Blood splashes against Alicia's cheek and she blinks, registering the scene before her. Oliver grunts as the creature sinks its teeth deeper into his wrist where his sleeve has ridden up. He's grabbed its head, stopping its lunge. She can't seem to react as numbness seeps through her body. It's only when Oliver plants the muzzle of the gun against the monster's head and pulls the trigger that she jolts.

The creature crashes to the ground and Alicia manages to draw in another breath of air after her final one.

She rounds on Oliver, already tearing away a strip from her tunic to wrap it around his bleeding wrist.

"It fucking bit me," he says, clearly astonished and in as much shock as she is.

Alicia lifts her gaze and meets his eye as she tightens the knot around the wound. "You saved me."

"Don't ask me why," he grumbles before grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers, his blood slickens her own fingers. They run together towards the exit once again, leaving behind the flickering light of the burning oil to get lost in the darkness of the tunnel.

Scuffling footsteps follow them but they're far enough behind that Alicia can try and focus on navigating the tunnel. That's easier said than done because if Oliver's hand weren't in hers then she'd assume he isn't with her.

"I can't see anything," she gasps as they stumble through the dark, staggering over loose stones.

"Just keep going," he grunts and Alicia has to tighten her hand in his as he lurches forward.

"Oliver," she starts as they both feel their way along the walls of the tunnel.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for pointing a knife at you."

He pauses for a moment and Alicia has the feeling he's trying to find her face in the dark before he gives up and continues forward. "I don't blame you."

"How'd you end up working for the Ronavics?" she questions, needing to fill the silence with something other than their laboured breathing and her pounding heart.

"No offense, Alicia, but we're still strangers and I'm not telling you that."

"Strangers that are about to die together," she points out.

"Aren't you a morbid little thing?" he chuckles then curses as he hits something, bringing them both to a standstill.

"What is it?"

"We've reached the wall we broke through," he says and begins inching through the gap that she can't see, no matter how hard she squints.

Alicia clenches her fingers in his, halting his movements. "Oliver," she breathes. "Please don't let go of my hand."

He tugs her hand, urging her through the gap after him. "Sweetheart, this might surprise you but I don't particularly want to be left alone down here either, so don't let go of my fucking hand."

They stumble into the tunnel beyond and Alicia can only hope that whatever is following them is slowed by that wall, because finding their way out of this place in the dark may take them longer than they have.

Alicia grips Oliver's upper arm in her other hand, refusing to be separated from him, from her only lifeline at the moment. She's terrified, but she takes solace in knowing she's not alone. It's the only thing stopping her from wrapping her arms around her head and huddling in the dark like she did as a little girl. It didn't save her then and she doubts giving in to her fear will save her now.

Her eyes strain in the pressing darkness, barely able to make out Oliver who she practically presses herself against.

"Gods help us," she breathes, closing her eyes, trying to pretend she's not surrounded by the suffocating darkness.

"Alicia," Oliver says, tugging her hand and she opens her eyes again to peer around him.

Ahead of them a hazy glow trickles into the tunnel, becoming brighter the closer they get. They both stop walking.

"Friends of yours?" Alicia questions, staring at that growing orange light with wide eyes.

"I was about to ask you that." Oliver raises his gun as Alicia steps back.

She's not a fighter. She's nothing but a poor girl from the slums that needs some extra coin in her pocket to pay for her own schooling. She's not meant to be here.

The person rounds the corner in the tunnel, the light from their lantern blinding Alicia for a moment.

"I have a gun pointed at your head," Oliver calls, his finger on the trigger, his hands steadier than Alicia's could ever be while holding a gun. "No sudden movements."

The man ahead of them stops walking and Alicia takes in his uniform, the pressed moss green and lining of yellow giving him away as a city guard. It begs the question of what the city guard is doing in these tunnels.

"I'd ask the same of you," the guard says, his hand on the gun at his hip. Oliver doesn't flinch, not even as another guard steps around the corner, his revolver out and trained on them. "What are you doing in here?"

"We're a little lost. Mind giving us some directions to the exit?"

"We'll take you to it," the guard with the gun on them says, his eyes narrowed.

Oliver is still for a long moment, clearly contemplating the best course of action. Alicia doesn't want to know what the mercenary is planning, all she knows is that she's going to have to follow his lead, wherever that takes them.

Oliver tucks his gun back into the holster under his arm and splays his hands in a sign of surrender. "Lead the way," he says, even as a knot ties around Alicia's throat. He walks forward, both guards now with their guns on them as they lead them through the tunnel.

She follows Oliver despite her nerves because her instinct is whispering for her to trust this man.

