Palemon was pacing in front of the tall chair, watching as the first of his men climbed down from the ancient city. Dion frowned as he saw that a dozen labored to carry something broad and heavy, glistening in the bright sunlight. Palemon stopped, waiting with fists clenched as they struggled with its weight, laboring along the path through the parted sea.

‘The Arch of Nisos,’ Palemon murmured. ‘She found it.’

Unable to tear his eyes away, Dion saw that behind the arch a long line of warriors and slaves bearing loads of all shapes and sizes trailed down from the tower. He shook himself. He couldn’t worry about magic. His quest was for revenge, and would no doubt see him killed, but he had to have faith that others like Chloe would do what was needed and save their homelands from the growing threat of these people from the frozen north.

Rage boiled up inside him as he thought about all that Palemon had done, and planned to do in the future. Scores of innocents had been killed in the tower in Malakai, murdered when their bodies broke at the bottom of the shaft. Others had been trapped in a strange, alien shape. Isobel, a vibrant young woman with child, had been slaughtered as she tried to flee. Dion had been collared, beaten, starved, and forced to kneel to a man he despised.

Palemon glanced down at him. ‘This city will live again. My glorious ancestors—’

‘Their time is done,’ Dion said, unable to stop himself. ‘Your ancestors are all dead. As you and your people will soon be.’

Palemon gave a wry chuckle. ‘It appears that you have some bark left in you. You think this is your era? A time when a half-breed is king, slaves are freed, and weak soldiers battle each other?’

‘And you – you believe you are strong?’ Dion replied. ‘You don’t even have the courage to enter your city.’

Palemon gazed out at the remains of Aleuthea, the city that the warriors of Necropolis, Zara and her sorcerers, and Kyphos the hunchback had all seen up close. A city he might never see again.

His mouth tightened. He grabbed Dion around the iron collar, hauling him to his feet. ‘Come, King of Xanthos. Let me prove to you, once and for all, what makes my blood nobler than yours.’

With Cob and Finn gone and Liana battling the sorcerer Tarik, Chloe’s plan was falling apart, but there was still a chance of destroying Palemon’s forces and the artifacts he’d come for. Everything now came down to her.

Her gaze took in the long line of slaves and soldiers. She knew what Dion would want her to do.

The wind was so fierce that it made her eyes sting as she lifted her chin, fixing her gaze on the two towering walls of water, so impossibly high above the cleared pathway on the ocean bed.