The remaining guards weren't summoners either. With Hynn's daemon striking them with its paralysing poison and Kaim stealing and smashing them over their heads with their own weapons, they progressed rapidly into the next chamber. Kaim tested his grip on the steel sword in his hand. Judging by the way he slipped through the Daemonium guards' defence and made quick work of them, Kaim was either former military or well-trained in combat. Seiren made a mental note; if he decided to turn against them, she and Madeleine didn't stand a chance in a fight.

Seiren's flash shattered Madeleine's lock and she hopped out, head turning in every direction for reinforcement.

"What happened—?" Madeleine's eyes almost popped out in horror, staring at Seiren's tattered robes and the brown blood stains. "Are you—"

"This way," said Kaim, gesturing at a hole at the bottom of the wall.

"I'm fine." Seiren turned to Kaim, wrinkling her nose. "The sewers again?"

"Too good for it? It'll be one of the last places the Daemonium searches. It's like a maze down there and lots of the impoverished stay there for safety from time to time. The royal guards don't dare go in small groups. It's our safest bet."

Madeleine nodded and glanced at Seiren in concern. Grimacing, Seiren snapped her fingers and dissolved the edge of the metal frame and bars so Kaim could slip it out of the tunnel. Kaim allowed the girls to slide in — Hynn leading the way — and Seiren found herself soaked in sewer water and tearing down a dark, slimy chute away from the royal palace.

Seiren flew through a tunnel of light and darkness, water spraying her face from all directions. To her horror, she swallowed a few mouthfuls and more went up her nose, making her choke. The wind whistled in her ear in an apparently never-ending orchestra.

The chute gave way beneath her. Suddenly, Seiren was airborne. A gasp rose in her throat and constricted her airway. Her stomach rose into her chest. Her arms reached up, grasping nothing.

And then she plummeted. She struck the water beneath in a huge splash. Her feet kicked, but there was no ground. Her clothes dragged her down, clinging to her limbs, weighing on her outreached arms. Water swarmed over her from all directions until she couldn't tell which way was up or down. No matter how much she flailed, she only sank.

Hands grappled her from either side. Her head broke through the surface. She gasped, sucking in sweet air. She waved her arms for a surface, anything solid but this endless pit of water. Someone grabbed her and pulled. Her hands ground solid ground — thank the runes! More hands pulled her until she lay there, gasping and coughing up all the water she'd inadvertently swallowed.

"Didn't realise—you can't—swim," gasped Kaim, bent over.

Madeleine crouched beside Seiren, brushing her hair out of her face and rubbing her shoulders. Seiren wanted to swear at him but was overcome by a coughing fit.

"Come on," Kaim said. "When you can walk, we need to get out of here, as far as we can go. If you don't have any other places to go, we'll take you in — for now."

Hynn said something to Kaim, but Seiren didn't catch it through her watering eyes as she bent over from another coughing fit.

****

"We are insurgents who support Prince Magus Tophalis's claim to the throne," said Kaim, several hours later.

They sat on the third floor of a tavern. Kaim had snuck them in from the back door, hosed all of them down in the private garden, and they'd changed into typical Hannan attire before trooping through the kitchen and up the back stairs. The hour spent traipsing in the maze that was the waterways beneath the palace at Falnash ensured the chill set into Seiren's bones, despite the dry summer air, and the mouldy scent of sewer water persistently permeated into her nostrils. She and Madeleine sat on the round wooden stools around the table, cups of steaming milky tea before them. Madeleine re-braided Seiren's hair before fixing her own. Seiren was sure they both looked like drowned rats, even in their plain magenta robes with yellow waist ties and black, chunky boots. Hynn sat as if she were some noble, legs crossed with a natural delicate air, sipping her tea daintily.

"King Fautos's brother? He's a prisoner of Fautos's, isn't he?" Madeleine said, leaning forward.

Kaim nodded, leaning against the nearby wall where decorations hung, made of silk showed various great historical figures winning wars and dominating countries.

"Prince Magus has the support of the people and values peace between Karma and Hanna, much like his father, His Holiness King Mephis Tophalis. Fautos, however, has an entirely different agenda."

"He's all for the survival of the fittest," Madeleine said, echoing the words of Martel Solidor. Kaim nodded.

"He wants war and bloodshed. We don't. But he is powerful. Even before he ascended the throne and gained the support of the Daemonium, he was the richest and had the biggest army — but what was frightening was he also had access to a power no Hannan should have."

Seiren's mouth dried, knowing what was to come. "Rune magic."

Kaim groaned, running a hand through his black hair. "It was impossible. Karma and Hanna have trades, but Karma has always been very protective of its magic. There was no way he could get his hands on runes... but he did."

"We're chasing the woman responsible for smuggling those runes," Seiren said. Madeleine shot her a look but Seiren squeezed her hand. She would be careful about what she told these insurgents. "Her name is Kristen Harred. She was due to be executed last month but a mystery group rescued her, injuring many mages, and vanished."

Hynn tapped Kaim's elbow. "—family knows about it," she said.

