They waited until the voices faded and they were sure no one was waiting for them before climbing back into the chamber. The room was empty. They were safe. Lights flickered overhead. Caitlyn’s legs trembled beneath her. Debris covered the ground, mixing with the mud splattered everywhere after the explosion. Her anger at Vi simmered dangerously. They could have been discovered—if Vi hadn’t delayed her under that rod, they could have avoided so much risk. Vi was unpredictable, and Caitlyn was only now grasping what that truly meant. She was a wild card, and it could all explode in Caitlyn’s face at any moment.

  Her stomach twisted as her eyes landed on the man lying motionless on the floor. His body had been discarded on the ground, left to the chaos of the place. The stillness of his form was like an accusing cry against her actions. She was responsible. He would never draw breath again because of her.

  She knew this could happen when she decided to become an enforcer. She thought she was prepared for something like this, all the hours of training, all the talks given by the teachers at the Academy… The reality was nothing like she could have imagined.

  They left the pipes in silence.

  “You good?” A hand rested on her arm. She shoved Vi off her.

  “Yes—” Caitlyn bit out, her anger flaring,

  She turned on Vi, feeling her fury igniting now that they were out of danger. She couldn’t believe how reckless the other woman was.

  “You almost left me for dead! You kept me trapped under that rod!” She almost shouted.

  “Relax,” Vi said, brushing her off. “I had it under control. I wouldn’t leave you there. I’m not a monster.”

  “How was I supposed to know that?” Caitlyn shot back, her voice shaking. “I thought you’d left me for dead!”

  Vi sobered.

  “You’re crazy! You’re not normal!” Caitlyn shouted, her voice breaking under the weight of her anger and fear. Everything she had bottled up that evening came spilling out in those words.

  Vi stopped in her tracks, taken aback by the outburst. She turned, her expression a mix of surprise and faint amusement.

  “Well, yeah,” Vi said, shrugging slightly. “What did you expect from a Zaunite fighter? That I’d be just like one of your polished Piltie friends? That we’d fight crime together, hand in hand, with sunshine and rainbows lighting the way?”

  Caitlyn flinched at the mocking tone, but Vi wasn’t done.

  “Wake up, Princess,” Vi continued, her voice hardening. “I’m not your caretaker. You asked for my help, and it comes with terms. One of those terms is trust. And let’s be real—did you actually think anyone from around here could be… sane?”

  Vi gestured vaguely to their surroundings, her tone turning bitter. “I wish I could be what you wanted, I really do. But then I would have been long dead in Zaun. This place kills sane people.”

  With that, Vi turned back around, clearly intending to keep walking. Her dismissal was like a slap to Caitlyn’s face, stoking a fire she hadn’t realized was burning.

  “Then it’s over,” Caitlyn said, her voice cold and final.

  Vi stopped but didn’t turn around.

  “I don’t care that you’re the only person willing to help me,” Caitlyn continued, her tone sharp but tinged with a bitterness she couldn’t hide. “I can do this on my own. I don’t need you. Not if it means risking both of our lives like this. I’m not going to let myself get dragged into another mess like tonight. I can’t. I don’t want to work with you anymore.”

  The words tasted sour, each one leaving an ache in her chest as they passed her lips. She watched Vi stiffen, her shoulders tensing as if another brick had been added to the wall between them.

  Vi stepped away from Caitlyn, leaning heavily against a nearby wall. Her face was cold, unreadable, her chest barely rising as if she wasn’t even breathing. Dirt streaked her arms, which she folded tightly across her torso. She gave Caitlyn a half-smirk—sharp, mocking—but her eyes betrayed a flicker of disdain, a bitterness that cut deeper than her words.

  “Fine with me,” Vi said, her voice laced with venom. “No more suicide missions. I guess you’ve had your fun in Zaun, but it looks like you bit off more than you could chew, cupcake.”

  The insult hung in the air like smoke. They stood in tense silence, locked in an unspoken battle of wills. Neither moved, their gazes clashing in a wordless war.

  Finally, Vi raised one hand in a flippant, mocking gesture toward the street. “Go ahead,” she said, her tone biting. “No one’s stopping you.”

  Her other hand, however, remained pressed firmly against her abdomen, her posture stiff and unnatural as she leaned back against the wall.

  “Fine,” Caitlyn snapped, the word heavy with finality. She turned sharply on her heel and started walking, her boots echoing on the uneven pavement.

