But they didn’t—they weren’t—no matter how hard I focused. No gold sparked. I focused harder. On her. On her shield. On the arrow tips tearing it apart. A strange thrumming started in my ears. Voices. Whispers. Not mine or Lou’s but others’. Still no gold surfaced, however, and I let out a roar of frustration, of rage.

“You can do it, Reid,” Lou said urgently. “You’ve done it before. You can do it again. You just have to—”

She didn’t finish her words. Unnoticed, two Chasseurs had succeeded where their fallen brother had not. Hands snaking between the bars—using her shield to their advantage—they seized Lou’s shirt and wrenched her backward against the wood.

Her shield vanished instantly.

Shouting her name, I dove forward, prying one’s arm from her neck, but sharp pain pierced my thigh. I didn’t look. I couldn’t—not as they plunged a syringe, two syringes, three, into Lou’s throat simultaneously. Not as her back bowed, her body thrashed, her hands reached for me. “Reid! Reid!” Her voice sounded as if from a tunnel. At last, she tore free, catching me as my knees gave out. The Tower shook around us. Her body jolted from impact as she shielded me from arrow after arrow. More than one protruded from her back now. Her arms. Her legs. Still she dragged me toward the cage’s door, which Philippe had flung wide.

Hands pulled at our clothing, our hair, flinging us to the council room floor. My vision faded as they descended on Lou like ants. As she collapsed, unmoving, under their syringes. They would kill her before she reached the stake. Lou. Clenching my teeth, delirious with pain—with fear—I focused on her dimming skin harder than I’d focused on anything in my life. Hard knees pressed into my back.

She’ll die she’ll die she’ll die

Gold exploded in my vision—and I to my feet—but it was too late.

A quill stabbed into my neck, and the world went dark once more.

I woke to shouts.

To smoke. The scratch of hay at my feet and hard wood at my back. Tight binds on my wrists. Stomach lurching, I pried my eyes open. It took a moment for them to focus. My vision swam.

Torches.

They flickered in the darkness, casting an orange haze over the scene. Over the faces. So many faces. The entire city pressed together in the street below. With a start, I realized I stood above them. No. I closed my eyes, pitching forward with a heave. The ropes kept me upright. They held me in place. I didn’t stand at all. My eyes snapped open again at the realization.

The stake.

They’d tied me to the stake.