The Darkest Edge of Dawn

“If it got out that the First Ones were real, and nobles once ruled in Elysia …” I said more to myself than to her.

“War,” she said with a crazy gleam in her eye. And then she straightened and shrugged, going back to her fire. “Good for the ji

“How so?”

“Char nobles leave to fight for Elysia. We return home, back to our land, and rule as we did in the old times.”

I didn’t bother pointing out the fact that Charbydon’s moon was slowly dying, that one day there wouldn’t be a home to go back to, and, instead, asked a question that I was pretty sure I knew the answer to. “If that happened, Vendelan, if the nobles went to reclaim Elysia, who would be High Chief over all the ji

She glanced over her hunched shoulder, her one good eye taking on a zealous violet gleam. “Grigori, of course.”

My stomach went light and cold. Despite the heat and humidity, I wanted to hug myself, to ward off the chill of her words. Even Vendelan, as old as she was, thirsted for war and vengeance against the nobles. If Grigori felt he had a chance to win, there’d be no stopping him. But why would he want to return to a land that was dying? Why fight to reclaim something already lost?

Unless he knew of a way to stop it …

Vendelan turned back to her fire and stirred her pot of chili. “My story is ended, girl.” She waved her spoon, but didn’t turn around. “All they wants is a story …”

I hesitated by the chamber door, feeling sorry for the old Storyteller. “Next time,” I said, “I’ll bring my uncle Walter’s chili and all the toppings. No story. Just food and company.”

She turned at that. Her white eyebrow lifted. A grunt rumbled in her throat. “We’ll see, Charlie Madigan. We’ll see.”

I opened the door and stepped back into the corridor where Te

And Grigori Te

As I stepped beneath the massive archway that led into the main chamber, I saw several things at once. The ji

I took several more steps before I realized what I was seeing.

Rex.

My Rex.

Here. In the Lion’s Den. With Grigori Te

I drew up short, so quickly that the guard behind me bumped into my back. But all I could react to was the sight of my ex-husband’s body standing there, his profile grim, his hands fisted at his sides as his head slowly turned in my direction. White as a ghost and those stormy blue eyes struck with horror and loss, like he was floundering and disoriented. He blinked several times.

Te

Rage flared inside of me, swift and immediate. I burned from the inside out. My mouth was so dry I could barely speak. The hum that tore through my veins drowned out everything else.

Finally Te

I blinked slowly, my eyelids stinging. I drew in a slow, deep breath and forced a swallow down my throat. “Rex.” My voice broke. “What have you done?”

I expected some kind of excuse. Rex always had a comeback, an answer for everything. But this time he stayed quiet, completely stu

Te

Sweat trickled down the small of my back. No, no, no. “Jesus Christ, Rex, what did you do?” I asked louder this time, hearing the panic in my voice, but unable to hide it, unable to sound strong.

He shook his head as though trying to come out of his fog. “I … was trying—” He shook his head again, closing his eyes and then opening them, his features taking on a harder, stronger expression, his gaze flicking to Te

He didn’t stop, just hooked his hand around my arm and jerked me along with him and out of the chamber to the sound of Grigori Te

I stumbled several times before regaining my senses, and pulled my arm from his grasp, my ankle turning as I stepped into a dip in the floor. I cursed and fell back, behind Rex. “Rex! Goddammit, what did you bargain? Rex!”

He kept walking, up the stairs and straight out of the Lion’s Den and into Solomon Street.

“Rex!”

I ran, weaving through the crowd, the vendor carts, and around the fire barrels, until I caught up with him and grabbed his arm. “Stop! For God’s sake, just slow down for a minute.” He finally listened. My chest burned from the run and the large draughts of smoke that had entered my lungs.

Something had definitely changed. Rex’s eyes were filled with turmoil and though it sounded strange, they seemed to hold more depth, more knowing, more … force. Part of me wanted to rail at him, to put my hands on my hips and tell him what an idiotic thing he’d done by going to Te

“I remember, Charlie. I remember everything.”

He started walking again. I fell in step beside him, trying to understand exactly what he meant by that, my sense of dread growing with each step as I remembered standing in Bryn’s apartment two months ago, discussing the Bleeding Souls that were being used as an ingredient to produce ash:

You know why it’s called a Bleeding Soul? It was used in the Great War when the nobles first appeared in Charbydon and fought with the ji