Constantine will tear through families, over and over and over again, destroy our lives and loved ones all as part of his strategy to win. He will do it until the day he dies, unless we can stop him.

I turn my glowing eyes on a terrified soldier. So help me, I will get Talin’s mother out of here alive. Let this be the last time Constantine triumphs over our lives.

Another soldier manages to get close, his eyes focused on the precious prisoner in my arms, and stabs out with a dagger. I duck into a ball. The dagger slashes open the top of my shoulder near my neck. I growl at the sting of it before lashing out with my wing at him. A scream. Blood.

I hurtle through the bottom floor of the prison. The commotion has stirred up the other prisoners held here, and I hear their desperate pleas as I rush through the guards. Their hands reach out toward me, begging for someone to hear them. I catch glimpses of those injured, with their bandaged arms and faces, some scalded from working in the prison factories, others scarred or missing limbs from the dangerous work in the turbines. I force myself to look away, trying to stay out of reach from their outstretched arms as I cut and slash.

Then there is a whirl of a uniform, followed by a blurred figure charging into the fray. I pause in my assault long enough to catch a glimpse of Aramin’s vicious face, his expression wild and alight with battle fury. He seizes a blade from one soldier and hurls it straight into another. His lips are twisted into a warlike smile.

Ahead, I glimpse the front courtyard of the hospital. One look is all it takes for me to know that we can’t possibly make it out of the prison district with just the four of us fighting. Even with my help, I am still a broken Skyhunter, and there are too many soldiers crowding the front of the building. And soon, Constantine will get word of what’s happening here. Maybe he’s already sent more patrols our way.

My gaze darts wildly around at the space, searching for a way we can still escape. In my arms, Talin’s mother gives me a sad smile.

“I’m sorry, Redlen,” she says. “I’ve been the cause of so much pain.”

I glare at her. “Don’t say it,” I snap. “We’re going to get you back to your daughter.”

But even as I say it, I see Jeran standing against the wall on the other side of the hospital, facing a tight circle of soldiers all pointing their guns at him. Adena struggles toward me through the fray, cutting wildly at anyone who dares to come close until she stands in front of me, her back to me and Talin’s mother as we huddle against the wall of the hospital. She has her teeth bared, and her eyes are slits. She holds two guns out in front of her. Nearby, Aramin spots Jeran and shouts something desperate at him. The Firstblade then hurls himself at the closest soldiers as one of them fires a bullet that catches him in his forearm.