That’s what gets me moving again.
“Let’s go. Dawn will be here before we know it, and we don’t want to get caught. I suggest we move farther down, get over that wall, and find someplace to hide near the castle.”
“Good plan,parum anguis,” Nero purrs.
It’s definitely going to be harder to hide in the Gilded Lands, but we have a job to do and my sister to save. Nothing will stop us now.
As one, my monsters and I use the darkness to our advantage, moving far away from the gate until we can’t see it anymore, and then we climb over the wall, which is effortless for most of them. Nero lifts me until I straddle the top, and then on the other side, Zee waits with open arms. I don’t hesitate to throw myself down, and he catches me, stealing a quick kiss before setting me down as we turn to figure out a path and where to go.
The houses here stretch into the dark, with small, paved roads between them. Some have streetlights chasing away the shadows, so we quickly avoid them. Instead, we slip between the three-story buildings, crawling between them when we see light inside.
Everything here is different, even the air is sweeter.
Unnaturally so.
Flowers bloom, and life moves on. It’s nothing like the Shadow Lands or the Dead Lands.
It’s pretty, bright, and unpredictable, just like gold, but under the surface? I feel the dishonor, the lies, and the pain it tries to mask. It might be pretty, but pretty isn’t enough.
Pretty isn’t real.
When we reach the circle in the middle, we hide deep in the shadows, pressed against the side of a darkened bakery as we try to determine our next move. Guards wander through the circle, making us duck even lower.
It’s clear every inch of this place is surveyed, and I can see the orange glow of dawn starting to streak through the sky as it lightens.
We’re running out of time.
“What now?” Bracken murmurs.
“I don’t know,” I whisper, and it’s true—I don’t.
I’m lost.
I was sure we would get to the castle and could lie low somewhere close, so the next night we could attack…
“We need to find food and shelter, and fast. When the sun breaks through, we’ll be found and killed,” Grim points out, voicing what all of us are thinking. “Shelter is our priority. Everyone, search the streets around us for somewhere to hide.”
Nodding, they slip into the clinging shadows the light hasn’t stolen yet. I scan the area around us. There has to be something.
Anything.
Grim is still at my back, unwilling to leave me alone, and I turn into the dark, letting it wrap around me like a lover. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and call my magic, letting it fill me. The comforting warmth chases away my doubts, so I decide to try something.
I’m not sure if it will work, but I’m desperate.
I brought my monsters here, and I will protect them.
We need shelter, we need safety.
I whisper to it, hoping, pleading.
It surges through me and wraps me in its warmth before it flows from me, shooting across the city, and then I feel a tug, like my magic has tied a rope to me and is pulling me.
My eyes open, and I meet Grim’s gaze. “I know where to go. Follow me.”
“The others,” Grim reminds me.
Nodding, I close my eyes again. Reaching out with my magic, I brush each and every one of them individually, pulling them back to me, and when I open my eyes, it takes mere seconds for them to reappear.
