The City on the Edge
Twenty-nine

Alukorra lead the way in silence until Ronnie spotted the familiar arches and naked towers of the Rust. Of course Alukorra would bring them back to her decrepit warehouse, hidden in the bare bones of a forgotten industrial empire. They were back where it all started, seemingly coming in through the back way. Ronnie hadn’t seen the worn out buildings of the Edge. Maybe Alukorra didn’t trust leading them through the streets. She supposed it made sense. The White Guard still had patrols in the city.

The Rust was just as treacherous as the last time she’d been here. Twisted metal skeletons of old factories loomed over them like monsters preparing to snatch them up in a clash of razor teeth. The warehouse wasn’t as crowded this time, though, as they approached. Ren opened the doors and they entered single file. She held up an arm when Lorna tried to follow.

“There’s no need for you to be here. You can go home.” Her words were clipped and left no room for argument.

Lorna’s face twisted sourly. “I’m not leaving.”

Ren bared her fangs. “This meeting is only for members of the Guild.”

“It’s fine, Ren,” Alukorra called over shoulder. “She may come. This is her battle, too.”

Grumbling, Ren dropped her arm and glared as Lorna passed her. “Thank you, Ren,” she quipped with faux sweetness.

The warehouse had changed a little. Where it had been bare and dark before, it was now lit by hanging bowls alive with fire. The floor had been cleared of its debris and replaced by a round patchwork table that had been constructed from scrap metal. But it wasn’t the change in furnishings that had Ronnie suddenly tense- it was the new faces at the table.

One was familiar. The demon, Bale, stared at her from under his hood and when she drew near, he offered her another flower like he had before. This time, she didn’t hesitate to reach out and take it from him, smiling in thanks. As bizarre as the situation was, she had no plans to offend a demon, especially one like Bale, who appeared to her like a gentle giant. Demons weren’t often out in the open, and were much weaker than their ancestors, but they were still a formidable opponent.

The other face belonged to a witch Ronnie didn’t recognize, dark-skinned with a short crop of white hair. She smiled warmly at them as they stopped at the table. When her eyes fell on Sebastian, her expression morphed into one of concern.

“You’re injured!”

Sebastian gingerly touched his shoulder. The bleeding had mostly stopped but Ronnie knew the bullet was still in there somewhere. “I was shot.”

The witch bustled around the side of the table tutting to herself. Her hands came to life as she approached, sparkling like snow in the sunlight. “Let me help.”

“Let her do her job, human,” Alukorra instructed as she rounded the table. “Catrine is the best. And now that we’re all here, it’s time to do as promised. Veronica,” Alukorra turned her violet gaze to Ronnie, “what would you like to know?”

So many questions surfaced on her tongue. “What is really going on here? Why have you been chasing after Sebastian? Why are you using us like this?”

“One at a time. As I said before, I need Sebastian to open the vault beneath the Marble City. I will admit that I hoped to use his bond with you as leverage for his cooperation. This is vital, Veronica. If we can open that vault, we can destroy the hold that humans have over magic and give it back to the supernaturals.”

“Impossible,” Sebastian said. “It’s been sealed for ages.”

“No,” Alukorra shook her head. Her eyes were determined when she set them on him. “It has been done once before and it can be done again. On a grander scale this time.”

“You seem confident,” Ronnie noted.

“I am. Any other questions?”

“How many of you are there? In the Guild?”

“You’re looking at the leaders now.” Alukorra gestured around the table. “Most of us, anyway. Catrine leads the Edge’s witches. Jack leads the vampires. Bale leads the demons. I wish I could say that I lead the fairies, but I’m the only fairy here.”

Ronnie looked around the room, noting the lack of golden eyes. “What about the shifters? Who leads them?”

“Your father does,” Jack answered. “The Guild has been around for a long time, doll. Taven joined before I did.”

Ronnie clenched her fists. She didn’t want to be following in his footsteps here. Sebastian reached forward as subtly as he could to touch her hand, offering comfort to her fury, ignoring the dried blood that flaked onto his fingers. A coolness blanketed her fire like a wave hitting the shore. Catrine let out a little gasp and pulled her hands away from his mostly healed wound. Sebastian wasn’t as sneaky as he thought.

“It is true. I thought perhaps you were exaggerating, Alukorra.”

Alukorra’s soft eyes were on them as she spoke. “No, Catrine. I spoke the truth. They bonded. Veronica imprinted on Sebastian.”

Lorna let out a choked noise but didn’t say anything. Jack put a comforting hand on her shoulder and Lorna didn’t twist away from him. Ronnie resisted the urge to turn and meet the gaze that burned into her back.

“So, where do we go from here? Unlocking a hidden vault and releasing magic back out into the world is a big step,” she said instead, willing the topic to shift.

“We have a plan, but we still have a few things to collect.” Alukorra took a roll of paper and unfurled it across the table. A large map, more finely detailed than any Ronnie had seen. There were scribbles in the margins in a language she didn’t recognize. “This,” Alukorra pointed to a giant circle surrounding a series of buildings, “is the Marble City. Hiding behind its polished walls. This one here,” she drug her finger to the side until it landed on a spiked shape, “is one of the gates to the Iron City.”

