Mamta ran.
The harbor bells hammered through Thornmere like iron striking bone.
Fast.
Relentless.
Wrong.
Around them, the city changed shape.
Shutters slammed closed overhead. Lanterns vanished one after another along the lower streets. Dockworkers abandoned crates mid-carry and moved uphill without looking back.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody questioned.
That frightened Mamta more than panic would have.
This was practiced.
Skyler's grip stayed locked around her wrist as he dragged her through the maze of salt-dark lanes branching away from the harbor district.
Behind them, the sound came again.
Soft.
Almost impossible to hear properly.
Not singing.
Not wind.
Something between them.
The noise slid beneath thought instead of through it.
Mamta felt it along the back of her teeth.
Skyler accelerated instantly.
"Don't listen to it."
"I'm trying not to."
"No," he said sharply, "you're trying to understand it."
That irritated her immediately because he was right.
They cut hard through a narrow alley slick with fish oil and seawater. Mamta nearly lost balance turning the corner but caught herself against the wall.
Then another sound split through the city.
A scream.
Closer this time.
Cut short so violently the silence afterward felt mutilated.
Mamta's pulse kicked hard.
Skyler didn't even look back.
That scared her too.
It meant he already knew better.
The harbor bells continued ringing below them as they climbed farther from the waterline.
Another turn.
Another staircase.
The city narrowing around them.
Then footsteps erupted behind them.
Not civilians.
Pursuit.
Multiple.
Skyler heard it immediately.
"So they picked tonight," he muttered.
Mamta glanced back briefly.
Three figures.
Dark coats.
Fast.
The same type as the observer near the docks.
Not street men.
Not guards.
Purposeful.
One pointed toward them.
Skyler swore softly under his breath and yanked Mamta sharply left into another lane.
They sprinted downhill briefly before cutting across a cliffside path overlooking black seawater crashing below.
Wind tore across the stone walkway hard enough to sting.
Mamta's boot hit uneven rock.
Pain exploded up her ankle instantly.
She stumbled violently.
The twist nearly sent her down.
Before she could recover, Skyler caught her.
Not slowing.
Not hesitating.
One arm hooked around her waist and suddenly the ground vanished beneath her entirely.
Mamta's eyes widened.
He had lifted her effortlessly.
Like she weighed nothing.
Skyler kept running.
Fast.
Far faster than before.
The realization hit her immediately.
He had been matching her speed the entire time.
Wind lashed through her hair as Thornmere blurred around them in fractured lanternlight and shadow. One arm locked securely beneath her knees while the other kept balance against sharp turns and slick stone.
Mamta stared at him for half a second.
Actually stared.
Skyler's focus never shifted from the path ahead.
Controlled breathing.
Measured movement.
Efficient even under pressure.
Behind them, the footsteps were gaining.
One of the men shouted something.
Mamta twisted instinctively in Skyler's arms and her hand brushed against the dagger at his waist.
Skyler noticed.
Did not stop her.
Interesting.
Mamta pulled the blade free smoothly and looked back.
Three pursuers.
Too close.
The front runner moved well.
Professional.
But his companion slightly behind him favored his right side during turns.
Weak balance.
There.
Mamta exhaled once and threw.
The dagger spun once through the dark.
Then struck.
A sharp cry split the alley.
The blade buried itself deep into the man's lower leg just beneath the knee.
Perfect angle.
He collapsed instantly against the stone wall with a curse, momentum destroying the rest of his balance.
The remaining two stumbled around him.
One stopped to help.
Critical delay.
Skyler's pace never faltered but she felt the shift in him anyway.
Recognition.
Respect.
Mamta looked back forward calmly.
"Left side staircase ahead," she said.
Skyler glanced once.
She was right.
They cut sharply upward.
The distance widened.
Barely.
Mamta's ankle throbbed violently now that adrenaline had settled enough for pain to exist again.
Not broken.
Bad enough.
Skyler felt the slight tension in her body immediately.
"How bad."
"Manageable."
"Lie."
"Functional."
Closer.
That was the best he would get.
The bells below continued ringing across the harbor like something trying desperately to keep the ocean away through sound alone.
Mamta looked behind them again.
Only one pursuer now.
The other remained with the injured man.
Good.
She looked toward Skyler.
Then made the calculation.
"We split."
His answer came instantly. "No."
"At this rate we both get cornered."
"I move faster carrying you than you run injured."
"Not through divided alleys."
That landed.
Skyler's jaw tightened.
Mamta continued quickly:
"It's only one person now."
"He won't stay one person."
"Exactly why we divide attention."
Skyler kept running another few seconds.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Mamta knew that look already.
