Chapters (49)
- COVER
- DEDICATION
- MAP
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- DISCOVER MORE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- PRAISE FOR
Suddenly, a roar echoed from somewhere deep within the palazzo, clinging to the walls, shaking the foundation. It was the roar of a hundred female voices, all of them full of rage.
It was a battle cry.
Nomi and Maris bolted into the corridor and followed the sound. Maybe Serina wouldn’t be hard to find after all.
THIRTY-FIVE
SERINA
THE LOWER LEVELS of the palazzo were a maze, as labyrinthine as the Graces’ chambers but on a much larger scale. It wasn’t all cells and dungeons down here either; among the soldiers, each dispatched swiftly to avoid raising the alarm, servants and maids scurried to and from stock rooms, cold storage, and wine cellars. It was one of these maids—a round, doughy woman in a stained apron—who saw Serina, with her blackened eye and her army of women, and screamed until her face went purple.
Serina grabbed the woman’s arm. “How do we get upstairs?”
The woman didn’t stop screaming.
“Please,” Serina added. “We just need to get out of here. We’re not going to hurt you.”
The woman’s voice petered out. She didn’t speak, but her eyes flicked toward a corridor on her left.
Serina patted her shoulder and headed down the hall. Behind her, the tide of women flowed through the passageway and up the narrow stair.
“We need to find the Superior,” Anika said. “If he goes down, they all will.”
“The soldiers will guard him heavily,” Serina said grimly. “We find them, we’ll find him.” And Nomi, hopefully before she gets herself killed.
She sent Val and Renzo to the back of her army—Val to protect them from behind, and Renzo to keep him safe. As safe as possible, anyway. She didn’t want either of them on the front lines. “You stay out of the way, you hear me?” she told her brother, shaking him by the shoulders. He nodded and made no argument.
As Serina entered a long gallery, she got her first glimpse outside—it was full night, with a streak of moonlight gleaming on the ocean. Beautiful.
She rounded the corner and skidded to a stop. The wide walkway was full of Asa’s men, all of them with weapons held aloft. They must have heard the servant’s scream. And it wasn’t just a handful of guards either. This was a regiment.
But they were still fewer than the women of Mount Ruin.
Serina shared a split-second glance with Anika. There was no fear in the other woman’s eyes. She was ready for this. And suddenly, so was Serina. These men, with their weapons and their big looming bodies and their blank faces, they represented all the men who had oppressed her, judged her, hurt her. They were the men who had done the same to the women standing behind her.
They were the enemy.