Keystone (Crossbreed #1)(69)
Two long blades crossed in front of his throat from someone standing behind him—someone I couldn’t see.
“Let her go or I’ll slice off your head two ways,” I heard Niko say.
The man held his hands up, surrendering.
Niko kept his swords crossed, the sharp blades flush against the man’s neck. “I’m going to turn around, and you’re going to turn with me. Once you’re facing the street, I want you to walk. If you look back, I’ll show no mercy. Is that clear?”
A small trickle of blood trailed down the man’s neck, and his eyes widened in terror. “Yes,” he said, his voice quavering.
I glanced behind me at the empty space where the victim had once been. He had already fled the scene. When Niko turned and lowered his weapons, the man slowly staggered out of sight.
Niko’s dark hood obscured most of his face, giving him a formidable appearance with his stature, his sharp instruments in hand. He waited quietly while I walked around him and collected my dagger.
“Would you have known if he turned around?” I asked.
He tucked the blades into their scabbards. “I would have seen a flicker in his color, but they never turn around.”
“How could you just let him go? He was a juicer. If I hadn’t caught him, he might have killed the other guy… and you just let him walk.”
“Is there a ladder in sight?”
I searched the shadows. “Behind you.”
“Follow me.”
We reached the roof, and a damp wind made me shiver. This was my sanctuary. Any high place made it feel as though all the miseries of life were beneath me and the heavens were within reach.
I approached the edge and straddled it, one leg hanging over.
Niko cautiously followed, kicking his foot out until it met with the ledge. He used his hands to feel the width, which was plenty wide enough to sit on. He sat with both feet on the roof and then drew his hood back. The wind picked up his long hair, making him look like a fictional hero in a comic book.
“I let him go because people deserve second chances. The rogues who wander the streets aren’t all as far gone as you believe; they’ve begun their journey down the wrong path, but who knows where they’ll end up?”
“He’s just going to victimize someone else.”
Niko rested his forearms on his knees, his crystal eyes looking ahead. “Can you kill them all? The higher authority won’t arrest juicers; there aren’t enough prisons to keep them in, so they have to concentrate on capturing the most nefarious men they can. Maybe your Creator didn’t explain how it works, but the growing human population keeps us from acquiring new land, and the higher authority doesn’t want to use up all that valuable property for prisons. Locking up immortals for what is deemed a lesser crime solves nothing. There are some things we simply have to turn a blind eye to.”
“I can’t.”
“Then stop the crime at hand, but don’t become the executioner. Juicing is the equivalent of theft, and if someone broke into your home and stole a television because they have an addiction they can’t control, do you feel it’s just to take their head?”
“Maybe it depends on how big the TV is.”
Niko smiled and drew in a deep breath. “Winter’s coming. I can feel it on the tip of my tongue. Maybe you should think about finding a way to earn an honest living. It will put shelter over your head and give you honor.”
“And who’s going to hire an illegal rogue? Anyhow, the Breed world is for people with specific talents. I don’t mean just the business owners and finance guys, but everyone else can use their gifts to barter, train, track, or advise. There’s no honor in mopping floors.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Have you considered approaching the Mageri and coming clean?”
I huffed out a laugh. “I’m illegal, and I’m also a crossbreed. Accepting me isn’t the issue so much as the possibility that they might kill me after discovering what I’ve been doing. They’ll think I’m a liability. I’ve heard stories about how they’ve put down new Learners who turned rogue before becoming independent from their Creators. They scare me.”
Niko turned to face me, gingerly hanging his left leg over the wall. “Throw yourself upon their mercy. Trust that they will make good judgment and assign a Ghuardian to mentor you.”
A Ghuardian was a person assigned by the Mageri to train a Mage who was without a Creator. The name was old and spelled differently since it had a unique meaning among them.
I shook my head. “I can’t trust anyone with my life. No one wants me, Niko. Not unless they have a hidden agenda. I can’t put my life in the hands of someone who doesn’t value it.”
“Perhaps you’re looking at this all wrong. You’re waiting to be chosen by fate, by life, by others.” He reached out and touched my forehead, then trailed his fingertips down my brow, nose, mouth, and chin—seeing my face with his hand. “But it’s you who needs to do the choosing in life. You won’t always make the right choice, but that’s how we grow.” He lowered his arm and waited for a reply.
“I did. I asked Viktor, and he turned me away.”
Niko inclined his head. “You give up so easily. If you want to be a part of Keystone, then you must do something to work with us, not against. He’s not just looking for raw talent; he needs to know you have integrity. Show him you’re a team player who doesn’t need to always be the hero.”