There it is, I signaled to Dusk.

  Across the narrow street sat the warehouse we had been searching for — a squat stone structure with boarded windows and a rusted metal door, tucked into one of the city’s neglected districts. Cracked cobblestone. Faded lantern posts. The kind of place no one paid attention to unless they had a reason.

  It had taken us most of the night to track it down. The notes in Hargil’s ledger were accurate, but the docks were a maze of warehouses and storage yards, many unmarked and half-abandoned. We had traced the flow of footsteps, guard rotations, wagon tracks, and whispered directions through the ground until the pattern finally led us here.

  Dusk crouched deep in the shadowed alley beside me, her long, sleek body pressed low to the earth. Her scales dulled their glow, shifting darker to blend with the night. She could outrun anything in the city, but subtlety was still her greatest strength. If anyone saw her, the entire district would erupt into chaos.

  Stay hidden, I sent through the bond. I’ll find the children. When I return, we move fast.

  Her response pulsed through with reassurance. I felt her anchor herself into the earth, her presence like a coiled storm waiting to be released.

  I stepped out from the alley.

  My boots landed softly on the uneven cobblestone. The street was quiet at this hour, the only sounds distant waves and the mutter of ships shifting at their moorings. Faint torchlight flickered from a few buildings further down, but the warehouse itself sat in near-darkness.

  I breathed once, letting my tremor sense settle. The vibrations of the world were spared no detail. There were two heartbeats near the front entrance, moving slowly. Another deeper inside. And farther still, clustered together, several smaller heartbeats.

  Children.

  They were here.

  I adjusted my cloak, keeping my posture loose but purposeful.

  I moved toward the warehouse, keeping to the edge of the street where the shadows were thicker. The tremor patterns were clear now. Two guards at the front entrance, leaning against the wall and talking softly. Their voices carried through the ground in short, careless vibrations.

  They were not alert. Good.

  I came in from their blind side, staying close to the building’s stone wall. One of the guards stepped away to adjust his belt. The other rubbed at his eyes, tired and annoyed. I waited for the slight shift in their pace and closed the distance.

  My hand clamped over the first man’s mouth before he could inhale. My knife struck the soft point behind the jaw. He collapsed without a sound. I lowered him to the ground and caught the second guard as he turned. His eyes widened, but he did not get a sound out before I struck his throat and pressed him to the wall until his body went still.

  I dragged both men behind a stack of crates beside the entrance. The street was quiet. But I could feel Dusk’s anticipation build following my attack as our link granted her some of my emotions.

  The door was locked with a simple metal bar on the inside. I tested the wall near it. There weren’t any gaps or cracks I could see. I could feel the aetheric wards humming through the stone, blocking any movement through earth or brick. The only way in was through the door or through a distraction.

  I tested the hinges. They were old and rusted but would make too much noise if forced. The window above the door was boarded, but one plank near the corner was loose enough for a gap.

  I climbed the side wall quietly, placing my fingers between old mortar lines. My tremor sense guided every movement with perfect accuracy. The wood creaked softly when I touched it, but not enough to draw attention. I pried the corner board back until I could slip through.

  The warehouse interior opened below me. The space was wide, filled with dusty crates and old nets from forgotten shipments. The air smelled of salty sea, wood rot, and stale smoke. A single lantern burned near the center where a guard sat half-asleep on a stool.

  Another guard moved along the back wall in a slow lazy pattern. He was not expecting company.

  I dropped to the rafters above them and waited for the right moment.

  The seated guard looked down at his cup, swirling whatever cheap drink he had poured. I dropped behind him. My arm wrapped across his throat, cutting off both breath and sound. He struggled weakly, then went still. I lowered him to the floor and pulled him into the shadows between two crates.

  The second guard turned at a faint scuff of wood. He frowned and walked toward the sound. I reached him before he reached the stool. One quick strike to the ribs, another to the base of the skull, and he fell limp into my arms. I hid him behind a crate across from the first.

  The warehouse was quiet now.

  Only one heartbeat remained in the building besides the cluster of smaller ones. It pulsed deeper inside, steady and calm. I didn’t think it was another guard.

  I moved toward the back section of the warehouse. The children were behind a locked and barred interior door tucked into a side room. I could feel their small, rapid heartbeats pressed together, frightened and exhausted.

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  I reached the door and examined the lock. Heavy metal, secured with a key.

  There was a room next to this one where the other person was. I shifted over to that door.

  I pushed the door open slowly.

  A man stood at a desk with several ledgers stacked around him. His clothing was too fine for a guard. Rings on both hands. A bitter smell of smoke and wine clung to him. He turned slightly and froze when he saw me.

  “Who are—”

  I crossed the distance before he finished speaking. My hand closed over his mouth. He slammed back into the desk, knocking ink jars to the floor.

  “Keys,” I said quietly. “Now.”

  He shook his head quickly, fear rising, and pointed toward a hook near the door. I tightened my grip on his throat till he was no longer breathing.

  I grabbed the key from the hook and returned to the children’s door.

  I slid the key into the lock and turned it slowly, easing the mechanism until it gave with a dull click. It released the lock holding the bar on the door and I removed it. I pushed the door inward just enough to see inside.

  Four small shapes huddled against the far wall.

  Chains bound their wrists to iron rings set low in the stone. The room was bare except for a thin layer of straw and a single guttering lantern mounted high enough to stay out of reach. Their eyes reflected the light like startled animals caught in the open.

