man. There are other foes for her to fight.
Bertram is mine.
He looks past my shoulder, and his eyes go wide when he recognizes Fritzi. “I knew you were shit, Ernst, but this miststück is what you gave up your holy quest for? Her? She’s not worth hell, Kapitän.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” My muscles tense. I know without a doubt that this will not end without blood. Not now.
But Fritzi is behind me, and after hearing Bertram’s insults, she wants to attack. And while it would be pleasing to see Bertram crushed under her power, I need to focus on him while she keeps watch for anyone else.
“Here’s the thing,” I say, as much for Fritzi’s benefit as Bertram’s. “I know you. And I know there’s only one reason why you’re here alone.”
Behind me, Fritzi stills. Now that she knows there’s only one man—one whose weaknesses I’ve dealt with before—she can strategize safely. I shift my leg, my boot touching her foot, nudging. She understands the subtle movement, and she goes down a few steps, giving me room.
“Who says I’m alone?” Bertram snaps.
I make an exaggerated show of looking down the empty corridor. I could be wrong, of course. The doors are all closed. But, as I said, I know him. “You want to bring the kommandant my head yourself. You are not the type to share glory.”
Bertram snorts, but there’s pride in the sound. He thinks he’s already won.
“I have a sword,” he says, turning his wrist so the blade gleams in the morning light streaming through the windows.
“And I have the strength of a dozen demons, don’t you remember?”
With a growl of frustration, Bertram lunges at me, but his blade glances off nothing, as if there were an invisible shield between us.Fritzi’s protection potion,I think. I leap back, boots thudding loudly on the iron steps, and pull the door shut. I can hear both Bertram’s curse as well as the sound of his sword striking the heavy wooden door. Before he can recover, I push the door open, slamming into his body and knocking him off-balance. Stunned, Bertram staggers back, but he’s lost neither his footing nor his weapon.
