I snorted, then swung open the gate, because there would be no dissuading him. “I’ll get the key.”

We approached the labyrinth gates in silence, full-bloods and half-bloods alike stepping aside before bowing or curtseying as our foursome passed, some murmuring well-wishes for the hunt. Power mattered little against the sluag, their strange magic nullifying ours, making the massive slug-like creatures as much a danger to a Montigny as they were to the nearly human sewer workers. Which was, of course, why we hunted them.

Anaïs sat on the steps leading up to the gate, sluag spear resting on her leather-clad legs, the crimson scales of her armor glimmering.

“I thought you were minding my brother today?” Tristan asked, casting a backward glance at the city.

“I’m not his nurse,” she replied. “Besides, my father arrived to take over his minding. And you really have no business hunting sluag without me to watch your back.”

“Then let’s get on with it.” Tristan turned to me. “Will you grant us passage, gatekeeper?”

His tone was solemn, but the glint in his eye was not. Not bothering to answer, I took the steps two at a time, extracting the key that was one of my birthrights. The steel was heavy in my gloved hand as I inserted it into the simple lock, the oiled mechanism turning with a soft click, the metal bars of the gate swinging open to reveal the yawning darkness of the labyrinth beyond. “After you,” I said, waiting for my friends to pass before closing the gate behind us.

We traveled in silence through the upper reaches of Trollus, the crushed homes and cracked paving stones testament to what happened when the tree’s magic failed. What would happen if Tristan’s magic faltered and Forsaken Mountain finished its destruction of our city. I thought about what my father had said regarding bearing such a burden, wondering, not for the first time, what it felt like to hold the lives and fates of all of our people in his hand. I didn’t know how he could walk through the labyrinth as though he hadn’t a care in the world. Although he could have all the cares in the world, be plagued with every fear, and I knew he wouldn’t show it. The persona he’d created to hide his true feelings, true intentions, was too important, and he never let it down completely. Not even around us. Little did he know that the act he employed to protect our cause had nearly been the downfall of it.

“You’re thinking so hard I can practically hear it,” Tristan said, voice echoing through the tunnels. “It’s distracting.”

“So sorry.” I extracted the book I’d retrieved from my room, along with my armor and weapons, and handed it over. “Esmeralda brought this, along with the next set of pamphlets.”

“Which are being distributed?” He plucked the book out of my hand and flipped it open, light moving behind him to illuminate the pages.

“I’m not sure we can distribute this batch,” I said, my mind whirling as it tried to come up with an explanation that would deliver the necessary information without inciting any questions. “What we’ve had printed can be tied back to a certain press in Trianon – including the decoy lot we had the twins take delivery of.”