They'd been walking silently for hours and hours, past the innards of the city and onto the outskirts, until the setting sun bathed the sky in vibrant tones of pink and purple and red as it slowly sunk below the horizon.
Remi could feel her feet growing sore, but she didn't complain. There would be no point in doing so.
She could have ran, but she knew she wouldn't have made it far. It wouldn't have taken her long to get lost, and then someone would recognize her by her hair and horns and snatch her up for their own purposes.
Her capture was inevitable at this point, but at least she could choose who would take her.
Besides, she was away from crowds of people now, and could relish in her near-solitude.
"Through here," Melee called, turning sideways and squeezing through a thin slit in between a couple ancient buildings.
Remi hesitated a moment before ducking her head and following suit.
They had to walk sideways in the dark for a few moments while the ground sloped downwards.
Down, down down, until it opened up and they were in a cavernous passageway, lit by burning torches.
The air was instantly cooler on Remi's skin, and she savoured the feeling.
Taking a deep, soothing breath, Remi could also tell that this air was a lot more dry. Not near as much humidity.
And yet, the rocky walls were damp and dripping with condensation. The floor was cold even through her sandals.
"Are you just going to stand there all day?" Melee's voice startled her. Her grey eyes were sharp. "The least you could do is try run away, or make it easy on yourself and follow me. But don't just stand there."
Remi shook her head silently and walked in Melee's direction. After hours of walking together, she was feeling more comfortable around the wild, sarcastic young woman—even if she was quite possibly leading Remi to something terrible.
"You don't seem like a mercenary. Bodyguard?"
"Just a guard. For a prison. But it doesn't pay overly well, so I have to do things on the side. Things like this."
A prison? Remi's cousin, Soren, sometimes mentioned rumours of such a thing.
Remi took another deep breath of the stagnant air before biting back, "Such as saving girls from being raped and then kidnapping them for someone who probably wants them dead?"
Melee let out a grunt. "Like I said, there's no heroes in this world. You shouldn't expect any."
"Are you too scared to become one?" Remi asked, blinking.
And yet, as the startling words tumbled forth from Remi's mouth, she realized that she should be asking herself that same question.
Why was it that Remi never stood up for what she believed? Never took a public stand and tried to change things for the better . . .
Was Remi scared to try change the way things were?
Yes.
But why? What was she scared of?
Melee's voice startled her from her thoughts of self contemplation.
"Scared? No," Melee replied flippantly. "Just aware of the fact that change is impossible."
She continued on, without waiting for a reply. "Did you know that there are those worse than the psychopaths littering our streets? They're locked up, removed from society, because they're some of the craziest basket-cases in existence and even the psychopaths are terrified by them. Our society has fallen so far into immorality that its irreversible. Unchangeable."
Remi didn't rely. She only listened to the pitter-patter of her own footsteps against the cave tunnel's moist floor as they walked.
Was change truly impossible? Was there nothing that could be done?
She didn't get a chance to ponder any further, for they had come upon a set of heavy double doors built into the side of the cave.
The cave stretched further, twisting and turning into the unknown, but they wouldn't be going that way.
"Well, here we are," Melee announced with a deep sigh, yanking open one of the doors with considerable effort. "Though I suppose you're not as excited about that as I am. I'm getting paid, and you're walking into who knows what The Unseen Duke has in store for you."
Remi recognized the title immediately.
"The Unseen Duke? He's the one who wants me?" she asked in surprise.
Their family didn't have an overly positive relationship with The Unseen Duke. A few years back he'd asked for the Designers' services, but refused to meet in person. He'd sent someone else in his place, like he usually did when someone wanted to meet. That's how he'd got his alias. But Remi's father had refused to do business with him unless The Unseen Duke agreed to meeting face to face, the duke was furious. He hadn't contacted them again.
And now he was hiring people to kidnap a Designer? What had changed?
Melee strolled in confidently. "Yep. Surprise, surprise. Not sure why he wants you, though. You're just a tiny little thing. You might have big tits and a pretty face, but that's all you seem to have going for you. Hmm, maybe that's why he wants you. You don't look like you have any fantastic powers."
Remi blinked, glancing down at her chest. Were her breasts larger than average?
She followed Melee inside. The cave room was large; no one had bothered to carve the walls or roof flat, but the floor was level and smooth.
Fancy furniture—velvety couches, deep red chaises, rich, dark wood tables and stands—decorated the room. Remi could tell just by looking at it that everything in this room was very expensive and of the highest quality. The Unseen Duke must be one of the richest men in the city.
And yet, no Bliss. Remi felt her shoulders sag in disappointment.
Noticing that her shadow wasn't dancing and flickering uncertainly with every movement she made, Remi glanced up to find brilliant, crystal chandeliers casting brilliant, white light upon everything below them.
However, she and Melee were the only ones in the room.
"Let me guess, you made them bigger with your powers."
Remi's eyes snapped back to Melee. She was waiting impatiently for an answer. "Made what bigger?" She'd forgotten what they were talking about, but after asking the question, she remembered. Her breasts. "Oh. No, I can't change anything about myself, and I'd never willingly let someone else modify my body. That would be embarrassing, because they'd have to study me without clothes. Besides, I see so much change that sometimes it's just nice to have something remain constant."
Melee blinked her grey eyes in surprise. "You mean your powers don't work on your own body? So you could get stabbed, and wouldn't be able to do anything about it? That's a bit ironic—not to mention hilarious."
Remi shrugged. "Why do you think my uncles and father haven't killed one another yet? They've been keeping each other alive and young for hundreds of years, because they need each other."
"Hundreds?" Melee gulped. "So let me get this straight. Are you secretly the age of my grandma but disguising yourself as a teenager?"
"No," Remi chuckled for the first time in hours. "Of course not. I'm only eighteen. I don't think I'd want to live any longer than I'm meant to."
"Of course you would say that—you have the option of living forever."
Remi looked Melee in the eyes. "Would you really choose to live in this world for any longer than you had to?"
She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head honestly. "Nope. Not unless I got loaded and could hide away in a castle from the ugliness of society forever. With an extremely good looking husband, of course," she added with a laugh.
She actually wanted to have a husband? This surprised Remi, because most people didn't get married, because they had no desire to. Men sometimes had a few different women in their homes acting as wives. Women often courted many men, using them as stepping stools to move up in society, but never settling down with one. Therefore, this came as a bit of a shock.
Remi let out a bark of laughter. "Well, if you ever get that lucky, give me a shout and I'll make sure you become immortal."
It wasn't true immortality, and required a lot more effort than it sounded, but saying it as if it was simple to people who didn't understand was easier for Remi.
The grin Melee gave in reply instantly fell from her face as a pair of doors across the room from them burst open, nearly flying off their hinges.
The Unseen Duke had arrived.