Page 75 of Heartless Enemy

He nodded and then darted back out again.

Shoving the paper into my pocket, I spun around towards Eve. “We need to leave. Now.”

She immediately hopped down from the table and sprinted to grab her sword while asking, “Why?”

“I’m not sure.”

Metal clanked as I scooped up all the pieces of armor I had already finished and tossed them into the nearest storage room. Then I summoned the remaining lumps of metal and sent them flowing in underneath the door before I hardened them into a solid wall on the inside of the room to stop anyone from opening the door.

Eve ran up to me right as I finished and released my magic.

“There’s a way out the back,” she said.

“Let’s go.”

We darted through the empty kitchen and towards the back door. Not bothering to lock it behind us, we simply threw it shut and sprinted out into the narrow alley. There was no telling how much time we had, so I grabbed Eve by the arm and pulled her with me towards the nearest door. She had been charging straight ahead, so she almost stumbled at the abrupt change in direction. But she righted herself quickly.

Releasing her, I summoned my magic and melted the lock on the door before yanking it open. Eve ran across the threshold right as a surprised yelp came from inside the hallway. I hurried across the threshold and pulled the door shut behind me. Then I re-formed the lock bolt.

“Mr. Arden,” a woman stammered from somewhere behind me.

I spun around to find a blond woman in her thirties staring at me with a mix of shock, fear, and panic.

“H-have I done something wrong?” she pressed out in a worried voice. “I’m sorry, I—”

“No,” I interrupted. “You haven’t done anything wrong. We just need to use your upstairs window for a minute.”

“Of course. Of course.” She stared between me and Eve, completely bewildered. But no one refused the King of Metal, so she just motioned towards the stairs. “Please, go right ahead.”

I gave her a nod before hurrying up the steps. Eve followed close on my heels.

We quickly made our way through the woman’s home, which housed a surprising number of paintings depicting hedgehogs, of all things, and made it to the window facing the alley in short order. Drawing ourselves up along the wall on each side of the window, so that we wouldn’t be spotted from the outside, we glanced out at the alley and the tavern across the narrow space.

Lights were still burning in the kitchen, and the rest of the tavern too, making it look like we were still in there. I narrowed my eyes at the calm area outside, wondering what Maggie’s note had meant.

Barely a minute after we had reached the window, I understood exactly what her warning had referred to.

Stunned shock pulsed through me as a mass of people descended on the tavern. They were dressed in civilian clothing, but there was no mistaking who they were.Whatthey were. White boots.

They rushed up to the tavern like a horde of ants. A moment later, they opened jars full of white smoke and used wind magic to blow it into every window and every door on this side. Presumably, the same thing was happening at the front of the building too.

I stared at them as they remained outside in the fresh air, waiting for the white smoke to dissipate inside the tavern. There was no way to know for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say that the white smoke was sleepcore. It was the drug that they had used to knock all of my people out in that warehouse during their first ambush, and it had worked then, so they probably hoped that it would work now too.

As soon as the smoke had cleared, the white boots charged inside.

From across the window, Eve turned away from the tavern and slid her gaze to me. I met it, and we exchanged a long look.

If Maggie hadn’t sent that note to warn us, we would be lying unconscious on the floor in there right now while they just walked right in and slapped handcuffs on us.

Disbelief clanged through me.

That had been close.

Far too close.

I hadn’t expected that they would be smart, and ballsy, enough to try this kind of sneak attack. They must have moved across the Bridge of Life and through the Entertainment District alone or in pairs, pretending to be normal civilians before they all converged right before this attack, otherwise my people would have seen them coming.

A relieved laugh threatened to spill from my throat. I knew that being on good terms with Maggie would save my life one day.