Fallen City by Adrienne Young - 47

Théo watched the street as the sun climbed the sky inch by agonizing inch. He was dressed in a plain tunic, his knife tucked into his belt. He’d been there since dawn, both of us silent in the hours that passed until the gates would open.

He looked back at me and I pulled the palla up over my head, tucking it around my hair. All we had to do was make it to the gates, where Luca would be waiting.

“Ready?” he said.

“Ready.”

He opened the door and I followed him outside, down the steps to the streets of the Citadel District. I tried to swallow down the nauseous feeling when I realized they were empty. If they’d had the chance just days before, there would have been families from every corner of the district streaming toward the gates. It was a moment many of them had been waiting for, but it hadn’t come. Not before the New Legion crossed the river.

Smoke from the Lower City drifted in a cloud overhead, blanketing the city in a stunned silence as the last few fires finished burning below. The sundial in the courtyard of the Citadel cast a moving shadow over the ground as we passed, the night gently giving way to morning. I tugged up the palla again, keeping my face cast down.

Anyone who stopped to look would see the name Esdran on my medallion, but it would take only one pair of eyes recognizing me to keep us from walking through the gates.

Théo’s shoulder brushed mine as we crossed the bridge, passing legionnaires and those from the Lower City who’d resolved to wait out the fight. He hadn’t left my side once since they found me in Villa Matius, never more than a room away, and now I found myself wondering what would become of him once we were gone. When Valshad made it over those walls and took the city, I didn’t have to wonder what they would do with the Isarian legionnaires.

Théo stuck close to me as we made our way through the streets, and with every step that took us closer to the gates, I felt the weight lifting off me. We were so close to being free, Luca and me. So close to being out from behind these walls, where there was no family Casperia or Matius. No Magistrates and heirs and seats of power.

We disappeared into the crowd headed in the same direction, and when the gates finally came into view, my heart was in my throat. Scores of legionnaires were posted along the street. Beyond the horde of people, I could see blue sky.

“Where is he?” I said, searching the faces of the legionnaires ahead.

Théo was looking, too. He took hold of my arm, pulling me from the crowd, and we slipped into an alley that had been cleared. I let out a knotted breath, smiling, when I saw the dark-haired figure walking toward us. He was hidden in the shadow of the buildings, but his armor was gone, and he was dressed in a simple gray tunic, his boots laced up. It was the image of the Luca I’d once known. The one who’d been a novice in the Philosopher’s theater. Once we crossed through the gates, he wouldn’t be a Centurion anymore and I wouldn’t be a Magistrate. Whatever we were now, we were together.

But a chill crept over my skin as he drew closer, and slowly my eyes adjusted against the bright early sunlight. The hands were the first thing I noticed. Those weren’t Luca’s hands.

When he finally crossed to the center of the alley and dropped the hood of his cloak, it was Vale Saturian’s face I saw. His tribune was at his side.

“Casperia.” His voice lifted just loud enough for me to hear it.

He stopped walking, and I searched the street behind him, looking for Luca.

“What are you doing here?” I swallowed.

His eyes watched the empty rooftops around us, as if he were worried about being seen. Beside me, Théo’s eyes were locked on Vale’s tribune. Something unspoken passed between them.

“Luca sent me,” Vale said.

“Sent you? Why?” My cheeks flushed hot. “Where is he?”

The icy feeling on my skin was like fire now, burning over the whole of me in a rapid scorch of flame. Something was very wrong.

“He’s not coming,” Vale said.

My heart beat so hard in my chest that I could hardly feel its rhythm anymore. It was just one deep ache behind my ribs.

“What?” I breathed.

“I’m here to be sure you’ve left the city.”

Beside me, Théo was blank-faced and silent.

“But…” I spoke slowly, my breath coming faster. “I don’t understand.”

Vale looked at me with sympathy before he reached into his tunic. He pulled a message free, handing it to me. My hand shook as I took it from him and opened it. The sick, twisting truth soured in my gut all at once, tears stinging behind my eyes as I read the words.

Every part of me that matters, every part that’s real, you’re taking with you.

The sea wind stopped, the sound of the city extinguishing with it. All around us, the world was going still, like it had last night. But this time, I could see what a fool I’d been. Luca was never going to leave. Never going to desert the legion. Of course he wasn’t. It had been buried beneath every word he’d said.

I looked back at the gates. The next time they opened would be with a battering ram. I reached out, pressing a hand to the rough wall of the building, and my fingernails scraped against the stucco. Every bit of air that surrounded me was in my lungs, threatening to tear them open.

“I’m not leaving without him,” I rasped.

Vale’s gaze leveled on me. “You don’t have a choice. As acting Consul in the Citadel of Isara—”

“Don’t.” My voice strained as I realized what he was about to do. “Saturian, don’t. ”

His eyes fixed over my head. “I hereby strip you, Maris Casperia, of your Isarian citizenship and expel you from the city.”

His open hand lifted before me, waiting for my medallion. But I didn’t move. My eyes searched the windows and rooftops that surrounded us, looking for the face I knew was hiding there. I could feel Luca like I could feel the heat of the sun. I could sense the pierce of his gaze on me.

I swallowed down the cry threatening to break loose in my throat, reaching up to unclasp the medallion around my neck. I dropped it into Vale’s hand. Without a medallion, there was no returning to this city. That was exactly what Luca wanted.

Beside me, Théo stepped forward, pressing his medallion into the hand of Vale’s tribune. He watched Théo, stunned, his eyes wide.

But Théo didn’t look up, his gaze fixed to the dust-covered stones at our feet.

“What are you doing?” I stared at him.

His jaw clenched before he finally looked up at me. “I’m coming with you.”

Vale’s tribune stepped forward, but Vale caught him in the chest with one hand, stopping him. Behind us, more than one person in the crowd had now turned to watch us.

“We have to go,” Théo said lowly. “We don’t have much time.”

The pain in my chest was now in my throat, the reality of what was happening suddenly becoming real. Luca had left me. Again.

Théo took my arm, walking me back to the street. But I was still watching the dark windows overhead, trying to find the source of that burn on my skin. He was there. I could feel him.

Wrapping one arm around me, Théo didn’t stop walking until we’d been swallowed by the crowd. We joined the line of people at the gates, keeping our eyes down as we passed the legionnaires. It wasn’t until I stepped foot onto the dirt outside the gates that a deep, guttural cry began to simmer inside me. But I wouldn’t let it escape. I wouldn’t let it devour me until it had eaten me from the inside.

Silent tears coated my cheeks, rolling down my throat and soaking the fabric of the palla as we made our way to the nearest cart ahead. I fumbled through my satchel until I found a pair of pearl earrings and handed them over without a word. Payment for passage to whatever lay beyond this.

I climbed up, finding a seat, and Théo sat beside me. But I could still feel Luca when the reins snapped in the air and the cart jolted forward. I could sense him like the warmth of a candle’s flame.

I kept my eyes on the horizon, letting the pain bleed out, one breath at a time. The gates of Isara pulled away as the horses trotted up the path. I wanted to hate him. To scream his name into the wind until it disappeared. But when I turned back to see the city growing small in the distance, my heart was still locked behind those walls.