Rage boiled like fire in Connor’s veins as sweat crept into his eyes. They were the only thing he could move now. The only thing he could feel. And they burned from the salt.

  Absolute darkness surrounded him so utterly that even his enhanced eyes failed to penetrate it. It drowned him.

  The heavy sensation like a demon sitting on his chest added to it.

  He roared and screamed within his mind, straining with all his will to force his body to move even as his blood burned hot from the fresh betrayal, making the darkness seem almost red through the heat of his anger.

  But, only a calm, steady, traitorous breath passed his lips. Deep and even it sounded incredibly loud and peaceful in the darkness. Like some great slumbering beast.

  It only made him angrier. Not even his breath was his own now.

  His fury strained so tightly against his steady breathing that it likely would’ve made his ribs ache if not for the numbness that drowned out most sensation.

  A soft, steady hum filled the air. His only companion in the darkness.

  Drool trickled down one corner of his mouth. He tried to stop it, but no matter how he struggled… he couldn’t so much as twitch his lips.

  The container jostled again. It seemed to be doing so more frequently now and it sent him sliding helplessly across the smooth floor.

  It hadn’t been long since Vadik had betrayed him. Betrayed them all. At least, it didn’t feel like it’d been more than a few hours at most. But who could tell like this?

  He wanted to know why. Why Vadik had done this. They’d known each other for years. Drank together. Fought together. Bled together. They’d grown to be the closest of friends. At least… that’s what Connor had thought.

  Had it really been to control the city and the thieves' guilds like the robed man said? Was that it? Was that how little they’d meant to him?

  If we ever meant anything at all… Connor thought bitterly. It felt like a veil had been ripped from his eyes. Everything he’d ever thought of Vadik, revealed to be nothing but an illusion.

  Part of him still hoped that Vadik’s betrayal itself was a deceit. That Vadik had somehow been working with Victor and all of this was part of a grander plan to infiltrate the Syndicate that Connor wasn’t privy to.

  A vain hope. A childish, innocent hope. And it was drowned out by the burning rage and gnawing guilt in his gut.

  It was my decision to trust Vadik… I handed the city to The Syndicate on a silver platter… I lost my chance to free Victor.

  This mess is my fault. I’m sorry, uncle. I failed you… failed everyone. Adelia, Maya, Korvac, Illyan, the thieves, and their families. The city…

  His thoughts turned to the countless hammers falling upon hot metal… the weapons of war being churned out beneath Zauberer in incredible quantity.

  Perhaps I failed the world itself.

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  The agony of betrayal and the price of his failure cut deeper and more painfully than any knife. And his flesh had known many over the years. Amidst it, he found himself wondering where Adelia was. What they’d done to her… what they would do with her.

  Images flashed in his mind’s eye of her chained, beaten, and battered. Stripped of her precious mask and staring at him with accusing, violet eyes.

  He blinked the thoughts away, but the self-loathing remained. Of all those he’d led into a trap tonight it was her he hated himself over the most.

  She’s strong. She’ll get through this. They all will. The Syndicate doesn’t need to kill them. Not when they can so easily enslave them like the others, and they’re certainly hungry for slaves. It won’t be pretty… but they should be alive. I’ll get out of this, track them down, and free them all… he told himself.

  The thoughts felt like a lie.

  Save them? If he could’ve laughed, he would’ve. How can I hope to rescue anyone when I can’t even breathe except at the Syndicate’s whim?

  He felt sick.

  The container shifted. Much more than before as the entire crate tilted.

  He slid across the smooth floor, picking up speed until he rolled over the floor of the container and slammed face-first into the metal wall with a meaty thud.

  It stung, but not much. The magic that kept him paralyzed helped to numb the pain.

  I guess that’s something at least… he thought bitterly.

  Something metallic and wet dribbled into his mouth. Numb though his tongue was, it worked just enough to recognize the taste of his own blood.

  He felt another shift. It was hard to be sure through his dulled senses, but he felt like he was being hoisted upward.

  He tried to sigh and couldn’t. Frustration snarled inside him, further fueling his unspeakable rage.

  Are they taking me to a different facility then? To be another alchemist churning out potions for them just like my uncle? Destined to be their collared pet until I breathe my last?

  The container moved again, and he slid along the wall like clothes against a washboard.

  He wished he could at least hear what was going on outside, but it was like he was sealed inside a void. With only that steady hum and his own breathing for company. And the darkness, of course.

  He felt himself being lowered… or at least he thought so.

  Are they loading me onto something?

  It was hard to tell.

  The container jolted and started leveling off again until it was horizontal once more.

  The humming stopped.

  Connor waited in silence. It rang in his ears, seeming louder than the hum it had replaced as his pulse throbbed. As steady as his breath.

  The container door opened with a metallic groan, flooding the space with the soft light of lanterns and the moon. Which, to Connor’s enhanced, darkness-adjusted eyes felt like staring into the sun.

  It blinded and stung his eyes and he blinked furiously, trying to adjust as sound washed over him like a tidal wave.

  “—ould just kill him,” came Vadik’s familiar voice.

  Hearing him speak made Connor want to wrap his fingers around Vadik’s throat and squeeze until the slimy wretch’s neck snapped. Though even that was too good a death for the bastard.

  Connor wrestled with his rage. He could finally hear. Now wasn’t the time to indulge in fantasy, but to pay attention. Any detail could be vital.

  He gained enough control to notice the seagulls cawing as waves rolled and broke against groaning wood. Ropes creaked and the scent of salt hung heavy in the air as boots thumped on wooden floors.

  He tried to adjust his neck for a better view but could not.

  “Your objections have been noted, Vadik,” said a voice Connor recognized as the robed man from earlier.

  “You don’t understand how dangerous it is to just leave him—” Vadik said.

  “I understand more than you can imagine. As I said, your objections have been noted. I suggest you not make them again,” said the robed man.

  “Of course,” Vadik said, “I meant no disrespect, Your Grace.”

  Was that fear in Vadik’s voice?

  A monstrous, inhuman roar of billowing rage came from somewhere below them all and the entire ship shuddered. Agonized screams followed, muffled though they were by the ship’s timbers.

  Boots on deck shifted with fright as more than a few men muttered anxious curses under their breath. The creature’s snarling outcry gave voice to Connor’s own emotions and he couldn’t resist feeling a strange kinship with whatever it was.

  “I’ll deal with that. Take him to his cell and take what you need,” said the robed man, “And Vadik? Should any accidents befall him along the way, you may find your own luck turning just as sour.”

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