Aurelia is a Courtesan, not an Assassin. Her world is turned upside down, however, when she kills a high-ranking Senator in self defense. Given his status, and the political power his family wields, Aurelia knows she will be executed without a trial...
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Countdown: 2 days, 4 hours, 4 deaths
Aurelia dreams of fire and brimstone- of a great yawning pit filled with molten lava. When she opens her eyes, she is not sure that she has stopped dreaming.
Her eyes sting, her chest burns from within, and the air is so thick that she can't catch her breath. She pushes herself upright, and the room spins around her. Aurelia mutters a curse under her breath when she realizes that she is still drunk.
"Ari! Ari!" Someone is shouting while pounding frantically at her door.
Aurelia manages to push herself into a standing position, but stumbles over her own feet when she moves forwards. She crashes to the ground, hard, but feels no pain. She bites her cheek on the way down, and the blood tastes like ash. Nothing feels real.
There are other screams, now, besides the one of her name. Footsteps rush through the hallways, someone is crying.
"Ari!" The shouting continues, the voice rising to a frantic pitch.
Aurelia groans and clumsily rises to her feet, tonguing the sore spot on her cheek. The second she unlocks the door, Mikael bursts within, his cheeks bright red, his hair matted with sweat.
"Ari, we need to help Joe!" he shouts, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the room.
Aurelia's feet clumsily follow, seemingly of their own accord. Mikael tugs her down the back staircase, and the air becomes thicker, more oppressive. Smoke, black and heavy, burns her eyes as it wraps around the banister, curls up toward the ceiling, staining it with soot.
"What's happening?" Aurelia manages to hoarsely push out of her tight throat.
"The polis is going crazy!" Mikael responds, his grip on Aurelia's hand tightening. "Cover your face," he adds- an adult in child form- before pulling his shirt up to cover his own mouth and nose.
The boy pushes open the door to the bar, and a scream involuntarily claws its way out of Aurelia's raw throat. The entire area behind the bar where the liquor is stored is ablaze. The flames are rising, higher and higher, as bottle after bottle is consumed by the inferno.
Joe is a whirlwind of motion as he combats the flames, tears streaking down his sooty cheeks. Several of the working girls are there too, tossing wet blankets over the fire. So far, they have kept it from spreading any further, but it looks like a losing battle.
"Where's Colin?" Aurelia demands, and the boy points outside, to where spectators have gathered to watch the scene in fascinated horror. Colin is laid out on the ground, prostrate, still caught up in his high.
In the background, Aurelia hears chanting, a deep, rhythmic sound that calls to mind the war drums of the Amaliem.
"Get outside," she orders the child, coming out of her drunken stupor in response to a surge of adrenaline. Mikael goes to protest, so Aurelia shoves him, hard, toward the door.
