“Because they’ve already tried to kill us once,” Valaine replied.

“Milady! You should see this,” another guard said, kneeling beside one of the fallen Darklings’ heads. His mask was off, his face clear under the incoming sunlight.

We went over to them, and Valaine sucked in a breath at the sight of the dead guy. “Oh, crap,” she managed. Both she and the guard who’d called her were equally shocked.

“What? Do you know him?” I asked.

Valaine nodded slowly. “Egan Makios,” she replied. “The eldest of one of the minor dynasties. I… I grew up with him and his sisters.”

“And he’s a Darkling,” I concluded. “Okay, so this spreads well past the gold guards and the underbelly of Visio.”

“It’s a huge problem,” Valaine said, then shouted at the soldiers by the escape hatch. “Change of plans! Seal that up. Use whatever you can find in this place, but make sure nobody can use it until I get back.”

“What’s going on?” I replied, slightly confused.

Alarm lit her eyes up. “We need to talk to Kalon and my father before we go any further with this. We’ve already uncovered members of the gold guard as Darklings, and now an elite Aeternae, as well. It’s a clear sign that whatever is waiting at the end of that escape tunnel will likely get us or our soldiers killed. We need a different approach.”

“Milady is right,” the guard kneeling next to the Darkling said. “Besides, sealing this exit will force the Darklings to use other, perhaps less safe, routes. It will work to our advantage.”

Valaine checked Egan’s pockets, then stilled for a moment as she looked up at me. Retrieving her hand, she revealed a black-and-white braided thread. “This is… What is this?”

A thought crossed my mind, so I quickly checked the other two bodies. I found identical braids in their pockets, as well. Holding both up in the sunlight, I felt as though we’d finally caught a serious break in this investigation.

“It could very well be their signal. How they recognize each other as Darklings when they’re not hooded and masked,” I said.

Valaine straightened her back. “This stays between us!” she said, loud enough for all the soldiers to hear. “No one else must know about the braids. If I hear otherwise once we leave this place, I’ll have all your heads cut off. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, milady,” the guards replied in quivering unison. They were definitely intimidated by her. This was a side of Valaine I hadn’t seen before, but I had to admit, I was impressed. She clearly took after her father in some respects. I wondered if she’d ever considered becoming a master commander herself, someday. She obviously had the leadership skills required for such a position, along with the soldiers’ undivided attention.

“This could be it,” Valaine said, looking at me with renewed hope. “Our way of revealing other Darklings among us.”

As exciting as that sounded, it was also insanely dangerous. I could see why she’d chosen not to explore the escape tunnels just yet, and why Kalon and Corbin’s counsel was badly needed. The Darklings were not anarchists at all. They were highly organized and deeply infiltrated among the societies of Visio.

It became even clearer that they had an agenda.

“Do we know anything about the other two Darklings?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“This one looks familiar,” a soldier said, looking at the Aeternae I’d straddled and beheaded last. “I think he’s from the silver guard. I’ve seen him before, I’m sure of it.”

“It’s not enough. Our only lead is Egan, for now,” I muttered.

“We should go speak to his family,” Valaine suggested, a devious smile tugging at the corner of her mouth while her gaze remained fixed on me. “Not necessarily in an official capacity. We need to follow whatever lead we have before we go to my father and Kalon with any of this. The more intel and impressions we gather, the better.”

I agreed with that mindset. Checking the escape tunnel was too much of a risk, indeed, but we could still question Egan’s family, since he was the only Darkling we’d positively identified, along with the golden guard guy from last night.

To make sure we were on the right track regarding the braids, I reached out to Amal, asking her to check the pockets of the Darkling we’d taken to the study rooms. If he, too, was in possession of a black-and-white thread, then we had absolute certainty that it was their mark, and we could eventually use it against them.

It was the best we could do, given these complicated circumstances, but it was infinitely better than what the Aeternae had accomplished against the Darklings. It didn’t feel like it was enough, though, especially since Valaine’s life was at stake.

We’d already lost our friend. I’d already killed people… This had to stop.

Sofia

As soon as Amal got word from Tristan regarding the black-and-white thread, she checked the Darkling’s pockets, but she couldn’t find anything. That didn’t stop her. She checked the hems, the boots, every single nook where the thread might’ve been hidden. Eventually, she plucked the braid out of a small, hidden inner-pocket. This confirmed the so-called anarchists had a way of recognizing one another in public, and the mere thought of such organizational complexity terrified me.

