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To find Raziel and free him. She’d survived in this wretched city for weeks, knew its streets and was clever enough not to be found if she didn’t want to be. I would waste precious minutes finding her and dragging her back to camp with me.
Time I couldn’t afford to waste when my men relied on me to lead them.
I clenched my hands into fists as the horns sounded again. “Fuck.”
There were five thousand lives that depended on my next choice. Five thousand lives…against one. One that mattered more than all of them put together.
One that I would have traded my own for in a heartbeat, but…
A white shadow raced toward me, then Tavion slid to a stop, claws shredding the dry, packed dirt. “I have to go back.” I jerked my head toward my waiting army. “Find her and bring her back. She can’t have gotten too far.”
The wolf’s eyes glinted, his enormous head swinging to survey the carnage surrounding us, and then he chuffed and trotted in the direction of the city.
I vanished and reappeared in the center of my forces, already forming solid lines of defense, mounted calvary up on their steeds, foot soldiers armed and awaiting orders.
We were no longer trapped between three forces. Tristan had returned before my last-minute inspections to inform me the archers were either dead or routed, and Anaria had taken care of the mages and hounds, so now all that remained were whatever forces waiting in the ruined forest. A few thousand according to Tristan, if the Oracle told the truth which I highly doubted. No other horns sounded, and across the field, the other half of the Caladrian army slowly emerged from the trees to find their trap—the one they’d laid so carefully—was gone.
“They’ll use their teeth, as well as their weapons,” I shouted, my throat already raw and aching. I shouldered through my men, dodging sharp swords and axes. Soon, we’d be fighting for our lives, but some of these men would never walk off this battlefield.
My job was to make sure most of them did.
“They will show no mercy, will give you no quarter, should this come down to hand-to-hand combat. Be sure to show them the same courtesy.”
I sized up the enemy streaming out of the forest, forming uneven lines of defense before they began marching towards us.
This wouldn’t be a route, but with luck, I’d be inside that city by nightfall, and when I found Anaria…
I gripped my sword tighter.
She and I would finish what we started.
24
ANARIA
Iguided my horse through the crumpled bodies of the Fae soldiers, the still-lit fires, the dead mages. Smoke spiraled from the hulking corpses of the hounds, and I wished I’d taken the time to wrap a cloth over my nose and mouth.
Bile burned in my throat as I spurred the gelding into a gallop.
I regretted sneaking away from Zor, but Raziel and Adele were trapped somewhere inside these walls. My father wasn’t a patient male. Chances were, he’d already started on Raziel. And Adele…My mother might already be dead.
I wasn’t a spy, or even all that clever.
But slaves knew how to blend in, and I was familiar with this city. Familiar enough to sneak inside the Citadelle. Perhaps into the prison.
When I reached the eastern doors, I left the gelding, tucked every last strand of hair away beneath the cowl, and wrenched them open, enough to create a sliver wide enough to slip through.
The cobblestone street was eerily silent, as if the entire city held its breath, waiting for the battle that was soon to come.Good. The eyes of the city would be on the skirmish below and not the thief creeping back into the Citadelle to right the wrongs she was owed.
To do that, I’d find a servant’s uniform, and then…
I swallowed, staring up at the banners snapping in the wind, the sharp sound far too similar to the snapping of the hound’s teeth as they bore down on me.
This was madness.
And it was too late to turn back.
I found the palace in chaotic shambles, slaves and soldiers racing in all directions, hurrying to their posts…or to their hiding places.
