"How are we supposed to bring someone back from the dead?" Mikhael asked. Kaz put a finger to his chin.

"Fedyor?"  Fedyor perked up. 

"Hmmm?"

"You said you wanted to move on? How did one do that?"

"You had to find the "dealer" different from your brother. He used to be the owner of The Afterlife Casino. Sankt Ilya. The Breaker of Chains. You had to win a game against him. Then A.M. took over and now no one moves on anymore." 

"So...?" Marie asked.

"We find Sankt Ilya," Alexei said.

The Darkling clapped his hand and the room began to change. Kaz figured that fabrikators were altering the room and not that The Darkling had the power to change the environment. A small arena formed in the large room. It was circular and slightly indented into the floor. Tahlia and Hong made their way into the arena. The Darkling got off his throne and got close to the arena. everyone stood up and moved towards the arena, well, more like a ring. In reality it was much too small to be an arena. Tahlia's lithe frame seemed to put her at a disadvantage, but she was a Fabrikator. Her kefta seemed to be official from the Second Army in Ravka. She likely died in the massacre a couple years ago. It would make sense for her to be friend if she had died that way. Hong was very large and seemed to be very strong, but Grisha always had advantages over normal people. Birgit seemed almost bored by the matchup. She probably just wanted to see Kaz and Matthias fight.

"Come on!" Birgit shouted. "Get up Brekker!" Kaz took a deep breath and stood up. He watched as Hong stared Tahlia down. What would happen to the loser? Hong took the first punch and Tahlia ducked out of the way. He saw Matthias near him and slipped over.

"Helvar," Kaz whispered. Matthias turned around and saw Kaz. His eyes widened slightly and he turned back to looking at the fight. Tahlia grabbed the ground and ripped out some of it. She threw it at Hong and it pierced him in the chest. Hong didn't falter. Tahlia's eyes widened as Hong ripped it out of his body and threw it to the side. 

"Why are you here?" Matthias asked. "Who killed you?" Tahlia moved back away from Hong. Hong moved faster than Kaz thought he would be able to and grabbed her by her neck. Her arms reached out to try and grab his face. Her eyes were beginning to cross. Then she grabbed the arm that was holding her and squeezed hard. Hong let out a groan and dropped her. 

"I'm here to get you out." 

"What does that even mean?"

"Bringing you back to life." Tahlia jumped onto Hong and wrapped hard on his neck. The fabric of his clothes tightened around his neck and this time it was Hong's eyes that crossed. Finally Hong sunk to the ground. Tahlia stepped off of him and sighed. Kaz didn't see Matthias' reaction, but he knew how shocked he was. Before Kaz could explain more the fight was over. Kaz walked back to where he was. Hopefully no one spotted him talking to Matthias. Kaz looked to Birgit and she still seemed bored. Birgit absolutely hated Drüskelle. If Kaz was supposed to free Matthias he needed to distract her. This girl was dangerous and Kaz needed to change the plan accordingly. 

Hong and Tahlia walked out of the ring and the room shifted back to normal. Tahlia went to were a lot of kefta clad teens and adults. In the center was a man with a scar across his neck and grey hair. He was Shu and he had a black piece of tape over his mouth. Something told Kaz that he was definitely one who caused The Darkling a lot of trouble. He gave a look to Tahlia that Kaz thought was a mix of disappointment and pride. He heard Tahlia mutter something. "Botkin." Botkin seemed important. Kaz made an internal note about him. 

After that it was night. Since no one could sleep it was just twelve hours in almost complete darkness. The only ones who were allowed to speak were Birgit and The Darkling, but something very peculiar caught Kaz's ears. The sound of banging came underneath The Darkling's golden throne. It was strange, but when the light was slowly coming back Kaz could've sworn he saw a look of regret on Birgit's face. The banging.

Kaz heard a knock ring through the room. Birgit disappeared and reappeared seconds later. 

"The Dealer wants to see his brother." The Darkling's grey eyes narrowed and he stood up. Jordie wanted to see him. The Darkling deliberated on the idea; moving his head back and forth he finally decided on what he wanted to do.

"Grant his request," the Darkling said. 

"Up Brekker!" Birgit said in an overly sweet tone and pointed to an area of the room. Kaz stood up and went to where Birgit was pointing and melted away. Kaz was in binding and was in a chair across from his brother.

"I'm glad you are ok, brother," Jordie told him. Kaz nodded. He needed to be very careful with his words. 

"Is everything doing alright?" 

"Everything is in the same condition you left it in." 

"Feel free to move the chess board anytime now." 

"It wouldn't feel right until you tell me where."

"Give me a little while to think about where I want it."

"I'll be back in a couple hours. The sooner that thing gets moved the better."

