thinks we only need one svetocha.”

Someone laughed. It was a high, feminine titter, bouncing and echoing off all the stone and glass.

Every head tipped back, and there, high above everyone, on one of the carved stone railings girdling

the bottom of the dome, stood Anna.

“Why?” she yelled. “You want to know why? Ask Reynard! Ask him what he knows! He made me

do it!”

The careening echoes made me feel even sicker. Between August and me, we were having a hard

time standing up. Either he was swaying drunkenly, or I was, or the world was tilting underfoot like

a carnival ride.

“None of this would have happened without him!” Anna screamed. Even as far up as she was, the

hate contorting her face was visible. Her hair was a wildly curling mass of reddish-dark, and she

wore red silk, too. Another one of those old-fashioned dresses, fluttering as she hung over the railing. “She stole him from me! He was mine and she stole him!”

Christophe inhaled sharply. “I never loved you!” he yelled, and the force of the cry rocked me back

on my heels. The aspect burned through him, his hair sleeking back, and he looked pissed enough to

try to jump up to the dome.

I was betting he’d make it, too. I wouldn’t put anything past him right now.

A hideous, dark, burning laughter boiled up inside me. The butt of August’s gun was between us,

and it wouldn’t take much to jerk it free from the holster. I’d have to pick my shot, and I knew just

how fast she was now. My palm itched for the gun, and my fingers curled. “You would have, if not

for that bitch!” Anna’s face contorted again. “You would have loved me!” Was she crying? It was

hard to tell. The nausea crested, the sound of wings filling my ears, and I gasped.

Anna made a quick movement. The assault rifle jammed solidly against her shoulder, and

Christophe let out another yell.

“DRU!” he screamed, spinning and tensing, about to leap on me. Anna yelled one more time, a

wordless cry of loathing and frustration, and pulled the trigger.

Echoes shattered the air inside the dome. Djamphir exploded into motion and a hammer blow

smashed into my left shoulder. I lost my balance.

August’s knees buckled. He went down hard, and I tried to stop him. But he was heavy, and I didn’t

have a good grip because my left arm suddenly wouldn’t obey. My knees hit hard, and I let out a

short bark of surprise, trying to keep his head from bouncing off the stone floor. He ended up half in

my lap, and his eyes fluttered closed. He said something very low that I couldn’t hear over all the

noise. Stone chips flew as bullets dug out little divots.