My father appeared younger with the shadows playing over his features. Startled, I realized I had seen him like this before. On the night when the Vesper brothers had arrived to Hereswith and Papa had been sick. He had asked me to glamour him to look hale, and as I cast the spell, I had caught a glimpse of his younger self.

Before I could demand why he appeared this way, what he was doing, how he had walked into this nightmare, my father reached out and took hold of my throat. His grip was fierce, unrelenting. I gasped and clawed at his hand, but my fingers were useless against his armor.

He is going to kill me.

The thoughts burst in my mind as the world tilted. I struggled; I viciously fought him, and it only made my blood thrum faster. I could hear Phelan shout my name again, his boots echoing on the street as he ran for me. My sight was dimming, my lungs burning. And yet I held my father’s vicious gaze, unwavering, and rasped, “Papa . . . Papa!”

My father grew still.

He stared at me, his eyes widening like he had woken from a dream. Before I could rouse another strangled word in my throat, he released me, hurling me up and away from him as if I were weightless. My hair streaked across my face as I glided through the rain, as I hit the cobblestones with a painful jar.

Phelan reached me a moment later.

His arms came about my body, drawing me up and holding me firm against him. At first I thought I didn’t need his strength until I realized that my feet were numb.

“Anna? Anna!” Phelan turned me toward him.

I gasped a broken, terrible sound. My neck throbbed as I leaned into him. My voice emerged, weak and brittle. “Where is he?”

Phelan glanced beyond me to where the knight had been just moments ago.

“He’s gone, Anna.”

I didn’t believe him. I looked to where I had seen my father, gleaming in bloodstained armor. Where my father had almost strangled me.

It was as Phelan said. The knight had vanished, retreated. But his sword remained lodged in my shield, and my shield lay on the cobblestones. A testament to what had happened.

I felt my awareness fading and I bit my lip until the pain sharpened me.

Stay awake, stay awake . . .

Phelan’s breath was labored as he led me to his house and ascended the porch stairs. He bore me inside and kicked the door closed. The sound reverberated through my body and I could see the concern in his expression, a wrinkle of fear on his brow.