Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

Their eyes flicked over us mechanically. They filed us both in either threat or non-threat category, and I knew exactly what category I was shuffled to: the same one I’d put them in.

But the Iron Cathedral was a public place, even for humans, and they couldn’t outright deny us entrance, but the one on the right shot me a warning look that said in no uncertain terms that they would be more than happy to bring heavy violence upon my person if I stepped out of line.

With a nod and a swift chant in Script, the door thudded and slid below the floor to reveal the Vault of Tears.

As we stepped from the plush carpet and back onto stone, the thuds of our boots resounded through the mostly empty chamber and melded with the subtle whine that permeated the room. White stone faded to gray as the slabs led to the center of the room, where the object of our heist lay situated on top of a small, rocky obelisk that rose from the earth itself to cradle the gemstone at the zenith.

Lachrymal’s Heart was huge for a gem. It was roughly circular, shaped like an egg about the size of my head and weighed at least twenty-five pounds. It was smooth around the center with precise lines cut along the edge which refracted light in the geometric patterns as we approached.

Raven tugged on my hand which stopped me in place. I turned back, confused. “What?”

“I don’t want to be here, it hurts.”

I realized then that I hadn’t heard the insidious infrasound that the gem emitted since the Aspect had lent me its chill. Raven didn’t have such luxury and was feeling the full impact of the oppressive weight of the Weeping God.

I pulled her close and held her hand tighter. “Feel that. Just focus on the tactile feeling of my hand and tune out everything else.”

She nodded, unsteady and wound her fingers through mine before gripping my hand with both of hers. I let her have the hand while I focused on my surroundings, to do what we’d come here for.

The room was large, full of mostly unused space, especially around the obelisk itself. A couple dozen pews were arranged around the room in a circle for when church was in service, but beside that, the ground floor was mostly barren.

Getting in from the ground floor wouldn’t be an option. There was too much open space and nowhere to hide or run to if I fucked up. Above was my best bet.

The ceiling was high overhead, at least twenty feet, which would hurt like hell if I fell, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Arched support beams just below the ceiling stretched across the entirety of the room. A few more jutted out and crisscrossed here and there but were for decoration rather than holding the weight of the building.

All right, that’ll be their downfall. It’ll be cramped, but like I assumed, those beams are going to be my best bet.

The stone beams were high enough and the light low enough that unless anyone looked directly at us, we could potentially hide for a while and scout out the area. There were also a few stained-glass windows that were close enough to the beams that I could leap and grab onto.

Cut through the glass and jump to one of the beams. It’ll be a broken leg if I miss, but at that point I’m pretty much dead anyway. All right, we’ll scout more when we come back, but there aren’t any guards in the vault itself. So I’ve got my entrance—that’s what we came here for.

Mika’s team will have info on who comes and goes and at what hours to give us our window. Let’s get out of here.

I let go of Raven’s hand and approached the obelisk before sinking to my knee and bowing my head. Let the guards at the door see I’m just a worshipper of Lachrymal and get them off my case.

I rose and the two of us left. Raven practically clung to me as we left the vault but regained some of her composure the further we got from the heart. When we exited the cathedral, she let go of me and stood on her own.

“Thanks,” she muttered, her cheeks red.

“Yeah, don’t get used to it, though.”

“What, the kind and endearing side of you? Being a decent person for more than a few minutes at a time? How awful would that be?”

She started snickering to herself, letting her blushed cheeks fade away as we meandered down the path back to Hightown.

“I can be kind for more than a few minutes,” I protested.

“Just not to me?” Raven asked, tilting her head toward me.

“I don’t like you that much,” I said, teasing her with a smile.

She laughed, picking up her pace as she stepped over a loose rock and nearly lost her balance. Her legs wobbled a bit, but she recovered and turned around while walking backwards down the steps, a devious smile lifting on her lips. “You say you don’t like me now, but that wasn’t the case last night.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“You move in your sleep. You held me against your chest for most of the night. Guess you unconsciously wanted to be closer to me,” she said, her voice dripping saccharine.

“Bullshit!” I shouted, my face growing hot.

She just kept up her smile and turned back around as we reached the last step. “Guess you’ll never know.”

I sighed as a dull pain radiated from behind my eyes and my mouth went dry. Her flippant attitude irked me to no end, but I didn’t think she was the kind of person to outright lie.

“I could make you tell me, you know.”

“How’s that?