  It’s for the best, she told herself. This was never going to work.

  As she passed Vi, Caitlyn caught a glimpse of something in the other woman’s eyes—hatred, yes, but something else she couldn’t quite name. She forced herself to push forward.

  She couldn’t help but feel defeated.

  She stopped abruptly after rounding the corner. That’s when she heard it—a shallow, ragged breath followed by the soft thud of something hitting the ground.

  The realization hit her like a bolt of lightning. That look in Vi’s eyes, the one she couldn’t decipher—it wasn’t just anger.

  It was pain.

  Stubborn idiot, Caitlyn thought, her frustration mingled with a growing sense of dread. Without hesitation, she turned on her heel and ran back to where Vi had been standing. But when she arrived, Vi wasn’t standing anymore. Instead, she was kneeling on the ground, her head bowed, a small pool of blood spreading beneath her, growing larger with each passing second.

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  Caitlyn’s breath caught in her throat as she rushed to Vi’s side, kneeling beside her. She placed a hand on Vi’s arm, trying to help her up. That damned woman must have been injured much earlier and all this time she didn’t tell Caitlyn about this. Clearly there was no trust between them.

  “I thought you’d fucked off by now,” Vi muttered, her voice weak and the bite gone from her words. She was slipping, losing consciousness. Caitlyn steadied her, getting her to her feet.

  “Where can we go that’s safe?” Caitlyn asked, her voice urgent, panic starting to edge in.

  Vi staggered, leaning on Caitlyn for support. “M-my room... it’s, ah...” She swayed, fighting to stay upright. “That way.” She gestured vaguely toward a row of townhouses and a nearby bar district, her words slurred as her condition worsened with every breath.

  They stumbled down the street, Caitlyn practically carrying her. After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached a small, dimly lit room. Caitlyn gently helped Vi onto a bed that took up nearly all the space. Vi’s condition was far worse than Caitlyn had realized. Blood soaked through her shirt, and her eyes were unfocused, glassy with pain and fading consciousness.

  Caitlyn’s heart raced. There was only one thing she could think of. With trembling hands, she reached into her pocket, grimacing as she pulled out the small vial of shimmer.

  Vi let out a low groan, her head rolling back, the pain evident in her strained expression.

  Caitlyn opened the vial with shaky fingers, her heart pounding in her chest. She poured a small sip into Vi’s mouth, praying it would be enough. Vi gasped as the liquid hit her throat, her eyes filling with tears, her whole body shuddering in response. Caitlyn cupped her face, to elevate some of the pain.

  For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of Vi’s ragged breathing. Then, slowly, the worst of it seemed to pass. Vi lay back on the bed, her breathing deepening, the tension in her body easing. She was recovering.

  Caitlyn waited until Vi’s breath returned to normal. When the woman finally spoke, her voice was low, hesitant.

  “Look—” Vi began, her voice rough but sincere. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get scared back there in the pipes. I just... I need to trust you. Or, rather, I need you to trust me. Otherwise, there’s no point in any of this. I got mad when you didn’t tell me that was the Kiramann pattern. It felt like you were hiding something, and I’ve been there too many times. I’m sorry for the way I treated you. It was... not great.” She offered a half-smile, but it was strained. “Also... thanks for saving me.”

  Caitlyn took a deep breath and turned to look out the small window, her thoughts clouded by the events of the evening. She bit her cheek, deciding on what to say next. She was certain she was going to regret this.

  “It’s not just that,” Caitlyn said, her gaze dropping to the ground. Vi’s eyes shifted toward her, curious. Caitlyn gathered what little courage she had left and looked at her. “I’m a Kiramann. My mother is the councilor.”

  Vi’s expression faltered, and Caitlyn pinpoint the exact moment of the shift. The warmth in Vi’s eyes, the fragile bridge they had been building, began to crumble as the weight of Caitlyn’s confession set in. She saw the warmth gave way to guarded distance, though Vi tried to mask it.

  “I see.”

  “I don’t think you do,” Caitlyn replied, her frustration growing. “I don’t even understand what those boxes mean. My family is not involved in those things.”

  “Of course,” Vi answered with barely a flicker of emotion. She kept herself guarded.

  “No, you don’t understand!” Caitlyn stood, the rush of emotions. “This is everything I fight against, and my mother would never do such a thing! We have our differences, but she’s a person of principle. She cares— in her own way . She’s caught up in politics, but she would never do this!”