Probability.
Loss ratios.
Outcomes.
Finally she said quietly:
"I'm injured anyway."
That did it.
Skyler slowed sharply near the mouth of a branching alley hidden between two storage buildings.
Dark.
Narrow.
Easy to lose.
Or die in.
He set her down carefully.
Not gently.
Efficiently.
Mamta tested weight on her ankle.
Pain shot upward instantly.
She ignored it.
The remaining pursuer's footsteps echoed somewhere below the staircase now.
Closer.
Skyler looked at her directly.
"If captured, don't speak."
Mamta almost laughed at the absurdity of that instruction.
Instead she said:
"You hesitate too much for someone obsessed with survival."
Something flickered across his face briefly.
Gone quickly.
Then he asked quietly:
"You sure you won't regret this?"
Mamta held his gaze evenly despite the pain pulsing through her leg.
"I might," she admitted. "But that was the deal, wasn't it?"
Not comfort.
Truth.
The agreement had always been survival first.
No illusions.
No promises.
Skyler stared at her for one suspended second.
Then something in his expression changed.
Not softer.
Worse.
More honest.
"If I ever meet you again," he said quietly, "I'll make sure you never have to be a scapegoat again."
Mamta blinked once.
Caught off guard despite herself.
Skyler stepped closer.
"My friend."
The word hit harder than the bells.
Harder than the pursuit.
Harder than the sea screaming somewhere below Thornmere's cliffs.
Friend.
From him.
Before Mamta could process it, Skyler leaned down quickly and pressed a brief kiss against her cheek.
Not romantic.
Not hesitant.
A promise made by someone who rarely allowed himself any.
Then he stepped back instantly.
Already returning to survival mode.
"Move."
And disappeared down the opposite alley before she could answer.
Mamta stood frozen for exactly one second.
Heart suddenly unsteady in a way running had not caused.
Then footsteps echoed closer below.
Reality returned.
Fast.
Mamta turned and sprinted into the dark lane.
Her ankle screamed immediately.
She ignored it.
Pain meant functioning limbs.
Nothing more.
The city narrowed around her as she cut through unfamiliar cliffside paths branching dangerously close to the harbor edge. Her breathing turned sharper with every step but her speed barely dropped.
'Broken ankle ain't got shit on me.'
Not after everything else.
Behind her, the remaining pursuer followed.
Not close enough to grab her.
Close enough to matter.
Mamta took another turn.
Then another.
Then the alley ended.
Dead end.
Her heartbeat slammed once against her ribs.
Ahead:
Nothing.
Only open sea far below jagged cliffstone.
Black water crashing violently beneath Thornmere's outer walls.
Mamta spun sharply.
The pursuer slowed at the alley entrance.
Not rushing now.
Because he saw the ankle.
Saw the trap.
Saw her options narrowing.
Mamta backed toward the cliff edge slowly.
Cold sea wind whipped violently through her hair.
The man stepped closer.
Careful.
Certain.
Below them, the ocean roared against stone like something alive beneath the dark.
Mamta looked once toward the water.
Then back at him.
Calculated.
Height.
Current.
Distance.
Death probability.
Unpleasant.
But possible.
Capture was worse.
The man realized her decision half a second too late.
He lunged forward.
Mamta jumped.
The fall ripped the air from her lungs instantly.
Wind screamed past her ears.
Then the ocean hit like solid stone.
Freezing.
Violent.
The current dragged her deep immediately before she forced herself upward again.
Mamta broke surface hard, coughing seawater from her mouth as Thornmere's cliff lights blurred above her.
Far away already.
Good.
She began swimming parallel to the coast.
Fast.
Efficient.
Her ankle burned.
Her lungs hurt.
But she was alive.
Somewhere above the cliffs, Skyler was probably already gone.
The thought steadied her strangely.
Then another thought surfaced immediately after.
My friend.
Mamta's left hand lifted unconsciously toward the cheek he had kissed moments earlier.
Warm still.
Despite the freezing sea.
'A friend, huh?'
The thought almost made her laugh and blush a little at the gesture cause that was her first time experiencing this thing , peck on the cheek, it's not her culture it felt a little strange and weirdly pleasant.
Then something wrapped suddenly around her ankle.
Mamta froze.
Not rope.
Not current.
Something wet and flexible tightened sharply against her skin.
Her breath caught violently as the force yanked downward.
Hard.
The ocean vanished above her in an explosion of black water.
Mamta tried to kick free instinctively but whatever held her tightened further.
Not seaweed.
Too strong.
Too deliberate.
Water rushed into her mouth as panic finally cracked through control.
And below her—
Something moved.