She heard the clatter of weapons all through the city. And at the top of the tower, a white flag was hoisted over Lethbridge.

61

The Defeat

ARBOR

“They’re rounding us up,” Prescott said frantically. “We need to get out of here.”

Arbor pressed her fingers into her temples. “How are we supposed to do that?”

She wanted to shriek at him. They were finished. Everything she had worked for was gone. Fordham and Kerrigan had killed Wynter. She was buried under the rubble, and what was Arbor supposed to do with that? Queen Viviana had surrendered in a hurry after Samael had been killed, and there was no one else to take his place. He’d finally kicked the bucket, and she didn’t even have a person to put in his position. All her work for nothing. It wasn’t as if anyone would accept her as queen. Not with her bloodline. Not without Fordham or Wynter for her to puppet. Gods, she was really and truly screwed.

“I don’t know. You’re the genius,” he barked. Uncharacteristically Pres.

It set her teeth on edge. “We need to figure it out, or they’re going to kill us.”

“They don’t seem to be killing people.”

“I don’t care,” she snapped, grabbing a bag and stuffing enough valuables in it for them to get by. They’d barred the door long ago, but surely, this old city had a secret passageway. “Start looking for a way out.”

She pushed against the walls, and Pres went to the closet. They touched everything they could find. But if there was a way out, she didn’t know it. And she certainly didn’t find it before the door burst open and a man walked inside. He looked as self-important as all the rest.

“Come on out,” he said, sword aloft. “Every one of you needs to be accounted for.”

She opened her bag and showed him a diamond the size of his palm. “I’ll give you this if you leave this room and act like you never saw us.”

The man ignored the diamond and grabbed her arm. “Don’t care for your bribes. Just move along.”

“Pres,” she gasped.

“Unhand my sister.”

“You come along too,” he said, throwing Arbor bodily into the empty hallway.

Her shoulder collided with the opposite wall, and something crunched. She gasped in pain, her eyes watering.

She had never been a part of the military, much to her cousin’s chagrin. She knew battle magic but hadn’t used it in so long that it didn’t even come to her naturally. Prescott had more than her, and he tussled with the man before also being casually thrown out of the room.

Pres pulled his magic to him, ready to throw something at their attacker.

The man thrust his sword against Prescott’s throat. “Try me.”

“Roake!” a voice boomed down the corridor.

“Down here,” Roake called back.