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t,” Vi said, her voice stripped of emotion. Caitlyn could see the doubt in her eyes, the lack of effort to argue with her. It was clear that Vi had already made up her mind.

  “This has to be a setup,” Caitlyn said, pleading with Vi to believe her. “Marcus is on my case. Maybe he set this up as a warning, a precaution to keep me from digging any further. This just proves we need to expose him even more.”

  She searched Vi’s face, desperate for any sign of understanding. But the other woman’s expression remained impassive.

  They stood like this in silence for a beat. Vi’s eyes remained fixed on her and she felt the heaviness of the gaze.

  “How did you get shimmer to save me?” Vi’s cold whisper cut through the silence. She leaned weakly against the wall, her injury still taking its toll.

  “What?” Caitlyn’s pulse quickened, her heart racing at the question.

  “How did you get shimmer to save me just now? I wouldn’t have healed like this without it.”

  Caitlyn swallowed hard, sweat forming on her forehead. The question hit her harder than she expected.’

  “I—” she started, but the words caught in her throat. She felt a wave of shame rush over her as Vi’s piercing gaze bore into her, a mix of disbelief and disappointment. Caitlyn’s chest tightened, and the silence stretched unbearably long. She had to explain it, she didn’t want Vi to think she was involved in the drug distribution.

  “It’s not what you think,” Caitlyn whispered, her voice barely audible.

  Vi raised an eyebrow, leaning her head slightly to the side, clearly waiting for an answer. Caitlyn felt the weight of the moment press down on her. She couldn’t look Vi in the eye.

  “I just…” Caitlyn paused, her voice trembling. “I just wanted to feel it again,” she confessed, barely able to form the words. Heat rushed to her face from embarrassment and shame. “I took one vial from the chamber when—we were going. Just in case... if we needed an extra kick.” Her words felt hollow, even to her.

  The surprise on Vi’s face was evident, but she didn’t say anything.

  She closed her eyes, remembering the heat of the moment, telling herself it was a precaution, just in case. It did help, but now she saw it for what it was: a weakness. Because, while last time she had too much of it and almost died, it was still an addictive siren song that promised a temporary uplift, and she was weak enough to want to feel it again. And the moment she admitted it, she knew that Vi would see it too. She couldn’t stand the thought of Vi pitying her or losing respect for her.

  “I know I shouldn’t have, and I know it was stupid!” the words rushed out of her. She couldn’t stand the sadness she saw in Vi’s eyes. It was like Vi had already given up on her. “But it saved your life! Please, I—”

  “Don’t ever do that again,” Vi’s voice was firm, cutting through the air like a gust of wind. Caitlyn nodded, unable to say anything more.

  “If you do, we’re done. For good. Do you understand?”

  Caitlyn nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as she met Vi’s gaze. The weight of the words hung in the air between them, heavy and final. Vi stared at her for a long moment, searching for something Caitlyn couldn’t define, maybe honesty. Finally, Vi sighed, her expression softening just a fraction.

  “Let’s say I believe you about your parents. That means Marcus is setting you up. That’s bad news.”

  Caitlyn looked out the window in thought. She was grateful that Vi hadn’t spoken out loud what they were both thinking: What if it’s not a setup? Caitlyn wasn’t ready to consider that possibility.

  “How are you feeling?” Caitlyn asked in a softer voice, stepping closer to the bed where Vi was lying.

  It was only now that Caitlyn really took in her surroundings. The room was small, cramped, dirty. There were almost no personal possessions—just the bare necessities. Caitlyn couldn’t imagine living in such a place, enduring this kind of existence every day. She tried to push away her pity, afraid to hurt the other woman more than she’d already had.

  Dirty rags were stashed in the corner, stained with blood. Cailtyn didn’t want to think about the reason why they were in this state. She noticed an empty bottle carelessly thrown under the bed.

  She sat down beside Vi, still feeling the tension that had built between them. It wasn’t gone, not yet.

  Vi shifted, stretching her arm out. “Fine,” she said, her voice tired. “Just need to sleep it off.”

  They sat in comfortable silence, Caitlyn lost in her own intrusive thoughts. The events of the evening replayed in her mind, and now, with the adrenaline fading, she finally allowed herself to reflect on everything that had happened—the chaos, the violence, and that moment. The moment when… she hadn’t missed.