The Glowing Knight by Jodi Meadows Read Free Book Online

down another alley. His heels bored small ruts into the dirt as I heaved him onward, a few stumbling steps at a time.
    The exertion made my heart pound uncomfortably hard. Dragging a fully grown man after dealing with that trellis . . . it seemed I needed to gain more muscle.
    Breathing embarrassingly difficult, I glanced around the alley. Whoever was coming was closer now, and if I wanted to ask Knight questions, I needed to get him somewhere safe.
    There. A door. I let Knight drop to the ground and hurried to try it. Locked. As the voices drew nearer, I jogged down thealley a little toward another door. Unlocked. Which hopefully meant it was abandoned.
    Only darkness waited inside. The room had the feel of a larger space, but it was hard to tell with only the faint glow from the moon and mirrors. At least it seemed to be empty. I heard no voices, no scuffle of movement, no ragged breathing.
    I ran back to get Knight, struggling to keep as quiet as possible while dragging a man down the dingy alley. My arms trembled with strain by the time I made it to the door, nudged it open, and hauled Knight inside.
    â€œWhere’s Shade?” someone asked down the alley.
    â€œDon’t know, but there are a lot of needy people looking for what’s in those vials.”
    The voices were coming closer. I heaved Knight a little farther before hurrying to close the door.
    In the dark room, I unwound the curtain pull I’d intended to use to scale the wall. Now, it would bind my professor.
    I’d never tied up anyone, but I’d certainly been lashed to a chair before. During the One-Night War.
    The memory shivered up inside me as I scanned the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dimness. I’d been right about the size; this used to be some kind of storage area, as far as I could tell. Broken crates, crooked shelves, and planks of wood littered the floor. Bug carcasses crunched under my boots.
    This was the sort of filthy place I’d always assumed was limited to the Flags. But maybe every district had its own forgotten corners—or the Flags were even worse.
    Professor Knight groaned. He’d wake soon.
    After a moment’s consideration, I stripped off his coat,pulled him toward the nearest shelving unit, and wrapped the curtain pull around his arms in a figure eight, then again around the shelf legs.
    As he stirred, I dug through his coat pockets and found more sacks like the one he’d sold Shade.
    Shine .
    No, I reminded myself. This was firefly.
    Betrayal shot through me again. How could he do this to people, knowing what he did about the effects? How could he do this to me ?
    â€œWho are you?” Professor Knight’s voice was groggy as he blinked up, his eyes not quite focusing. “Are you going to kill me?”
    Who was he was the better question.
    â€œWhere did you get this?” I pitched my voice deeper, more menacing. The Saint Fade Christopher mask gave it a faint ring, disguising me further.
    â€œIt’s better if you don’t know. If the Burning Hand hears about you, you’ll be dead within a week.”
    The Burning Hand? Lord Hensley?
    Too easily, I could recall the palm scorched onto Professor Knight’s forearm. Did Hensley do that to many people?
    And if Hensley was behind the firefly . . .
    Well, I couldn’t trust that he was the only one, but I wasn’t trying to put a stop to all shine use right now. Just Hensley. All I had to do was connect Hensley to shine and then my father would have no choice but to investigate him for magic use, too. He’d be convicted of murdering Lord Roth and attacking Professor Knight, and investigations would open into other things Ididn’t even know about.
    I’d be vindicated, and Hensley would be in the darkest of prisons.
    Unless Hensley—and Knight—was really doing all this for my father.
    â€œTell me about the Burning Hand.” I lifted a bag of vials and removed one. The pale liquid