"These tunnels are prohibited," one of the guards says and Alicia swallows as he drops back to walk beside Oliver, keeping his gun level with his stomach.

"By whose order?"

"The grand duke."

Oliver glances at the man with a crease between his brows. "Since when does the grand duke bother dealing with these sorts of things?"

The guard doesn't reply, but the little information he's given doesn't bode well. If the grand duke really has outlawed these walls, then what fate awaits them?

Alicia bends as they walk and swipes up a heavy stone. She holds it behind her back and the guards don't seem to notice her movement, but Oliver does. He flicks his gaze back to her and he dips his chin. Alicia stares at the back of the guard's head that walks beside him, hoping Oliver understands her.

They're not getting out of this situation without a fight.

They move together. Alicia heaves the rock up as Oliver dives for the guard ahead. Before the other man can get off a shot, Alicia cracks the rock into the back of his skull. He tumbles to the ground just as Oliver collides with the guard in front, grappling with his gun. Oliver slams his shoulder into the man's chest, crunching him into the stone wall.

The man at Alicia's feet groans and she tears her gaze away from the scuffle. The guard reaches forward and wraps his fingers around his gun, his eyes on Oliver. Alicia lurches forward before he can shoot and slams her heel into the man's wrist. He screams, drops the gun, and she swipes up the weapon. She holds it in two hands and thumbs back the hammer, struggling to do so with how her hands tremble.

He stares up at her as she aims at his head, her finger hovering over the trigger but she doesn't dare touch it. Is she really capable of killing a man?

It's a question that she doesn't get a chance to answer because Oliver kicks the man in the head and knocks him unconscious, the other guard already slumped against the wall.

Alicia lets out a shuddering breath, her mouth suddenly dry. Her arms are too stiff to move, to stop pointing the gun at the guard on the ground. Can she do it? Can she kill someone?

Oliver settles his hand over the gun and helps her lower it. She blinks at him and finds his eyes roving over her face, assessing her, perhaps trying to see if she has the fortitude to continue on.

Alicia clicks the hammer back into place and tucks the weapon into the waistband of her trousers. "We need to get out of here."

Oliver nods, takes her hand again, swipes up one of the lanterns from the ground, and they continue on. Alicia can't help but look back and wonder what she might have done if Oliver weren't by her side.

He leads the way to the closer entrance and Alicia vows to have words later with Elena for making her trudge through the tunnels longer than necessary.

They stop at a corner and Oliver peers around it before lurching back with a sharp breath. Alicia looks at him, a question in her gaze that he doesn't get to answer before she hears the voices of men. She mutters a curse.

"The other entrance," she murmurs and tugs his hand.

Oliver shakes his head and turns to her. "I'll distract them. You get to the other entrance."

She scowls. "I'm not leaving you behind."

"Only one of us is getting out of here, and you have the map."

Alicia gapes at him, horrified that he'd even suggest staying behind. "Oliver—" she begins but her words are cut off by his hand over her mouth.

"We don't have time for an argument, sweetheart." With those words, gunfire echoes in the tunnel, lodging into the wall near his head and spraying stone. Oliver ducks, his height protecting Alicia from the spray. Oliver leans out of cover to return fire, the sharp pops making Alicia cringe.

He settles back behind cover and shoves the lantern against Alicia chest. She takes it, unable to form anymore words of argument over the barrage of gunfire and shouts from the guards.

"Like I said; only one of us is getting out of here."

She shakes her head. "They'll kill you."

"I'm sure they'll try," he replies before lunging around the corner. Alicia watches with wide eyes as Oliver grabs a guard that was getting far too close, slamming him into the wall opposite them. The guard screams as the snap of his wrist joins the sound of gunfire, causing him to drop his gun. Oliver shoots and then the soldier is sliding to the ground, leaving a dark streak of blood on the wall behind him.

Oliver's gaze as he turns back to her makes her wonder if perhaps he is the Reaper.

He stalks forward, raising his gun and letting loose more bullets towards the soldiers that grow in number with each moment.

Alicia doesn't want to die here, not like this, gunned down like a common criminal. She has her pa she needs to look after, her brothers, her ma. She can't die here.

"Alicia, go!" he commands and then she runs, clutching the lantern to her chest. Oliver claims the attention of the guards as she dashes past to the other tunnel and ducks back behind cover just as Oliver's gun clicks. He curses and his sterling gaze meets Alicia's hazel ones, dread slowly igniting in them.

Alicia turns the knob on the lantern until the flame goes out and scuffles back, further into the shadows.

