“We leave the coast unprotected. We stick with Teddy’s plan,” she announces, her voice imbued with a strength she doesn’t feel.
“We can’t let them close to the castle—not with The Barrier fading. They won’t come from the coast with The Barrier still up, anyway. We need to meet them at the edge of the city. How long until The Barrier falls completely?” she asks, eyes flicking between Thalmyr and Vren.
The men exchange a glance. Not kind—necessary. The kind of shared gaze held between two men doing whatever it takes to keep a kingdom from being toppled.
Thalmyr sighs, and it sounds dangerously like surrender. “Hours. When the moon rises to its peak, The Barrier will be no more.”
The only defense. The only thing standing between conquest and the castle—The Barrier. The Lightborne Barrier she has resented her entire life. The symbol of oppression, starvation, loss, superiority. And now?She wishes it would hold for just one more day.
She nods. “Then we need to take them out before they get there. Every single one of them.”
Elyssara is no stranger to violence. No stranger to claiming lives that threaten her own or her loved ones—doesn’t think twice about it. But destruction on this scale? This is new. Faceless strangers invading her kingdom for no better reasonthan because they were told to. Boys and girls sent to die because powerful people mistook conquest for purpose. It feels senseless, unnecessary. But these are her people. And she’ll end anyone who seeks to take the only place they’ve ever called home.
“We need to stop them before they cross The Black Stream bridge. It’ll cause a bottleneck—there’s one bridge—but if they cross it…” she trails off, shaking her head at the weight of it all. “It’s over. They can access The Underbelly, the castle, every person of Virellin.”
The words settle across the room like a premonition. Breaths become shaky. Hands drag down faces. Curses are muttered under breaths.
But Teddy leans in, like this is exactly where he thrives. Like his senses have been called to arms.
“We don’t meet them head-on,” he says, his tone sharpening. “That’s what they want. We won’t run into the fray this time.”
He risks a glance at Seren, her eyes already pinned on him. Something passes between them. An understanding. A sadness. A loss. But now is not the time.
A flicker passes around the room at Teddy’s words. His old philosophy turned inside out.
“We let them step intoourterritory,” he continues. “Starborn positioned here, here, and here—” he marks the narrowest passages between the forest edge and the slums, “—hidden, waiting. They push forward thinking they’ve breached the city, and we close behind them.”
“An ambush,” Seren says quietly.
“A controlled collapse,” Teddy corrects. “We let them believe they’re winning until they’re too far in to retreat.”
Elyssara feels clarity settle in her chest.
“This is where we break them,” she says.
“Or where they break us, depending on the strength of our strategy,” Teddy replies evenly. “So we plan for both. We need every one of our Starborn soldiers to be worth ten of theirs.”
Ten to one.
Ten lives for every one of theirs. That is the mathematics of extinction. That’s how outnumbered they are. The weight of that threatens to cave in Elyssara’s chest. But before she lets it, Saana, who has been silent until now, steps forward slightly, her gaze fixed on the map.
“They have Skyfire.”
The words land like a blade.
Skyfire.
Elyssara looks at her. “Explain.”
Saana steadies herself, though the tension shows in the set of her shoulders. She brushes back her tight, onyx curls, like she’s ready to deliver a truth that will change the fabric of the world they’ve come to know.
“It’s not a weapon in the way we understand them. It does not require proximity, nor a person to wield it. It is not a weapon of honor. It is a coward’s weapon, but Maireth will not hesitate to use it. She’s been testing it on the Outside for a long time. Too long.”
Gods.
Dread pools in her stomach like acid.
Jax bares her teeth like an animal being cornered.