"Let's hope the others are good at their jobs." Jordie's eyebrows raised. He nodded and gave Kaz two fingers. Kaz only had two hours to find out where he was. He needed to find Saint Ilya, but he needed a very good distraction. Hopefully the people he assembled were up to the task. Kaz was pretty sure he knew where the saint was, but they also needed to take on the Darkling. He needed to rally the friends. There were so many Grisha in the friends. They were afraid of him, but how did they become friends if they were afraid in the first place? He needed to get them on his side. 

"I--" then Kaz disappeared and went back into the golden room. He hoped Jordie was able to get the message. Birgit walked over to him.

"You're lucky you got that long," she said and she ordered Kaz back to where he was forced to earlier.  Kaz ended up watching the Darkling for the better part of an hour and a half. He tortured someone in the Grisha clique. His torture was part visions and part physical pain. A lot of tugging and pulling from the shadows, but nothing that couldn't be healed. He was still the Darkling, but from what he had heard from Nina he was far weaker than he was. It would be hard, but not impossible to take him down without a Sun Summoner. He counted 11 Materialki. There were 6 Durasts and 5 Alkemis. 16 Etherealki, with 4 Inferni, 7, Squallers, and 5 Tidemakers. 9 Corporalki. 3 Heartrender and 6 Healers. 36 Grisha in total. The Darkling was weaker and Kaz honestly didn't get why they hadn't rebelled. The Darkling was only one Grisha in a sea of trained soldiers that he killed. 

"Ya know, Sasha?" Birgit said to the Darkling. 

"What Birgit?"

"I really would love to see Helvar and Brekker fight." The Darkling didn't smile but his look seemed to comfort Birgit. He sighed and leaned back onto his throne.

"Fine, have them fight Birgit," he said. Matthias' eyes widened and he stood up.

"No." Birgit looked furious. Her eyes bugged out of her head and veins in her neck pulsed.

"No? NO!" She marched over to him and punched him in the gut. "You will do what I say filthy drüskelle! I have the power here and I say fight!" The Darkling moved his hand and a shadow let across the floor and into Matthias' eyes. Matthias slowly sunk into the ground and Kaz heard the quiet groans that came out of his mouth. The Darkling finally let up and Kaz watched Matthias breathe heavily. The Darkling's eyes squinted and his face scrunched. 

"You've gotten stronger little drüskelle." 

"I have no qualms fighting him, your Darklingness."

"Your Darklingness?" Birgit questioned. "It's moi soverennyi!" Kaz rolled his eyes.

"I don't care about what Ravkans call their leaders." He made sure to put extra emphasis on Ravkans. 

"What is wrong with Ravkans Brekker!" The Darkling boomed.

"Nothing except they can't manage their money," Kaz said cooly. He could tell he was alway drawing ire from the other friends. The shadows in the room flared and for the first time Kaz was slightly nervous. This man was the real deal, but he was still a man and hopefully he would play into the same hand every power hungry person played into. The Darkling clapped his hands and again it shifted into a ring. Matthias and Kaz's binding came off and they faced each other in the ring. Matthias and Kaz got close to each other and Kaz whispered. "Punch me Helvar!"

"Why?"

"So I can tell you the plan," he said. Matthias leaned in with his body and swung at him, but Kaz dodged and whispered in his ear. "We need to get Saint Ilya to bring you back," he said before launching a quick thrust at Matthias. 

"Him! Are you insane?" Kaz nodded and dodged out of the way of a thrust from Matthias. Matthias always use his whole body to fight so it gave Kaz enough time to explain what he needed to. 

"I think I know where he is."

"Where?" Kaz pointed with his head to the throne. Matthias grabbed Kaz by the chest and had shoved him to the side. 

"How do you expect us to get there? He never leaves it." Kaz punched him in Matthias nearly went down. Kaz had counted the time. Kaz was sure of it. It was now or never to act. The team he didn't even know for a day couldn't fail him. They just couldn't. Jordie couldn't let them fail. 

"That's what's coming in three... two... one..." Loud cries came from the hotel and Birgit's eyes widened and she disappeared and reappeared again. Her already pale face was sheet white.

"Sasha, it's a rebellion." Kaz smirked as he avoided a punch. Matthias nearly fell over with a shocked expression. It was about to be go time. The Darkling stood up and walked from his throne and he and Birgit disappeared into the ether. 

This was his only chance. His team was coming and Matthias and Kaz were coming home.

1800 words on the dot. I'm so proud of myself. I can't believe this bad boy is almost over. I went back and skimmed both books in the duology for this. I hope you all enjoyed. Also if you knew my instagram would you follow it? I'll put chapter updates on my story.