Page 78 of Claim the Twilight
PADMA
Harald sits opposite Aster and me, his expression looking inward, his eyes glazed, face turned toward the carriage window. I wonder what he’s thinking. I wonder what his relationships with the previous incarnations of me were like, and finally, I wonder what possessed Moringa to cross the lines with him.
How long were they lovers before she fell in love with someone else? Or did she indulge with him just the once? I can see the appeal. Harald is handsome, charismatic, and I’m pretty sure he has a decent body beneath the clothes, but there’s also something unsettling about him. I can’t put my finger on it.
My gaze flicks to the window, where there’s nothing to see but a blur of rainbow hues.
Travel around the city happens by threads, arches that act like portways to various locations within the city.
This is our third hop, the one that will take us to the Belt and out of the city of Emprine—a bland, featureless vista designedby someone with no imagination. Sandstone and red brick make up the streets and form square, blocky buildings. Angles, curves, and symmetry that’s enough to make your eyes hurt.
Aster assures me that the outer districts of Emprine are more picturesque. Each district is designed to favor the coven that rules it. The central city is generic because it is owned by all.
“We’re almost at the Belt,” Aster says.
Harald gives no indication that he hears her. A few minutes later, there’s a soft flash of white light, and the carriage comes to a clattering halt.
“Papers!” a voice booms from outside Aster’s window.
Aster rummages in her bag for papers, and I peer out of the window closest to me. We’re in a stone courtyard, one of several carriages lined up and waiting to progress to…wherever. The walls are high, and there are platforms built into them where guards walk to and fro dressed in deep blue blazers and black pants. Up ahead waits the large, ominous mouth of a tunnel.
There’s no time to take in anything else before we’re on the move again. Gray stone swallows the carriage and the whirr of cogs and grating of metal on metal claw at my eardrums. For a moment, we’re completely enclosed, surrounded by the echo of wheels on flagstone, but then the sound of voices infiltrates, and the air pricks my skin, the scent spiking in my nose. Across from me, Harald’s nostrils flare, and he closes his eyes.
“You must be hungry for it,” Aster says. “You were always a greedy thing.”
“No, you were the greedy ones,” Harald says through gritted teeth. “You and your family. Holding me hostage.”
“We saved you.”
“Is that what you call it?” His lip curls. “I should have torn you all to shreds when I had the chance.”
“But you didn’t,” Aster says. “And we all know why.”
I open my mouth to ask her to elaborate, but the carriage chooses that moment to exit the stone tunnel, and the view outside steals my words.
It’s a network of pathways, each passing under and over each other, defying the laws of gravity as they carry carriages toward archways suspended in midair.
“Oh my god…What is this?”
“We call it the Nexus,” Aster said. “Every archway is a port that leads to a different waystation outside the Belt. There are several, as you can see, all within a fifty-mile radius of the city. Each is protected by powerful magic. Authority is required to exit and reenter. There are many protocols in place to keep out the witches who have succumbed to the surge.”
“Are there many?”
She purses her lips. “Too many.”
Our carriage rolls up a ramp and onto one of the inclining roads. The other carriage paths fall away as we rise.
“Now hold tight. The Battersby Waystation is the farthest from the Belt. It might be a bumpy ride.”
The carriage jolts, throwing me into Harald’s lap. His arms close around me, steel bands crushing me to his chest.
I shove at his shoulders. “Let go.”
He holds me tighter, and I’m about to slap him when the carriage jolts again.
Aster yelps.
A flash of blue light sears my vision, and my stomach drops before shooting back up into my throat.
