Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)(39)

Xiala had a well-earned distrust of authority and a strong desire not to spend any more time in a jail cell. It was enough to keep her moving in the direction she thought Iktan had gone and avoid the guards who had called out for her. She tried to lose herself in the crowd once she came to the latrines, weaving between stalls and out the back, skirting the edge of the cliff. She came around the far end of the ditch just in time to catch a glimpse of Iktan heading down a staircase.

Stairs? Where could they lead but over the side to the river below? Did she dare follow there? Maybe it would be better to face the guards. She had no proof they wished her ill. She laughed at herself. When had things ever gone well when someone was shouting for her and trying to run her down? Following Iktan was the only option that felt like freedom.

The staircase did run down the side of the cliff face to the river. The steps were wood and looked none too sturdy. Wind buffeted her, blowing her hood back, and she could see below her the small caps of the Tovasheh peak and fall. She took a deep breath, said a prayer to her Mother, and stepped out onto the first landing. The wood creaked beneath her weight, but she didn’t let herself stop to think about it. Twelve steps down to the next landing, and then down the switchback, and again.

She caught a glimpse of Iktan’s cloak and sped her descent. She called her Song to her throat, just a hum. But what used to be a comfort now made her anxious. What if she killed someone again? Someone innocent, as she had at the Convergence, because she couldn’t control it? She let her power recede and pushed herself to catch up, but she was slow, her legs still aching from being on land too long, and Iktan was very fast.

She took the next flight, and the next, pausing once to look up and see if anyone followed. No one above, but there was someone below in the river. A boat. One of the smaller river crafts Aishe had called a skimmer, meant for traveling back and forth across the Tovasheh between districts. Two figures manned the boat, pulling it up next to no more than a pile of planks lashed together to form a makeshift floating pier at the bottom of the staircase.

That boat was for Iktan, she knew it. She also knew that if she didn’t catch xir now, she would never see xir again. She willed her legs to move, less concerned with stealth than with speed. She took the corner, fingers only grazing the rail, and was practically airborne when arms grabbed her and slammed her against the rocky cliffside.

Rock scraped the back of her head, and she gasped for air. The sharp point of a knife pricked her chin, and a familiar songlike voice whispered, “Careful, Xiala of the Teek. Your next words determine if you live or die.”

She froze, eyes wide and breath stuttering.

“Following me was incredibly foolish,” Iktan whispered, mouth against her ear. “Tell me why you did it.”

“I saw you with the Shield.” She panted, eyes on the knife at her neck. “I need to know what you told them.”

“Why?”

It was a simple question, and she could have said half a dozen things that might satisfy Iktan and save her life, but all she could think of in the moment was one: “Because I can’t lose him again.”

Seconds ticked by, the knife so close the edge of the blade kissed the hollow of her thoat. Her knees ached, and she couldn’t get enough breath into her lungs. It was too much like what had happened to her on the ship when Baat had almost killed her, that wound barely healed a fraction lower on her neck. Panic was creeping up her gut, lodging in her gullet. She couldn’t stay like this much longer.

“You mean the Odo Sedoh.”

“I mean Serapio!” she hissed, near tears.

A shout above them, and Iktan growled out a curse. “It seems you led the Shield to us.”

The Shield? But weren’t they Iktan’s friends?

“I imagine I have approximately twenty seconds before the people in that boat leave, with or without me. You can either stay here and explain to the Shield why you, clearly a lying foreigner, were down here with me, who is very much a spy and, honestly, worse. Or you can climb onto that boat with me and escape. On the condition that you tell me who you are and what you know about the Odo Sedoh.”

“Fuck off,” she spat through gritted teeth as the first tear leaked down her cheek.

Iktan’s smile was a murderous thing. “I will share a secret with you, Xiala, because I find you intriguing, if a little stupid. Carrion Crow are not your friends. They likely aren’t his friends, either. Whatever plans they have for him, they do not include you. So pick, Teek. Come with me and have a chance, or stay and face whatever mercy Carrion Crow might give you.”

Iktan released her and stepped away. She collapsed, hands on her knees and back bent, and when she looked up, xe was gone.

Mother waters, how had she ended up on the wrong side of this? Reason told her Iktan was right and that whatever words she might speak in her defense to Carrion Crow would fall on ears already decided. If fact, she had probably sealed her fate when she naively told the guard Uuna of her identity. She had no doubt she would end up in a dank cell somewhere deep in their Great House to rot until they got around to remembering she was there. Serapio would likely be married and crowned the king of crows or whatever he was by then. If she went with Iktan, it would be a setback but nothing as dire as jail. She could not, would not, go to jail again. The thought made her insides seize with dread.

But to walk away from Serapio when he was alone with those vipers, when he might need her most? She’d walked away before. Could she do it again and still look at herself without shame?