In the corner of my eye, I see a pair of guards descend on us, wings sprawling, changing from humans into Reapers as they come.

Escape. That’s all that matters now.

We run.

I’m fairly certain Malik can’t walk through walls, so I lead us straight for the front gates. We weave through the crowd, a mob hot on our tail, and barge our way forward, until we meet a throng of guards blocking the gate entry.

Spearheaded by Rodolfo Graziani.

Malik fires his pistol. The sound leaves a tinny whine in my ears. He misses Graziani, hits a guard. We cut our way through the melee and charge out the gates—Malik firing and reloading, and me slashing left and right with the sword—and burst out onto the street. Behind us, the mass of guards follows fast.

Outside, it’s still pelting down with grey rain. I feel a thrill at emerging from the claustrophobia of the cathedral fight pit. We’ve done it. We’ve escaped.

And then my heart sinks. We come to a skidding standstill.

Here, barring our path, stands Mara Graziani.

In her right hand, she holds the reins of a horse. A muscular, russet-coloured stallion, stamping its forelegs, eyes alight, coat slick and gleaming in the wet. Then, before we can do anything, Mara draws Vidhan’s short-blade from her belt.

She throws it.

I watch mesmerised, unable to move, and I know that I’m done. It’s coming for me, my heart. But in bewilderment, I watch it slice the space between Malik and I.

And, when I turn, it’s just in time to see the blade sink to the hilt into the chest of a guard—a guard millimetres from shredding us with a sword.

He goes down with a strangled cry.

“Go!” Mara Graziani shouts, holding out the reins to me. “Do not make me regret this any more than I already am.”

For a split second, I’m not sure how to react. And then I understand. I know what this is. Redemption.

I’d seen it in her eyes, heard it in her voice. The pain and the guilt. Vidhan was her friend. Her clan. No other allegiance could ever wipe out the things they had endured together. In the end, Vidhan and Mara were family.

Something she realised too late.