The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 52

A beach on the east side of the city.
Gazda, Erydia.
The first night.

When Jaxon returned, he had with him a dimly lit lantern and a young man I automatically recognized. Birk. He grinned at me and nodded towards the way they'd come. "Long time no see, Benson. Ready to light this shit on fire?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"That's what I like to hear." Birk offered me a small smile as he led us down the beach and into what appeared to have once been a fish market but was now little more than an abandoned metal shack. The structure was massive, with broken windows and large iron pillars. For a moment, I thought this might be the safe house, but then Birk stopped a few yards away and bent down.

I watched as he, Jax, and Dellacov worked to peel back a large metal grate in the floor. Birk held it open to us and gestured with a dramatic flourish to the black hole in the ground. Humor danced in his eyes, bouncing off the light of the far too dim lantern.

Heidi blinked at him. "You want us to go down there?"

Jax nodded. "If you don't want to be caught roaming through the city, then yes. The tunnels are the best way."

She shook her head. "I don't get paid enough for this."

Nadia laughed and hooked her arm through Heidi's. "We don't get paid at all."

The tailor smiled wickedly as he said, "Nobody ever said being a rebel was fun, now did they?" 

I watched, unnerved, as our soldiers began climbing through the metal hatch and down the rusty rungs of a ladder. I was one of the last the go down, my fear of that darkness enough to keep me standing a good distance away. By the time I'd worked up the courage to step closer, I was one of only three people left. I stepped up to the edge of that darkness.

"It really is nice to see you, Benson," Birk said, his tone quiet.

I nodded; my eyes still locked on the ladder. "Yes..."

He reached out and took hold of the rabbit pendant nestled between my collarbones, rolling it between dirt coated fingers. "About damn time you decided to be useful. I was beginning to wonder if you'd given up."

I barely heard him over the ringing in my ears.

There was no way I could go down there.

I'd rather get back in those stupid boats and face the sea.

But Kai lay at the other end—far at the other end. Days away at the other end. But he was there nonetheless. Waiting.

I thought of the tunnels leading from Vayelle to Erydia through the Demarti Mountains and how he'd clutched my hand as we passed back through them. He was worth this. Whatever fear I felt looking into that darkness was nothing compared to the fear I felt for him.

I needed to get to him.

When Birk spoke again, the teasing was gone from his voice. "There ain't nothing down there that can hurt you." I glanced up at him and he shot me a wink. "Us Varos trash, we aren't scared of the dark. Starvation and hangings, sure. Magistrates, priestesses, and decrees from the Crown, certainly. But not the dark. The dark can't kill you. The dark...The dark is what keeps you safe."

"Yes," I said again.

He stepped back and offered me a hand.

After a moment, I took hold of his fingers and let him help me onto the ladder. It creaked beneath my weight and rusk flaked against my palms, but I didn't fall and I didn't hesitate to climb down. I didn't give myself time to think about the lack of fresh air, the unending darkness. I only prayed that this was not the safehouse. A few minutes here, I could manage.