“It means the Darklings’ reach is far and wide, to the point where most don’t even know each other, perhaps only by this,” I said, holding the braid up.

Derek and Amal both nodded in agreement. We had two bodies in the study room with us, each under preservation spells put together by Amal—she’d learned enough swamp witch magic to complement her scientific excellence. A Darkling, better known as one of the gold guards in the palace, and our own Nethissis…

“I think we could easily consider it a secret society now. Certainly not the anarchists the Lord and Lady Supreme seem to think that they are,” Derek replied.

Amal went back to working on the Aeternae blood samples, occasionally stealing glances at Nethissis. The Lamia was covered up to her neck with a white silken sheet, her eyes closed and her copper hair neatly combed and braided. She was coming back with us, when our time here ended.

I knew Amal was not taking her death well, but she did her best to focus on work. I’d seen her crying a couple of times after we’d found Nethissis, but she pulled herself away, not wanting any physical contact or any form of comfort. Amal was generally distant, but she’d become attached to Nethissis before we’d left for Visio. All I could do was sympathize with her situation. We were all in pain. We’d all lost Nethissis.

“I’m splicing deeper through the blood cells,” the Faulty said when silence took over the room. “Hopefully, I should find the protein soon. I’m hoping two to three days, tops.”

“That’s fine, Amal. Take your time with this. We need to do it right,” Derek replied, then looked at me. “I think we’ll hear from the Aeternae soon, regarding the Black Fever. Valaine did say she’d speak to Acheron and Danika about it.”

“That’ll cut into my protein study, but it’s okay,” Amal said. “To be honest, I welcome the Black Fever challenge. This wouldn’t be my first brush with a deadly virus, if you remember.”

For a moment, my mind went blank, until the decimation of the Draenir came back to me from the depths of my Strava-related memories. “Oh, right,” I murmured. “The virus that nearly wiped out the Draenir.”

“Let’s hope they take their time with this request,” Derek said, taking a seat next to Amal and her microscopes. “I’d like to wrap up the protein issue first. The longer we stay here, the more unsafe I feel.”

That was a natural feeling, I thought, especially after what had happened to Nethissis. It bothered me tremendously, but we had objectives to accomplish. Most importantly, I wanted Tristan and Esme to get to the bottom of it before we had to leave. This was where Derek and I had slight differences of opinion.

Not that he didn’t want justice for Nethissis. On the contrary. But he didn’t think we were safe here in such a small number, digging deeper and poking the sleeping dragons, so to speak.

“I’ve studied their flight technology as best as I could,” Derek added. “I think they’ve got a pretty solid fleet.”

“More solid than our dragons and Perfects?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I doubt it. But I’ve got a feeling they’re keeping a lot of their defenses secret from us,” he replied. “I did consider an intervention when we were in the garden this morning. My anger almost got the best of me on that one, until I realized that the Aeternae are not telling us everything with regards to their defensive capabilities.”

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Amal said. “We’ll need to be careful. I agree with focusing on the protein and getting out of here as soon as possible, but I doubt that’ll happen. They won’t let us leave until we help them cure the Black Fever.”

My blood ran cold. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me. Then again, Nethissis’s death had made my mind blurry. My heart still ached, and a consistent pain had developed in the pit of my stomach. Losing her had killed my appetite, as well. If, at first, I’d been mesmerized by the sensations of drinking Rimian or Nalorean blood, now I only looked at it as mere sustenance. Nothing tasted the same. Nothing would, until we brought Nethissis’s killer to justice.

“They give us their blood for us to cure our sunlight sensitivity… naturally, they expect something in return,” Derek grumbled. “In this case, it’s a potential cure for the Black Fever.”

“What about Nethi?” I asked.

Derek frowned, looking away. “Tristan and Esme are on it. Now that we know the Darklings are involved, it brings us closer to the Aeternae, since both sides want those bastards caught and punished.”

“Clearly, not all Aeternae think that,” Amal reminded him. “The Darklings are Aeternae, too.”

“I guess we’re forced to apply the ‘not all Aeternae’ discourse, then,” Derek said, shaking his head with disgust. “As much as I liked it before, Visio is starting to make me feel bad.”