I wandered through the streets of the Eastern Quarter, slipping between groups of people rushing to finish their daily errands before the second moon began its rise.

  Judging by the current location of the first moon, I had roughly 20 minutes before the second moon made its appearance in the evening sky.

  The good news was I didn’t need to infiltrate Aurelion’s warehouse before then. I just needed to get there and hide somewhere the city guard patrols wouldn’t notice me.

  A few blocks over from the warehouse, I turned into an alley, avoiding a patrol that was already making its rounds. I used [Swift Strike] to kick off the building to the right, letting the momentum carry me up and over to the other building, where I grabbed onto the bottom ledge of a window for the second story.

  I’d become more adept at scaling walls since my first experiment with it back when dealing with the Dock Street gang. And even forced myself to keep practicing whenever I needed to get around the city after lockdown began.

  I repeated the maneuver, this time kicking off with both my feet and twisting in the air as I reached for another ledge. They weren’t very wide ledges, but I was able to grab onto them enough to climb up to the roof of the building on the right, which was only three stories tall.

  At the top, I straightened and crossed to the other side, jumping over the next alley with [Swift Strike]. I landed on the opposite building, rolling and coming up on one knee to help cut my momentum. I was less than a block away from the warehouse where I’d first met Aurelion and Ophelia.

  I ducked as a spotted three boys standing on a roof two buildings over. It wasn’t the warehouse, but a smaller, taller building that rose up beside it. I used [Shroud] just to make sure it was hiding me from any System users, and then scurried across the roof to the side closest to the group.

  The roof I was on had a small wall that ran along the outside of it, and I used this to hide from the three boys who stood less than two meters away, muttering amongst themselves. I recognized one of them from the night before—the group that I had followed and propositioned for information.

  They had ultimately agreed, though all of them had seemed anxious about the decision. I didn’t see any of the others from that group with the boy now, but that didn’t mean they weren’t around somewhere. I’d have to watch where my blade fell tonight. I didn’t need to cut down potential allies before I had a chance to win them over completely.

  One of the boys raised his head, looking to my left at another building’s rooftop. He raised a hand. “Yen, over here.”

  I followed his movement as a girl with long black hair appeared at the edge of the other roof. She ignored his wave and glanced down into the alley between her building and mine before settling into a relaxed stance, leaning against the outer wall of the other building. Luckily, her back was turned to me.

  The boys made some other comments I couldn’t quite make out, and then started to move away from me, disappearing from view as they walked toward the far side of their building.

  I spotted a way up to the roof the girl was on, another window ledge that I should be able to easily reach with the right timed jump. I straightened, taking off into a quick run. My feet hit the edge of the building and I kicked off the short wall with [Swift Strike].

  I hit the wall with a soft thud, the tips of my boots catching on the ledge as my hands splayed out to the side. Before I had time to slip or lose my grip, I reached up for another ledge, pulling myself up the last meter to the wall that the girl was leaning against. The sheath of my sword scraped against the brick, but it must not have been loud enough to draw anyone’s attention as I didn’t see any faces peer over the edge.

  Quickly, I withdrew one of my daggers and peered over the edge as I used [Viper’s Bite] on the weapon. The blade gleamed with power for a moment before returning to its original color.

  I hadn’t used this ability much just yet, but it was supposed to paralyze the targets that I attacked with it. The paralysis was limited, and it didn’t last long, but I wanted every advantage I could get.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  During the few seconds my movement had taken, Yen had moved away from my entry point. I dropped to the rooftop as she reached the other side, leaning out over the wall there.

  I took a breath. Once I started this, I couldn’t back down. Not until I reached Aurelion.

  Moving as quietly as a mouse, I half-crouched and ran forward, closing the short distance between myself and the girl. She turned as I reached striking distance, her eyes widening, her hand moving toward a dagger that hung at her own waist.

  She wasn’t quick enough. Not even close.

  I brought the hilt of the dagger up hard, my fist colliding with her stomach. I felt the air rush out of her as she doubled over backward, hitting the ground with a thud.

  I was on top of her before she could catch her breath, the blade of my dagger pressing against her skin just enough to add some pressure to her situation.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” I told her, peering into her fear-filled hazel eyes. “But I will if you make me.”

