Another pair of Diamond Guards stood outside a bank a block away, watching them and whispering to each other. Aina swore under her breath. Enough of her group was heavily armed to draw attention, and they’d come from the direction of the Stacks—the guards always found reasons to harass people from the south of the city. Since Kohl had worked directly with Bautix, who’d commanded the Diamond Guards, he’d gotten plenty of special treatment. She and Tannis had their own bribes in place, but not with any of the guards she saw here.
She gestured for everyone to follow her lead, and they continued walking. Gaudy red and gold lights loomed ahead to welcome them to a row of casinos and burlesque theaters. Aina sensed the guards’ eyes on their backs as they blended in with the busier crowds.
“Let’s go in through the back,” Tannis said, coming up next to them and nodding toward an alley. “The guards are following us.”
Without another word, Tannis led the way to the alley service door for a casino decked in green with a red-brick apartment above it. While the others slipped inside, Aina watched for the Diamond Guards. Their heads bobbed above the rest of the crowd, and just as she stepped inside behind Teo, one turned in their direction. She jerked her head back from view, closed the door, and met the others in a large kitchen pantry.
When she nodded, they moved again, exiting through a kitchen—ignoring the cooks and waiters who looked up at them in confusion—and then left the double doors to step onto the main floor of the casino.
With hollow eyes and her jaw clenched tight, Tannis led them past gambling tables, women delivering drinks in short dresses, and card dealers calling out numbers and suits. Aina wondered, with a sinking feeling in her gut, if this was the place Tannis had been brought as a child.
They climbed a cordoned-off staircase and entered a long hallway. Some men and women stood outside the doors, whispering and beckoning to those who walked by. Broken glass strewed all along the carpet, which smelled faintly of urine and blood.
A child peeked out from behind her father’s legs at one doorway, where he spoke in Kaiyanis to a few people huddled around the entrance with heavy backpacks and the glint of a blade at one of their belts. Tannis frowned, one hand trailing to a knife Aina knew she kept up her sleeve. Aina did the same, recognizing these men weren’t mere tourists.
Tannis stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and knocked softly. Everyone in the group had gone silent, though the floor creaked under their boots as they shifted their weight and waited.
At first, no one answered, so Tannis knocked again. Aina glanced behind them to make sure no one was watching too closely, but everyone in this hall was far too focused on their own pursuits to care what they were doing in this shady building. She doubted anything could surprise the people here.
A muffled shuffling noise came from beyond the door. A crack appeared as the door creaked open. The barrel of a gun poked through with a thin face above it, shrouded by a shock of blue hair and decorated with a line of three diamonds at the top. Every Sacoren received these three diamonds embedded in their forehead, marking that the Mothers had spoken to them, that they could lead worship services, interpret the Nos Inoken, and bless people to use magic. But unlike every other Sacoren Aina had ever met, this one didn’t have a black arc tattooed in the same place as the diamonds.
Inosen caught worshiping the Mothers faced imprisonment, and those caught using magic were shot on sight. But the Diamond Guards often released Sacoren, after removing their diamonds and leaving tattoos in their place as a symbol that even the strongest among the Inosen were powerless against them. The Sacoren often repierced the diamonds themselves, but this man had never had them removed in the first place.
When the man locked eyes with Tannis, he opened the door and gestured them inside, then cast a sharp glance around the hallway before closing the door behind them. As they filed in, Tannis whispered with him in Kaiyanis for a moment and gestured toward the hall they’d come from. He answered quickly, with a dismissive shrug, then waved them all toward a sitting room adorned with tattered pillows and rugs.
“Amman oraske,” he said to each of them as they entered—a common greeting among Inosen that meant “May the Mothers bless you.”
“Amman min oraske,” Aina said back, hearing Raurie, Lill, and Ryuu do the same. Tannis and Teo also said the words, but stumbled over them uncomfortably—neither of them had grown up with Inosen parents.
The Sacoren moved like a weasel, his movements jerky and furtive. The apartment was spotless, the floor even shining, but clearly lived in. She wondered when was the last time this man had walked outside. They each chose a pillow or an empty spot on the floor to sit on.
“Tannis told me you want to learn this magic.” He spoke in such a low voice, Aina had to strain her ears to hear, and he twisted his hands in knots. “But not the normal way. You’re not using it to heal, to create, to build love and peace like the Mothers wish.”
“We’re using it to fight,” Aina said in a flat tone. She didn’t see a point in hiding it, and she assumed he’d already guessed as much.
The man nodded, a knowing look in his eyes. “Verrain’s methods can be useful, and in my opinion, are not evil by default. He originally wanted a compromise. He didn’t want industry to take over the country, for faith to fall away—and he was right, wasn’t he? How many people have forgotten the Mothers, or convinced themselves that the Mothers have abandoned Sumerand since the war? So Verrain shut down one factory, using this form of magic. But the Steels would not come to an agreement. They made him a villain and sent the army after him. And then yes, maybe he snapped and killed a lot of them, but his original intentions were good. Maybe he should have assassinated them one by one, quiet and quick—”
Tannis cleared her throat and gave the Sacoren an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Gevann, but we don’t have too much time. Some of them live in the Inosen safe houses and will be asked questions if they’re gone too long.”
To the right of Tannis, Raurie and Lill both fidgeted nervously, and Gevann’s eyes fell on them. He let out a long sigh. “You two have been Inosen your whole lives, I assume? Faithful to the Mothers, but your parents never let you receive the blessing to learn magic. It’s too risky, leaves you open to being caught. But this type of blood magic, Verrain’s usage of it, is even more dangerous … this magic will drain you.”
“You know what else is draining?” Raurie said. “Hiding in fear all the time.”
“We know this magic works differently, we know the risks, and we’re ready,” Lill added, then nodded at the rest of the group—Aina, Tannis, Teo, and Ryuu. “But they don’t.”
“What do you mean it drains you?” Aina asked, straining her memory of her parents’ use of the magic, but they’d only ever used it in the normal way.
“There are a few spells the Mothers gave to us, listed out clearly in the Nos Inoken, and that’s what most Inosen will use in their daily lives,” Gevann explained, and when he reached toward a chest of drawers nearby, the light through the window reflected off the diamonds on his forehead. From a pile of books on top of the chest, he picked up a tattered copy of the Nos Inoken. “You know this holds all their teachings, all their hopes for us as their children. The magic of blood and earth—using blood sacrificed by the caster and diamonds from deep underground—is meant to create unity.”