"The Havris family," said Kaim, nodded. "They were the ones receiving runes and passing them onto Fautos. So this Kristen Harred from Karma is their contact, then."

"The same family you told us to impersonate when we gave your blasted bomb to Fautos," Seiren said, glaring at him. "You were planning to kill us as soon as we declared that name! You knew what their reaction would be!"

"The Havris is a very large family. It was impossible to check every single lineage and confirm you're not Havris, even looking the way you do." Kaim held up both hands as a gesture of peace, his face pale and sweaty.

"You know that so well," Seiren said sourly. Kaim appeared not to have heard her. Hynn leapt to her feet and rushed to him as he slid to the ground, eyes fluttering.

Hynn turned around and stared at Seiren.

"Help him!" she said.

"What...?" Madeleine said, staring between Hynn and Seiren and then at Kaim.

"The venom. From Soleus's demon. It's probably setting in now."

"Oh, heck," Madeleine said, going pale as well. "What can we do? Is there anti-venom for daemon bites?"

Hynn shook her head. Castiel wound its way around her neck.

"It's been fatal, every single time," Hynn said.

"Then what do you expect us to do?" Seiren said.

"Do what?" Madeleine stared at Seiren. "Since when can you understand sign language?"

"Since — never mind!" Seiren faced Hynn. "You think Karman magic can cure whatever this venom is?"

"Slower," Hynn said, frowning.

Seiren stopped, remembering Hynn's ire about Seiren yelling at her when Hynn couldn't hear what she said.

Seiren repeated her question, slowly and clearly, ensuring Hynn could see her mouth.

"You healed, when we were in the–" Seiren missed the next word, but she assumed Hynn meant where the two of them were held. "—can't you... do the same for him?"

"What's she saying?" Madeleine said softly. Seiren relayed Hynn's words. Madeleine chewed her lip in thought.

"I can use—"

"No, don't use chaos magic. Not here." Madeleine turned her head away. Unable to read Madeleine's lips, Hynn stared balefully at Seiren, offended. "We don't know them. They've seen my burst and your flash already—"

"And my runes. I used rune magic to bust out of the cell."

Madeleine sighed. "Then all the more reason not to let them see everything we do."

"We have to save him."

"Then... be my lookout." Seiren turned to Hynn, who watched her with narrowed eyes. "You can't see this. Turn around."

Hynn deliberated her words. Seiren knew Hynn caught what she'd asked. Slowly, she rose to her feet and hobbled out of the door. Seiren shuffled forward on her knees, looking down at the unconscious Kaim. His lips were pale, his face ashen. His black hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. Seiren kept her eyes on the weak rise and fall of his chest.

The warm, fluid chaos magic came at Seiren's slight beckoning. It didn't take long for Seiren to match its flow to Kaim's natural energy, although it felt different to when she healed Karmans. She kept her focus, encouraging the core energy to focus on the venom coursing through his body. When it flowed of its own accord, Seiren withdrew, breathing heavily.

Hynn re-entered, eyes wide with anxiety, just in time to miss the white light disappear into his body. She crouched beside him, biting her lips.

"Just let it work." Seiren paused, realising Hynn wasn't looking at her. Seiren tapped her elbow and repeated her words. Hynn shook her head. She wanted to stay. Seiren exchanged a look with Madeleine and returned to her seat, drinking the rest of her too-sweet, too-milky tea.

"He must have been holding out a while," Madeleine murmured.

"Either that or the poison takes its time. Maybe that was why that Soleus guy was so confident Kaim would tell him everything with time."

"They've seen our faces now. The whole country will be looking for us. We're part of this terrorist group that bombed the king, attempted to assassinate him."

"Did they...?" Seiren glanced at Madeleine. She shook her head.

"No, they took Kaim first. Apparently, this Soleus guy is really good at getting information out. Like, really, really good. And Kaim is the leader of these insurgents, so they wanted names from him. I'm glad I didn't go first. I'm not sure I wouldn't have spilt everything. You should have heard Kaim's screams..."

"We heard them." Seiren swallowed, her throat dry. "Before we got you, that Soleus guy got called away. That was how we got Kaim. Someone said Fautos needed Soleus to 'confirm some truths' about the Karman mage."

"You mean...?"

Seiren nodded. "I thought he meant you, but... I think this confirms it. Kristen is definitely here."

They fell silent, fingers intertwining into each others'.

"We need to go back. We need to find Kristen."

"We don't stand a chance against the Daemonium, the two of us. You saw what happened at the feast. Just the one Daemonium member destroyed all of Kaim's men and their daemons. That creature..." Madeleine shuddered. "It's the stuff of nightmares. I've never seen anything like it before."

"They seem to have confidence they can put Magus Tophalis on the throne." Seiren jerked her head at Hynn and the still-unconscious Kaim. "If we can topple Fautos, we can get to Kristen."

"You're talking about overturning a king." Madeleine's voice was of pure horror.

Seiren shrugged. "Kristen did it with Pollin, didn't she? Why don't we use mummy dearest as an example?"

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