Page 145 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

She ran into the square, skirting through their lines as Rabin followed with Row and Yasen on his heels.

“Stop!” Zarya shouted as the soldiers marched. The army ignored her as they simply curved around her like water against a rock in a stream.

The soldiers bled into the streets of Ishaan while Zarya and Rabin continued pushing their way through. “Please!” Zarya screamed as they approached the balcony, where the royals looked down at her with surprise.

“Arrest her!” shouted one of the queensguard, recognizing her immediately.

Zarya didn’t hesitate, using a thread of magic to silence him. He grabbed his throat, his mouth gaping. “Listen to me! You are all fighting one another when the real threat is on its way.”

The royals all shared wary looks until Kabir finally approached the railing and peered down with a curious look.

“The nairatta are loose,” she shouted. “They’re marching across the mountains and will be here in a matter of days, if that. The resistance is not your enemy. The collars are off. You’ve lost this battle. Gather your army and protect the city, or we’re all dead! Do you hear me?”

Rabin watched Dishani the entire time. He couldn’t make out her face, but the angle of her head told him she was listening intently.

“You have to listen!” she screamed when they hesitated. “They’re coming and will destroy everything.”

Rabin watched Kabir confer with the queensguard.

“Do you speak the truth?” shouted Talin, the younger Madan brother. Rabin watched him glance at Yasen before addressing Zarya.

“I do! Why would I lie about this?”

“I will speak with them,” he said to his family before pushing away from the railing and disappearing off the balcony.

Rabin and Zarya exchanged a wary look as they waited.

A minute later, Talin appeared in the doorway, flanked by his guards. Then another figure appeared, and Rabin heard Yasen’s soft gasp.

“Miraan,” Zarya said. “What are you doing here?”

“Our father convinced my sister not to kill me, though she continues to resist any and all efforts to hear out the Rising Phoenix. I tried to stop this.” Rabin noticed the prince share a look with Yasen before he took a step closer and leaned in to Zarya. “Are you the reason for the collars?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

He breathed out heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “How?”

“I’ll explain everything if we survive but freeing them also released the nairatta. They’re coming.”

“We held them off in Andhera for now,” Rabin added. “But only because they didn’t hit us with their full strength. You must rally every able-bodied fighter you can. Prepare for a battle on a scale none of us could have ever imagined.”

“Nairatta,” Talin croaked, his pallor turning ashen.

Miraan held out his hands. “And what will you do?”

“We must gather the Chiranjivi to end this,” Zarya said. “I don’t know how long it will take or if our plan will even work, but if we’re lucky, we’ll kill them all.”

“Then we’ll do everything we can to hold them off,” Miraan said.

“I’ll help you,” Yasen added, and Miraan nodded.

Zarya reached out to squeeze Yasen’s hand before he drew her closer. “Whatever you do, Zee, you’d better come back to me.”

She looked up. “I’ll try. But if I don’t, just know how much I love you, Yas. Thank you for being my first best friend.”

Yasen wiped a tear from her eye with the tip of his thumb.

“And thank you for being the very best friend a man could ask for,” he whispered.