Page 17 of City of Stone and Silence

Those who qualify as adepts simply disappear. Ghul adepts are killed out of hand, of course, and the rest probably face a similar life as breeding stock. An elite few who join the ranks of the Immortals, the Emperor’s personal guard, are responsible for hunting down other mage-bloods.

Most mage-bloods don’t have the chance to conceal their powers. When they first come, they’re hard to control, and the standing bounties offered by the Immortals for rogues ensure that there are always plenty of neighbors willing to turn them in. For those who survive and remain free long enough to master their abilities, life is still on a knife-edge, always one slip away from being dragged away by chain-veiled soldiers in black armor.

This is the life that Isoka saved me from, the risk that she takes on every day. Not just the ordinary threats of the gutter—starvation, disease, murder—but the prospect of spending the rest of our lives as prisoners, raped by strangers and bearing their children. And, in all probability, never seeing each other again.

Once I was old enough to understand that, to know the danger she courted to keep me safe, I could hardly bear it. I knew there were others, without someone like Isoka to protect them, hunted by Kuon Naga’s Immortals, the Ward Guard, and the whole Empire. I went looking for a way to help them, and I found Grandma Tadeka. Since then, I’ve been assisting her as often as I can, and it soothes the pangs of my conscience.

And—at the back of my mind, in the moments before I fall asleep—a worm of a selfish thought: if the Immortals ever do come for Isoka, or for me, maybe we’ll have somewhere to run.

Back in the basement, the younger sister grudgingly says, “I’m Myrkai, too, though I’m not as strong as she is.”

“Mine is Rhema,” the boy says, which perks my interest—I’ve never seen the Well of Speed in action. “I’m barely touched, just a sliver of power, but they were going to take me for the Legions anyway.”

“And so you ran,” Grandma says.

“We ran,” the younger sister says. “M—my sister had been looking for a place for us to go. She finally spent everything we’d saved to get your name.”

“That’s a poor bargain,” Grandma says. “My name’s not worth that much.”

“Is it true, then?” the older sister says. “Do you have somewhere we can hide?”

“Well.” Grandma scratches her nose. “First I need to know I can trust you.”

“We’ll do whatever you ask,” the boy volunteers, drawing an annoyed look from the younger sister.

“Nothing too difficult. Just swear by the Blessed One that if I find a place for you, you won’t do anything to endanger me and mine.” Grandma’s smile is thin. “Easy enough, right?”

“I swear,” the boy says.

“Repeat it,” Grandma snaps.

“I swear by the Blessed One…”

All three of them stumble through the oath, and I concentrate, feeling the shades and vibrations of their minds. The boy is sincere, thick with lemon-bright fear. The older sister, too, means what she says, though she has more pulsing, deep blue determination. The younger, though …

Deceit. Hatred. Her mind is thick with brackish, foul odors. She mouths the words, and I can feel-hear-taste the lie.

Grandma turns to me, and I beckon her forward and whisper in her ear. She listens, blank-faced, then straightens.

“You and you can stay,” she says, to the boy and the older sister. Glaring at the younger, she adds, “I’ll ask you to leave, and not bother me again.”

All of a sudden everyone is shouting at once. They’re all on their feet, the older sister tugging at the younger’s arm, the boy shouting in Grandma’s face. I flinch away from the chaos, but Grandma holds her ground, unmoved.

“Why?” the boy manages to get in. “Why would you—”

“Because your girlfriend wants to sell us out. Maybe you, too, for all I know.” Grandma shrugs. “I didn’t get this old by hugging snakes.”

“That’s a lie!” the younger sister shouts.

“Meri…” The older sister is looking at her sibling with sorrowful eyes. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” She looks between her sister and Grandma. “I wasn’t going to do anything! I just—” She shakes her head frantically. “You spent everything we had on this. How are we supposed to live, even if she does help us?”

“Meri,” the boy says, but she shakes him off, advancing on Grandma. Her hands open, and fire blossoms.

I take a half-step forward, though what I’m going to do against an angry Myrkai user I have no idea. But Grandma just holds up a hand.

“Going to burn me?” she says. “Go ahead. I warn you, though, I plan to scream, and when I do I don’t think much of your chances outside.”