Gates of Thread and Stone(20)

“I was,” he said, shifting uneasily in the saddle. He dragged a hand through his hair. “Because you did what I never could.”

“Kick him?”

Avan released a quiet breath, half laugh and half sigh. “Stand up to him. You’ve always done the right thing. You and Reev. I can’t let you go out there alone.”

“You don’t need to—”

“You’re not going to change my mind. You can keep talking if you really want, but we’re wasting time. We’ve got a long way.” He touched the seat behind him.

I ground the heel of my boot slowly into the dirt. I considered arguing further, but I didn’t know if it would be for my pride or his safety. Back straight and muscles taut, I took his hand and mounted the Gray.

This time when he started it, I watched more closely. The creature’s chest lit up, much brighter than before, and I scooted closer to Avan. I thought I felt his breath catch, but it was hard to tell.

We rode through the freight yard. The heat from the energy stone warmed the metal, but it wasn’t as hot as Avan pressed against the entire front half of my body. Any remaining frustration I felt toward him vanished as we continued through the city. We were really doing this.

The nearest gate was several miles north. We had to get to the main road, which would lead directly to the exit. I clenched my sweaty palms against Avan’s stomach.

We cut through alleys, people darting out of the way and shouting curses as we squeezed through. Even though we were only going at a canter, the buildings passed in a colorless blur. At the main road, I pressed my cheek against Avan’s back as we joined the busier traffic. On the other side, two sleek, single-rider scouts in the shape of large cats sped past. They were headed for the White Court.

Avan turned just enough for his voice to reach me over the beat of metal hooves. “Ready?”

No. “Yeah,” I breathed.

The gate came into view, the familiar sight of the Ninurtan banner—a red sword crossed with a silver scythe—draped above the opening. The massive metal door remained closed between midnight and four in the morning, when all Grays were prohibited from entering or leaving except for city business. During operating hours, the gate was open. I couldn’t think of anyone in recent history who’d forcibly tried to leave Ninurta. The security was mainly there to keep out the gargoyles, not to keep anyone contained. Only two bored-looking Watchmen were checking each waiting scout to ensure it was approved to leave.

All we had to do was catch them by surprise and push through. The Watchmen wouldn’t pursue us into the Outlands.

It sounded so easy, but the physical act of leaving had never been the hard part. Accepting what it meant to pass through the gate and let everything here go—that knowledge stuck like a hook in my throat, dragging me back toward the city, my job, the Labyrinth, everything I’d ever known. But Reev wouldn’t be there waiting for me. None of those things meant anything without Reev, who had given me the sense of safety that Ninurta’s walls couldn’t.

The Gray shifted beneath me as Avan increased our speed.

“You know what you’re doing?” I shouted over the wind. Probably should have asked sooner.

Avan didn’t answer, but I imagined his self-confident smile.

The Watchman on the left waved the scout at the front of the line forward. Both guards stepped aside to give it room.

A jerk of our Gray to the right. A burst of speed. My stomach dropped.

The Watchmen didn’t expect us. They shouted, diving out of the way, hands slapping for the metal grate. Too late. We blew through the gate into the barren darkness of the Outlands.

We’d done it. We were fugitives of Ninurta.





CHAPTER 10




IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to see beyond the flat, dry earth illuminated by the energy stone. Avan checked the map every once in a while to make sure we hadn’t gone off course, but we could have been anywhere and nowhere. So far, there was no sign of gargoyles, but anything could be lurking beyond the wall of darkness. It was like riding through empty space, only the sound of metal hooves striking dirt and the wind tugging at my clothes to remind me we were moving at all.

With nothing to focus on but the red glow of the Gray’s chest and the windblown smell of Avan’s shirt, I slept in intervals. Lucidity was never far out of reach, though. Falling off the saddle and breaking my neck wouldn’t help Reev.

Being this close to Avan was a practice in contradictions. His body heat and the solid comfort of his back soothed me. I could relax against him and feel secure enough to sleep, even if only lightly. It was almost like being with Reev.

But Reev didn’t also make me hyperaware of every point of contact between us. The shift of his muscles beneath my cheek. The backs of his thighs. The way our hips aligned on the seat. For the first hour, my heart pounded so hard, it was like a battering ram against my ribs.

It didn’t help that, surrounded by nothing but the pressing dark, it was as if we were the only two souls in the world.

Stupid. The dark could also be hiding a pack of gargoyles closing in. I glanced over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything except the vague line of the horizon in the blackness.

I pushed down the paranoia and rested my head against his shoulder blade. I closed my eyes.

The next time I opened them, daylight had begun to filter in through the clouds, giving my first clear view of the Outlands. Flames of light licked across a flat brown landscape. Low, craggy rock formations rose haphazardly to our left, interspersed with yellow-green cacti.