She can keep going, run to the other entrance into the tunnels, leave Oliver behind to his fate. But she doesn't. She stays because she can't leave him alone.

Oliver puts his finger to his lips as he stares at her, commanding her to stay quiet and hidden. She gives a weak nod.

He glances around the corner, only to whip back when a bullet dislodges stone from the wall near his face.

Alicia pulls the gun from the waistband of her trousers and prepares to slide it to him but he shakes his head. All she can do it stare at him as he raises his hands.

"Don't shoot!" he calls. "I'm unarmed." Then he steps out of cover and Alicia sucks in a breath as she waits for him to be shot.

Oliver walks forward, hands splayed, until he's out of sight from Alicia. She smothers her breathing behind her hand. Scuffles reach her, then a grunt, and footsteps that fade. Alicia risks a glance around the tunnel as the guards exit into the night beyond, dragging Oliver with them.

She closes her eyes for a moment, presses her head against the rough wall of the tunnel, and damns her bleeding heart.

Alicia crawls after them, staying in the shadows. She approaches the gaping hole in the wall but goes no further, having a clear view of the guards and the starry sky and the field of grass beyond.

Alicia can't seem to breathe with what she sees, what Oliver is dragged into, the mess he's forced to face alone. Her gut tells her to go to him, to stand by his side and face those guards together. She owes him nothing, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be there with him.

The glow of lanterns in the night illuminate the men that stand around Oliver as he's shoved to the dirt, forced onto his knees. But Oliver lifts his chin, holds his head up high, and stares them in the eye. Something in Alicia's chest blossoms to see that blatant defiance and show of strength. It makes her want to do the same thing to everyone who's forced her into the mud of the slums.

Someone steps forward. A tall man in a finally tailored suit, layered in a heavy brown coat and black gloves. Alicia's breath hitches as she spies the man's face.

She's seen it before. Seen it in the grainy pictures in the papers that she's only ever been able to scoff at. The Grand Duke of Muovea, a man second only to the king.

"What's your name?" Sergey Volkov asks, his voice a low cadence, spoken through thin lips. His nose is narrow, eyes slightly slanted, giving his features sharp angles and interesting shadows. He isn't an old man, perhaps only in his early thirties, but he's already showing strands of grey at his temples in his slicked back hair.

Oliver continues to stare up at him like he's not looking into the eyes of one of the most powerful men in Muovea. "Oliver."

"Are you alone, Oliver?"

"Yes," Oliver says, not a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Sergey nods and glances at the guards gathered around. "It seems you've managed to kill some of my men."

"I was defending myself."

"Defending yourself," Sergey repeats with a quirk of his brow. "You're aware that these tunnels are prohibited, yes?"

"I might have heard something about that," Oliver replies with a shrug.

Sergey lets out a breath that fogs the air before holding out a gloved hand. One of the guards places a revolver in his grip and Alicia has to stop herself from lurching forward. "What were you doing in the tunnels, Oliver?"

"Looking for red-eyed witches."

"And you killed men for that search?"

Oliver doesn't reply and Alicia can only imagine the nerves he must be feeling, the thoughts that must be running through his head.

"I need men like you, Oliver. Men that aren't afraid to get their hands a little bloody."

Instantly, Oliver's entire body tenses. His hands fist at his sides and he looks ready to punch the grand duke. "Whatever offer you're about to make, I'm going to have to refuse."

"You can do that," Sergey says with a shrug and thumbs back the hammer of the gun. "But there's really only one other way out of this." He raises the weapon and presses the metal against Oliver's forehead.

Alicia tears her eyes away and looks down at the gun in her grip. How many can she take down before she's shot and killed? Enough to give Oliver a chance to escape? Or will it only doom them both?

Alicia closes her eyes and forces herself to take a breath and think clearly. Oliver gave his freedom so she could escape. She'd be crushing that sacrifice if she reveals herself.

"Of course, someone will identify your body," Sergey continues. "I'll learn who you are, everything about you, and I'll kill your family as well. Everyone you love will die because you decided not to serve your country."

"What could I possibly offer you?" Oliver asks, his voice strained and rough.

"Whatever you saw in those tunnels is dangerous. To you. To Muovea. And I want to know everything about it."

Oliver spits, splattering saliva on the grand duke's polished shoes.

Sergey looks down. "I'll assume you mean to cooperate." He lowers the gun, tilts his head, and his guards grab Oliver, shoving him further into the night. "Destroy the entrance." With his parting words, Sergey turns on his heel and walks away.

Alicia backs away from the entrance as guards approach. She makes a quick escape and doesn't look back.