“The Iron City and the Marble City are connected by a series of tunnels,” Jack explained. “It’s how the humans were able to transport weapons so quickly during Marla’s Battle without the supply lines being disrupted. They were underground.”

“I remember learning about that,” Sebastian mumbled.

“We obviously can’t waltz through the front gates. The Red Guard would have us killed before we made it ten feet inside.” Alukorra pointed to lines of red drawn in the Marble City’s circle.

“Red Guard?” Lorna asked, leaning over the table to look. She inched away from Sebastian and Ronnie until she stood a few feet away. It stung but Ronnie tried not to let it bother her. Lorna was upset, but they could talk later.

Sebastian took over. “The Red Guard are our elite soldiers. Trained from childhood to be fighters. They keep security in the Marble City. But if you get caught within the walls, they won’t be your biggest problem.”

“No?” Alukorra raised a brow at him.

“No. The Black Guard will. They’re the best the Red Guard has to offer. When they graduate from the Red Academy, they patrol King’s Hall, where our council convenes. They get sent out to take care of extreme problems.”

Alukorra smiled as if she already knew. “Well, then it’s a good thing that our plan has us going in the back way.” She tapped the Iron Gate. “We’ll slip in through the underground door. It is possible to go through the Iron City and take the tunnels straight to the vault. If everything goes as planned, then we’ll never even see a single red or black uniform.”

“That’s it? We just go through the Iron City? You think it’ll be that easy?” Ronnie asked.

“I didn’t say it would be easy. The gates will be locked. But luckily, we know someone with a key. Veronica, you’ll have to go and get that key.”

“Why me?”

“Liva is a little odd,” Jack answered. “She’s one of the only people to have ever made it through the tunnels. She was with your father and I when we went before. She still has the key that got us in the iron gate and part of the key to the vault, but she’s secluded herself in the forest, away from everyone. She won’t even talk to me anymore but she was very fond of your father. It’s possible that some of that fondness may extend to his daughter. We’re hoping, anyway.”

“Be careful in that part of the forest though,” Catrine warned. “There are hellhounds out there. Not the friendliest type.”

“What makes you think I’m even going to do all of this?” Ronnie demanded to know. “Anya is dying thanks to you.” She sent an accusing glare at Alukorra, who didn’t even have the tact to look guilty. “I’m not wandering off into the forest until I know she’s okay. And I’m still not convinced that I need to be helping you at all.”

Alukorra brought her hands down on the table. “Did your time in Sloan’s dungeon teach you nothing? This is not a fight you can ignore, Veronica. We need your help to-”

“You need me to manipulate Sebastian for you.” Ronnie wasn’t kind with her words. “You tried to take him by force and failed. Now, you want me to do what you couldn’t.”

“We failed because you interfered.” Red spat from behind Jack.

“Wait,” Sebastian cut in. “That was you? You sent that vampire after me? He almost killed me!”

“He was acting on his own and he’s been punished. We never had plans to hurt you,” Jack assured him, but Sebastian wasn’t convinced.

Ronnie huffed. “You can’t possibly think that this insane plan of yours will actually work. Yes, I think it’s amazing what Jack can do, but how do you honestly expect to give that to the entire world? You don’t even know if you can change things here.”

“That I believe in change is enough,” Alukorra said cooly. “You can continue to hide and ignore your people, but it will not help their suffering. Now that Sloan knows that the rumors of his experiments can be confirmed, he will be more aggressive than ever against the Edge in an effort to protect his secrets. He will not hesitate to destroy the Edge.”

The horrifying image of the ghouls floated to the surface of Ronnie’s mind. She’d never forget their terrible visage. “Sloan has an army of more than just the White Guard. We can’t possibly-”

“We’ll do it,” Sebastian said suddenly. Ronnie looked at him in disbelief. “We can at least try. I don’t want to be the human that could have helped but chose not to. I know my family has done terrible things. This is my chance to change that.”

“Your family?”

“No one has told you yet?” Alukorra seemed surprised. “This is Sebastian King. The son of Premier King. The son of the man responsible for all of the terrible laws keeping the Edge in shambles.”

Ronnie continued to stare at him, but Sebastian refused to hold her gaze. His cheeks flushed red all the way up to his ears. Her chest buzzed and tightened and it took a moment for her to realize that she was feeling shame.

Sebastian’s shame.

“Please let me do this,” he pleaded quietly, looking down at the map.

Ronnie hesitated, unsure if it was for Sebastian or herself. So much could go wrong. Anya was already proof of what getting involved would do. But they were already involved now, weren’t they? After all, she and a team of rebels had just abducted Premier King’s son from Sloan’s protective custody. She could already hear how Sloan and Blackburn would spin it, crafting their tales of vicious supernaturals and a missing heir stolen away in the dead of night.

Sebastian’s hand tightened around her fingers and she knew he wasn’t even aware of how tightly he was squeezing. He needed this.

“Okay.” She looked over to Alukorra. “We’ll help. Where does this witch live exactly?”