Page 65 of Daughter of the Dark

The windows in Reyes’s room rattled, followed by a deep boom. Reyes pushed away from her and straightened to his haunches, hands on thighs and eyes pinned to the window, a furrow between his brows. Solana pushed onto her elbows and tilted her head. “Was that—”

The door to the room shook with pounding. “Master Reyes!”

He was off the bed in a flash, the ink on his body rippling as he tugged on pants and yanked open the door. “What was it?” he asked the person on the other side.

“An explosion, sir. We can see the plume of smoke from here. Looks like Iques, right on the border.”

“We’re coming,” Reyes said and slammed the door. Solana was already up and pulling on Reyes’s cloak. She needed to go to her rooms and change. Grab something to eat so she didn’t pass out on the way. Iques was a couple of hours by horse at least, and the longer it took to get there, the higher the possibility of more deaths, and muki that spawned from mass deaths were erratic and vicious. Solana remembered the muki that had been trying to climb and shuddered. If there were more like that …

It was already close to night. Any of the deaths that happened today would spawn once the sun fell. “Reyes,” Solana started, but he grabbed ahold of her arm and tugged her into him, slipping his hand into her hair.

“I know,” he breathed into her mouth. The press of his lips was hard, panicked. “Meet me at the stables.”

Nodding, Solana kissed him back, one more time, before she swept out of his room and down the hall on quick and silent feet.

Never in her life had she dressed as quickly as she did then. By the time she made it to the stables, the castle was in a flurry. Masters suited up and staff ran with supplies-stuffed arms. Hakun stood at the gates surveying each group of Masters that went through. Reyes was outside of the stables with the reins of his horse in hand.

“You have to stay in the city,” he said in a rush.

“I’m going with you,” she argued. “You’ll need me to—”

Reyes stepped closer and lowered his voice. “They need you, Solana. I’ll keep them from dying, and you keep the muki from killing. The perfect team,” he said with a somber smirk.

Solana chewed on his words. It felt wrong letting him leave without her. Discernment wasn’t her gift, but deep in her belly there was a knot of worry, of dread, that told her nothing would be the same after this, even if Reyes’s eyes held hers, imploring her to trust him.

She knew he was right—there was nothing she could do for the still living besides protect them from the dead. “And the others?” she asked instead of arguing.

“The king assigned them to different parts of Sonqo,” he said, nodding his head toward a spot over her shoulder. Solana glanced and saw King Killian standing at the top of the steps, hands behind his back, watching the controlled chaos unfold without emotion.

Solana hadn’t seen him since the ball, and while she trusted Reyes, she remembered that she did not trust the king. There was something about the way he stood passively above it all. The distance between them was not a kindness to his features or his character. It made it easier to remember how uncomfortable he made her feel. How insincere his words always sounded. She turned to warn Reyes, to share her fears, but he was already mounted on his horse.

The dusk bells rang out, effectively silencing whatever Solana might have said. The courtyard froze into a blanket of tension. Breaths were held as they all waited for the shift. The silence was unnerving, the air thick enough to cut, but it wasn’t a knife that did it. It was a single shriek in the distance. A screech so inhuman and restless that it sent a chill down Solana’s spine. Reyes’s eyes met hers, a touch of goodbye in their depths, and then they burst into motion, Reyes to heal and Solana to protect.

In Qhilli, her job was easier. She knew the people that died or the people that hired her to kill. Knew where they would be most likely to reappear, whether that was near their favorite tavern or their own home. Here, she knew no one. The people surrounding her brushed by without a word. Hakun was standing by the gates where they’d doubled the guards. She thought about asking him but discarded the idea just as quickly.

King Killian was another option, but when she turned to find him still on the castle steps, he was already watching her, his attention so securely fixed on her that Solana had the feeling he was waiting for something. Expecting something. Solana gave him a tight smile and spun around, toward the gate and out of the city in a light jog.

This area consisted of a main street where stores were located and markets were held, and beyond that were neighborhoods where the wealthier benefited from their proximity to the castle. Solana ran past the quaint streets with painted doors and low lights and toward the darker parts of the city, where the nights were just as quiet but less polite.

Every door on the buildings she passed was shut, but the streets became more chaotic the farther she went. Overturned carts and baskets emptied of produce littered the ground. Down one side street, Solana saw a muki on all fours over the dead body of a woman and quietly pulled out her dagger. It pulsed in her hand, begging for blood, but with a shake of her head, Solana returned it to its sheath and pulled out a small vial.

The muki was too preoccupied with feasting to hear her quiet footsteps. She jabbed the vial into its neck and then moved on before the body hit the ground. Something was urging her forward, telling her to hurry, and Solana wasn’t foolish enough to ignore it.

She only wished she knew where to go. The one clue she had was the border of Iques and Sonqo, as the messenger had told Reyes. What buildings were there? She wracked her brain but only could think of a few factories and specialized shops.

Factories. In her mind, Solana saw uniformed men and women at the tavern Nikolas had led them to. The best ceviche in town, he had said.

And also the place where Sami was likely at.

Sweet Sami, who would not stay indoors when there was trouble nearby. Who would risk his own life to save someone if need be.

Solana dug in her heels and took off as fast as her body would allow, turning down random streets to avoid her dagger growing hotter, ignoring the guilt that came with placing Sami’s life above others. She would just make sure he was safe, and then she would hunt ceaselessly until the sun came up. A slight detour that would take barely any time at all.

Screams peppered the quiet. Orders shouted and snarling that ended in whimpers of pain. The Masters were doing their job, but it was more than she had anticipated. The dead would beget more dead. It would never end.

But it had to. They couldn’t go on living like this, scared of death, never finding peace or rest. Something had to change. Someone had to do something.

The door of the tavern finally came into view. Solana felt relief only for the slightest moment before she saw that it was partially opened. She all but leapt for the door and burst in to find a bloody scene before her.