  Her gaze shot to either side, as if looking for some way out, and then back to me.

  She was young. Perhaps even younger than Ophelia. Slowly, she spread her arms out on either side, her hands pressing against the ground as if surrendering.

  That was a good sign.

  “What do you want?” She asked, her voice trembling beneath my blade.

  “I want to have a chat with your boss. He around?”

  She started to nod, stopped herself, and then spoke again. “Yes. He has a meeting tonight with some gang from the other side of the city. They should be arriving soon.”

  Raising an eyebrow, I glanced over my shoulder toward the other building where the group of boys had been. They hadn’t returned to this side yet, which was good. If they did, I’d have to kill the girl and run.

  “What do you know about Aurelion?” I asked, returning my gaze to the girl. She hadn’t moved at all, her eyes still glued to me.

  “Enough to know he’s dangerous, but not so dangerous that people aren’t talking.”

  “What in the seven hells is that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re the one that Ophelia left with, right?” She asked, some of the fear leaving her eyes as recognition filled them instead. “The one that went to sneak into the palace? Aria?”

  “What if I am?”

  “I can help you. There are a lot of us that want to help you.”

  “That so?” I asked, quirking my head slightly. “And why would you all want to leave the cushy life that Aurelion has built for you?”

  The boys from the night before hadn’t mentioned anything about others wanting to help me. But perhaps they’d been too scared. Too surprised by my appearance in their safe haven.

  “Cushy?” She almost laughed. “All he does is bark orders now. Doesn’t even talk to most of us. Just sends out the leaders of each group with new commands.”

  Her eyes shone with something akin to excitement.

  “Wait. Everyone needs information, right? I can get you information. I’m not… I’m not as close to Aurelion as some of the others. But I know what he’s doing to people. Felix…” She swallowed hard, her throat pressing against the blade.

  Her eyes softened, glistening at the corners as she spoke again. “Felix hasn’t been himself… not since Aurelion made him his right-hand after Ophelia left. All he talks about now is killing you and getting her back for abandoning him.”

  Shaking my head I leaned back on my heels, still towering over the girl’s torso, my legs situated on either side of her.

  “Why should I trust you?”

  “I don’t want to die. Not for Aurelion. He said we were going to make the city a better place when we all came together, but everything we’ve done has only made him stronger.”

  I nodded slowly. “I’m going to give you one chance. But if you turn on me… I will kill you. And anyone else that gets between me and him. Do you understand?”

  I stared into her eyes as I said the words.

  People like her… they were the future of my empire. If I could win the next generation over, then I’d already have more of a chance than I had before. I could show them that living with dragons—under the rule of dragons even—wasn’t that bad after all.

  She was young enough that she didn’t have to be jaded to how things had been. That was the nice thing about humans. They lived such brief lives that they never had the opportunity to become as jaded as some of the dragons I’d known throughout my life. Dragons I had trusted as some of my closest confidants.

  Dragons that I now knew would eradicate humanity if it benefited them more than keeping them around.

  But I also had to look at everything spread before me. The [Hero] had arrived years too early and I was still a fledgling, and that meant I needed to attack where I had the most chance of success. Even if that meant killing innocents like her in the name of taking down larger threats.

  Every war had casualties—both in the soldiers that lost their lives and the civilians that found themselves under the blade unexpectedly. I wasn’t naive. I knew I couldn’t get away without the stain of innocent blood on my hands. But that didn’t mean I had to rush headfirst into genocide either.

  I leaned back from the girl, removing my dagger from her neck and releasing some of the weight I’d been holding her down with.

  “So, Yen,” I said, finally using her name. “I’ll make you a deal. First, you help me get inside the warehouse. Help me get to Aurelion. Then, you and I can talk about getting the others out. You can come work for me and actually make a difference in the future of this city. That I swear.”

  She met my eyes again, her gaze searching, as if trying to find some lie in the words I’d spoken. After several long moments, she nodded.

  “Deal.”

  subscribe to my Patreon. It is currently 8 chapters ahead with more planned to hit the Patreon as the backlog grows again.