House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City) Read Free

to stop her from telling anyone else.
    But the more immediate threat came from the dreadwolves closing in with every mile they hurried toward Servast, hounds on a scent. Silver’s frequent glances in the rearview mirror told her that he knew it, too.
    The two of them could take on perhaps a handful of wolf shifters—they’d done so before. But there would be more than a handful for an escape from Kavalla. Far more than they could face and live.
    She’d prepared for that eventuality. Had already handed over her comm-crystal to Command before entering Kavalla. That precious, sole line of communication to their most valued spy. She knew they’d keep the small chunk of quartz safe. Just as Silver would keep Emile safe. He’d given her his word.
    When they emerged from the van, mist wreathed the narrow docks of Servast, writhing over the chill, night-dark waters of the Haldren Sea. It wended around the ancient stone houses of the port town, the firstlight in the few lampposts above the cobblestone streets flickering. No lights shone behind the shuttered windows; not one car or pedestrian moved in the deep shadows and fog.
    It was as if the streets of Servast had been emptied in advance of their arrival. As if its citizens—mostly poor fisher-folk, both human and Vanir allied with the House of Many Waters—had hunkered down, some instinct bleating that the fog was not to be braved. Not this night.
    Not with dreadwolves on the prowl.
    Silver led the way, hair peeking from beneath the cap he’d donned, his attention darting this way and that, his gun within easy reach at his side. She’d seen him kill efficiently with his power, but sometimes a gun was easier.
    Emile kept close to Sofie as they crept down the age-wornstreets, through the empty markets. She could feel eyes on her from behind the closed shutters. But no one opened a door to offer help.
    Sofie didn’t care. As long as that boat waited where she’d been told it would be, the world could go to Hel.
    Mercifully, the Bodegraven was idling at the end of a long wooden dock three blocks ahead, silver letters bright against her black hull. A few firstlights glowed in the small steamer’s portholes, but the decks remained quiet. Emile gasped, as if it were a vision from Luna.
    Sofie prayed the other Ophion boats would be waiting beyond the harbor to provide backup, exactly as Command had promised in return for the valuable asset she’d gone into the camp to retrieve. They hadn’t cared that the valuable asset was her brother. Only what she told them he could do.
    She scanned the streets, the docks, the skies.
    The power in her veins thrummed in time to her heart. A counter-beat. A bone-drum, a death knell. A warning.
    They had to go now .
    She started, but Silver’s broad hand clamped on her shoulder.
    “They’re here,” he said in his northern accent. With his sharp senses, he could detect the wolves better than she could.
    Sofie surveyed the sloping rooftops, the cobblestones, the fog. “How close?”
    Dread filled Silver’s handsome face. “Everywhere. They’re fucking everywhere.”
    Only three blocks separated them from salvation. Shouts echoed off the stones a block away. “ There! There! ”
    One heartbeat to decide. One heartbeat—Emile halted, fear bright in his dark eyes.
    No more fear. No more pain.
    Sofie hissed at Silver, “ Run .” Silver reached for his gun, but she shoved his hand down, getting in his face. “Get the kids to the boat and go. I’ll hold the wolves off and meet you there.”
    Some of the children were already bolting for the dock. Emile waited. “Run!” she told Silver again. He touched her cheek—thesoftest of caresses—and sprinted after the children, roaring for the captain to rev the engines. None of them would survive if they didn’t depart now.
    She whirled to Emile. “Get on that boat.”
    His eyes—their mother’s eyes—widened. “But how will you—”
    “I promise I will find you again, Emile.