The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire, #1)(88)

No. Not like this. Not this far from home.

I gritted my teeth and wrenched my shoulder to the left, pulling the construct with me. It stumbled, and I loosed my grip long enough to seize the knife. Before it could bite me again, I plunged the knife where I judged the eye to be.

It sagged, the muscles slackening as the blade entered its brain. I let it go, wanting to slump to the ground with it. I was a mess. My hair was wild, my clothes filthy, my arm bleeding out like a gutted fish. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost the nosepiece Gio had applied.

Something had happened to Mephi. The thought pounded at the inside of my skull, echoing my pounding heart. I had to get back. Now. I ripped the torn sleeve from my shirt, using the cloth to bind the wound. My bag still hung from my shoulder, the information Gio had asked for within. But I remembered his interest in Mephi. Had it been a ploy, a way to get me to leave? Mephi hadn’t wanted to be left alone. He hadn’t wanted me to leave. Had they done something to him?

I stepped out of the alley and into the sunlight, feeling like I’d stepped from a nightmare world into the daytime one. A few people down the street glanced at me but then hurried away. At least I could count on fewer people peering at my face, thinking they recognized me from somewhere. I ran nearly the entire way to the edge of the city, dodging fishermen and irritated denizens. The day was clear, but I felt in a haze, faces rotating around me like stars in the night sky. My arm throbbed.

If Mephi was hurt, if he was injured, I’d kill the lot of them. I’d find a way.

I threw money at a cart driver heading to another city and rode with him, ignoring the way he looked at me when I jumped off partway there. And then I plunged into the forest, feeling my way back by memory. Every so often I stopped to close my eyes, to reach for that thrum in my bones. Each time I hoped I would find it. When silence answered, I had to choke down a breath. My throat was too tight to even swallow.

The cliff face loomed in front of me. The crack – where was the crack? I stumbled from side to side, brushing past vines to search for it. There. Without hesitation, I turned to the side, breathed out and lunged into the gap. My nose scraped against the stone; my breath warmed my face. The only light I could see filtered green through the vines.

The space opened up, but I couldn’t see anything. They must have left. Taken Mephi and cleared out. I didn’t know what they wanted with him. It hadn’t occurred to me before that someone might take him from me. I put a hand to the wall, trying to steady myself.

Who would I chase after: Emahla or Mephi? My heart threatened to kick free of my ribs. It was too cruel a choice. I’d die making it.

A hand touched my arm. “We put out the lamp in the entrance,” Ranami’s voice emanated from the darkness. “We’ve seen the Emperor’s spies about so we need to be cautious.”

I couldn’t put words to the relief I felt. I sucked in a breath of cool, damp air, my head spinning. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. “Mephi?”

For a moment, she didn’t say anything. Panic fluttered up my throat.

“He’s sick,” she said finally. A thousand painful possibilities flashed through my head before she spoke again. “You should see him.” She took my hand and guided me through the passageway.

She let go once we reached the main hall, the fire roaring in the middle. Mephi was curled on his side by the fire.

I tossed the bag aside and went to him. He didn’t respond when I touched him. His cheeks were warm to the touch, and not only from the fire. He sighed a little as I stroked the nubs of his horns, the skin there worn bare of fur. He’d been hungry and tired lately – had I just not noticed the signs of illness?

“You’re hurt,” Gio said from behind me. I hadn’t heard him walking up.

My arm began to throb again as if the reminder had prompted my wound to reassert itself. It didn’t seem to be healing the way my wounds usually did. I gritted my teeth and shook my head. “What happened to him?”

“He collapsed,” Ranami said from behind him. “Was doing fine this morning, started to look a little unwell and then just collapsed by the fire. I’ve been able to feed him a little broth but that’s it. Feels like he has a fever.”

Gio knelt next to me. “It’s nothing that we did,” he said as though he knew the thoughts that had been swirling in my mind. “He could have just fallen ill. Animals do sometimes.” His voice was calm, even. “Now tell me what happened to you.”

“He needs a doctor.”

“I’ll have one of our Shardless medics look at him. Now tell me what happened to you.”

I told him – the rolled sheet of parchment I’d obtained, the construct, the spy’s remains in the alley. “I killed the construct and came back here as quickly as I could.”

Gio stood. “We need to get into the palace. Tonight.”

I couldn’t think straight enough to even get my legs beneath me. And he wanted me to infiltrate a palace? “Fool” and “rebel” sometimes meant the same thing. “What do you want me to fight with?” I lifted my injured arm. “This?”

“I’ll have a medic see to you, and you’ll have some rest before dark, but we can’t waste any more time. The Emperor’s spies have discovered our informant – which means when the construct doesn’t report back, its master will find out. Eventually that means Ilith or Tirang . . . and then the Emperor himself. Regardless, the second-tier construct in charge of this region will know our plans. We need to move while the information we’ve received is still good.”