Her hands came free.
Rebekah pulled Roa to her feet, then grabbed her wrist tightly, pressing the hilt of the Skyweaver’s knife into her palm and wrapping Roa’s fingers around it.
Roa looked up to find the girl’s eyes dark and glittering and full of vengeance.
“Now’s your chance to save your sister,” she said. And then, to Dax: “If you want her, come and fetch her.”
As the guards parted and Dax stepped through, Rebekah turned Roa toward the king and gave her a small shove. Roa stumbled, then looked up—right into the eyes of the boy she loved.
This was her plan all along,Roa realized.For me to kill him with all of Firgaard watching.
By ensuring there were witnesses to Roa’s murder of the king, Rebekah would get everything she wanted: Dax dead and Roa dethroned.
Rebekah had won.
Because soon the sun would be up and the Relinquishing would be over. Once it was, Roa’s chance to save Essie would be gone.
If Roa wanted to set her sister free, she needed to act, now, before the night was over.
Dax stepped in close, loosening her gag and pulling it down.
“I told you what I would do,” she whispered, staring up at him. “Why would you come for me? Why would you walk straight into a trap?”
“Because if it wasn’t for me, Essie wouldn’t be gone,” he said, brushing his thumb across her jaw. “And because this is destroying you.” He cupped her face in his warm, strong hands. “And because I love you.”
For a heartbeat, Roa saw that little boy sitting across the gods and monsters board. This was the end of their game. Roa had to make this move, and he was going to let her.
Roa’s eyes burned with tears as she looked to the lightening sky, then down to the white humming blade in her hands.
“I’m ready,” he said, as if seeing the thoughts in her eyes.
Roa lifted the knife.
And then a voice cut through the night.
“Where is my sister?”
Roa paused. Her heart began to hammer fast and loud in her ears.
She knew that voice.
Turning, she saw a girl step out of the crowd. She wore a sky-blue dress that came to her knees. Except for her hair—which was plaited—she seemed a mirror image of the queen.
“Essie,”Dax and Roa said at the same time.
But the hum was still silent. And as Roa reached desperately for their bond, she found it gone.
Instead, there was a gaping wound. An empty void.
As if this wasn’t her sister at all.
From behind the circle of Rebekah’s men, Essie saw Roa. Their gazes caught. And Roa saw that her eyes were no longer dark brown, but silver.
“There you are.” Essie smiled, but it wasn’t her usual smile. This was something colder and hungrier. “I’ve been searching all night for you.” Essie looked to the men separating her from Roa. “Let me pass.”
They didn’t. Instead, they drew their blades.
Essie’s smile twisted into a snarl. She raised her hand and when she brought it down, their necks snapped like twigs. The light in their eyes went dark. They crumpled to the ground.
