They didn't get three blocks away from the archive before the city's population closed in, not with walls but bodies. A quiet street didn't stay quiet for long. And by the time Lucian, Istra and Sera reached a covered way between two old trade halls, there were waiting groups in the open that could have swallowed the trio whole if they weren't careful.
Sera was the one who spotted the first cluster first, reading faces on the approaching crowd. "Please tell me this isn't what it looks like," she muttered.
"It looks exactly like it is ," Istra said dryly.
Lucian paused at the center of the covered way, where the crowd had enough breathing room but not enough. He knew running wouldn't dictate chase ground preferences.
The first of the three groups was dressed in Authority gray, but not Soren. A woman, composed as any judge in the lower city markets, held a case under one arm.