  The smallest girl saw me first.

  She sucked in a breath, panic already forming, ready to scream.

  I dropped to one knee and held a finger to my lips.

  “Quiet,” I whispered. “I’m here to get you out.”

  They didn’t believe me. Fear gripping their souls.

  The human boy tried to pull the others back, putting himself between me and them. It was brave and dumb. I liked him already.

  “It’s alright,” I said softly. “No one else is coming through that door.”

  My tremor sense left no question in that.

  I crossed the room slowly and knelt beside the nearest chain. I used the keys and the lock was undone in less than a second.

  The metal fell open with a muted clink. The girl flinched at the sound, then stared at her freed wrist in disbelief.

  One by one, I worked through the chains.

  The elf boy watched me closely, eyes sharp despite the fear. When his shackles dropped, he whispered, “Are you real?”

  I met his gaze. “Yes.”

  That seemed enough.

  “Can you walk?” I asked.

  Three nodded immediately. The smallest girl hesitated, then shook her head. Her legs trembled when she tried to stand.

  I didn’t hesitate. I lifted her into my arms, careful not to jostle her bruised ribs. She was light. Too light.

  “We will move as quickly and quietly as we can,” I said. “Do exactly what I say, and you all will be safe in no time.”

  And they did… after I handed out some bread from my storage space.

  I guided them back through the warehouse toward the front door I had removed the first guards from. The key ring had a ward charm on it that allowed me to disarm the ward and open the door.

  The street remained empty.

  I eased the door open further and we moved slowly to keep to the shadows.

  The smallest girl clung to my shoulder; her fingers buried in my cloak. I had seen the birth mark I was looking for when I picked her up confirming this was Lady Arienna.

  We moved into the alley.

  That was when a group of men entered my tremor sense.

  A cluster of heartbeats approaching from the street’s far end. Too many to be coincidence.

  The buyer, maybe. Or a guard rotations of some kind.

  Either way, we were out of time.

  “Dusk, now.” I push through out bond.

  The response came instantly.

  The alley erupted behind me as Dusk burst from it. Her massive form filled the narrow space, scales catching what little moonlight there was. Her eyes burned like twin embers.

  The children gasped as she drew near.

  “This is Dusk,” I said. “She is my best friend and is going to take good care of you all. Hold on tight.”

  I shifted the smallest girl up onto her back and quickly helped the others on. It was a tight fit with all four, but it worked. I showed them where their hands could grip scale ridges.

  “Get them to the meeting spot.” I told Dusk as I patted her affectionately.

  Dusk lunged forward, claws biting into stone as she accelerated down the alley. A shout rang out behind us.

  Too late.

  She leapt, tail lashing as she cleared the end of the street.

  I rushed after them into the shadows leaving the shouting voices behind.

  —

  I arrived at the rendezvous point to see all but one of the children asleep, lying against Dusk’s body as she surrounded them protectively.

  The elf child seemed to be the strongest of the group. He sat with his arms crossed, staring at me with open suspicion.

  “Got a problem?” I asked.

  “Why did you rescue us, and where are you taking us?” he asked. The strength in his voice surprised me.

  “I work for some powerful people,” I replied. “They hired me to get one of you.” I nodded toward Arienna.

  His eyes shifted to her before turning back to me. “Why?”

  “She’s the daughter of a noble and was being held for ransom,” I said. “I came to save her, but I wasn’t going to leave the rest of you to whatever fate might have followed.”

  That seemed to be enough for him.

  I could see the last of his strength fading. He tried to keep his posture rigid as he moved over to the others and lay down beside them. His eyes stayed on me until exhaustion finally pulled him under.

  “Any issues?” I asked Dusk.

  She answered with images of a clean escape from the city. Then a series of moments from the meeting point. The children whispering among themselves, Arienna eventually crawling close to her warmth and falling asleep. The others followed soon after. The elf boy had chosen to wait.

  “Well,” I said quietly, “we did it. Once we get them to safety, our training is over. We’ll be full-fledged Talons.”

  Pride flowed back through the bond. She was ready too. Ready to be done with the testing. Ready to return to our friends. To adventure with them again, or take on real missions for Sirius instead of more trials meant to see if we good enough.

  I had started training with Sirius when I was nine years old. I entered the Academy at fifteen. Graduated at eighteen. Earned approval to join his team at the Bastion by nineteen.

  Now I was twenty-one.

  The last year and a half had been the most intentional and specific training making it the most difficult.

  Talon training had gone far beyond anything the Academy demanded. Less focus on raw combat, more on precision and control. I had been drilled until even noncombat movement became instinct. Tested until hesitation disappeared. Tortured to see if I had a breaking point.

  I had been sent alone and with others on missions. I learned codes and dead languages, geography meant to be forgotten, histories sealed away for a reason. I learned how to pass unseen, how to listen without being noticed, how to enter and leave places that did not want me there.

  Everything required to function alone.

  Everything needed to be an army of one.

  My regeneration allowed my mind to take in and remember information at an unbelieve scale. No one on the Hand had come across someone with my memory or ability to quickly learn difficult skills. The combination of my shard abilities had granted me mind unlike others.

  When I added it all together — my shard abilities, the orphanage, the Academy, the Bastion, the Talons — it was hard to imagine being more prepared for what lay ahead at my age.

  That didn’t mean I knew what the future would cost.

  Only that I thought I was ready to pay it whatever it may be.