Page 188 of Tears for a Broken Sky
Isaac’s face twisted. “So he’s…?”
“Dead,” I said quietly. “A few months now.”
Isaac’s fingers clenched around his glass. “So he made it out. For a while.”
“He died saving someone,” Phoenix said, not looking at him. “A girl.”
Isaac nodded slowly. “Elira. Yeah. She’s here. I saw her once. She’s shackled—magic-suppressing manacles. But that didn’t stop her screaming bloody murder. Or calling Vael a fork-tongued dogfucker.”
A beat passed. I almost smiled. That sounded like her.
Phoenix’s eyes narrowed. “You blend in well for someone not meant to be here.”
Isaac shrugged. “Perks of a shitty childhood and a dead-end legacy.”
“So you’re spying,” Phoenix said flatly.
“My family served Vael. My father used to before he was killed last year. My older brother is still there.”
Phoenix blinked. “Your father was Caius Markham?”
Isaac stared at him. “You heard of him?”
Shit.The wolf Thorne killed last year.
“In passing,” Phoenix said, his voice calm.
“It’s ok if you hated him, he was an asshole,” Isaac said. He hesitated, then added. “But being his son means I can go where others can’t.”
“And she’s in the tower?” Lacey asked.
Isaac nodded. “Top level. The thing’s a fortress. Only one way in or out, and it's crawling with fanatics. But we’ve been slipping people in for months.”
“We?” I asked.
“The rebellion. We answer to a woman named Lia – she’s a mind mage. She’s the one who started all this.”
Phoenix narrowed his eyes. “Do you trust her?”
“I trust her more than I trust anyone else left in that city.” He paused. “If you want to break Elira out, you’ll need Lia’s help.”
“Are you all rebels?” he asked, glancing at Phoenix, Caelen, and me. “Or former Shades, like the other two?”
“Other two?” I asked.
“A lion shifter and an earth mage showed up days ago. They stirred up half my unit.”
Phoenix’s knuckles had gone white around his glass. His breath hitched. “Leo and Maddie. They’re okay?”
I felt the tension in my shoulders begin to ease. Just a little. They were alive. Fighting.
Isaac grinned faintly. “They helped us catch a big dog.”
“Who?” I asked, already bracing.
He leaned in. “Vasquez. He’s rotting in a cell underground in the slums.”
Phoenix swore under his breath. His eyes flicked toward the window, like he could already hear the coming war.
