There are many answers given. Some of them are optimistic, others contradictory, as the situation unfolds too quickly for clarity.
Ronan marches towards his chambers, and I know exactly where he’s heading.
Kira.
But before we make it there, worse news arrives.
A messenger rushes up to us from a different staircase, bowing quickly. “The Third Navy has advanced into the harbor. We’re trying to repel them at the docks, but the Nithyrian forces have damaged our siege engines. Three ships have landed so far, sir.”
The docks are close to here, only a few minutes’ walk.
“Ronan,” says Taran, all sense of formality forgotten. “If they’re inside the gates and landing more, and if we have no siege engines, the city will fall. Tonight.”
“Dammit!” There’s a loud crashing sound in the distance and then screaming. Through the window, I see flames rising down at the docks. “I need to get in the air. We can see where the fighting is and go down and help them.”
“Ronan.” Taran’s voice takes on the patient tone it does in the most desperate of moments. It’s the voice he used with me when Seth held us captive. “The city will fall. If we fight, they may slaughter us all. We need to surrender.”
“What do you think happens to us if I surrender?” Ronan’s voice is frantic, the voice of a trapped animal waiting for the knife. “Maybe she’ll spare the city, but she will kill you. She’ll kill Sylvie.”
“She’ll kill you, Ronan,” I say, taking his hand.
“She’ll definitely kill me,” says Seth.
Everyone turns and glares at him.
“What? She will. We only have one option—we have to run.”
“You want to run.Youwant to run. Did you do this, Seth? Did you let her in?” I pin him to the wall, holding the torch to his throat.
Seth squirms away from the flame, trying to control it with his magic but failing. “What the fuck is that? No, I didn’t let her in. I DIDN’T LET HER IN. Godsdammit, Sylvie, you’re burning me!”
I back off slightly, giving the torch a good shake in his direction to let him know I still mean business.
“I chose you. I helped you. And it fucking worked. It should have worked. How was I meant to know she’d do something this suicidal? She’s waited years for this. I thought she’d wait a bit longer, but I was wrong.” He turns to Ronan, his eyes pleading. “You have to leave. You have to get her out of here. Get us all out of here. It’s the only way.”
“I will not leave my city to die!” Ronan shouts. “You can leave. Go. Run like the coward that you are. I will not abandon my people.”
Seth’s eyes turn cruel. “I may be a coward, but I know when I’m defeated. If you cared anything about your city, anything about mysister, you’d surrender. Order the surrender, tell the city to beg for mercy, and run.” He grabs my shoulder and shoves me towards Ronan. “Or do you want to see her dead? Do you want to see her hanged for choosing you?”
“Don’t youdarespeak for me.” I slap Seth across the face, hard. He reels back in shock. “Ronan, I’m with you. I’ll come with you on Kira. There must be a way—”
The floors shake from another explosion, this one even closer.
“They’re at the palace gates!” shouts someone from the stairs.
Seth grabs Taran by the arms, his voice strangely soft. “Reason with him. He listens to you.Please.”
Taran looks among all of us. Then he sighs. “He’s right. You know he’s right, Ronan. If not for yourself, do it for her.”
Ronan presses his fingers into his temples, his eyes squeezed shut. He stays here like that for a long moment until another explosion rattles the windows, breaking a pane of glass. “Fine. If this is how it has to be, fine. Raise the white flag. Gather what you need and meet down in the baths. We’ll take thePegasus.”
“It’s too dangerous with the Third Navy in the harbor. We have to go on foot. The tunnels,” says Taran.
“But what about Quinn?” She has vanished, I realize. A servant was carrying her up the stairs, but he’s gone, and so is she. “And where are Larus and Octavia? Ronan, what about your grandmother?”
“Find them,” says Ronan to the nearest servants. “Find all of them, tell them to pack what they need and meet us in the baths.”
“Quinn can’t walk,” reminds Taran.
