Bri’s eyes guttered. “I sent her to her death because I was too scared to love her.” She swallowed, forcing back the tears that threatened to well. Panic rose above her grief. She turned and mounted her horse. “It’s why I can’t stop now.”

“Okay.” Her twin blinked at her and nodded, turning to the horse beside hers. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 41

Chapter Forty-One

The spring storms torrented down upon Bri and Talhan. They rode like the Goddess of Death was chasing them, racing through the walls of rain. Bri prayed to all the Gods that the muddied earth didn’t slide out from under her horse’s hooves as she spurred her onward. The rest of her comrades were right on her tail, having slogged the ride into two unending days. Glimpses of the crew following Bri and Talhan appeared at spots along the trail, slowly gaining on them as the Twin Eagles struggled to navigate the foreign terrain. Every hill she crested, Bri would spot her comrades in the valley behind, spurning on their stubborn horses to catch up. She had hoped around every bend that they would overtake Lina on her journey home, but, as the days stretched on, they found no royal caravan and Bri began to fear for the worst.

Blinking against the downpour, she mopped her wet hair from her face. Only the bright streaks of lightning illuminated the city before them. Another flash and then the rolling boom of thunder. Swifthill sat in heavy darkness up ahead, the domed roofs morphed into cascading waterfalls as the gutters filled with rain. No lights flickered; the windows were closed and curtains were drawn against the storm.

The others behind her struggled to control their horses, but Bri’s horse kept going. Patting the mare’s neck in exhausted gratitude, she decided then and there that she would buy this horse from its owner if they survived.

The gate to the city was closed, the giant iron grate blocking the path. Slowing her horse to a halt, Bri peered through the rain.

“Hello?” she shouted, trying to find a guard manning their post but seeing none. Dread turned her stomach to acid. Where were the guards? Sheltering from the storm? “HELLO?”

The onslaught of rain lessened to a drizzle and then fell harder again as the storm clouds blustered over them.

“We hear you, Catullus,” a muffled voice called as a masked figure stepped out from behind the wall.

Terror seized her as she stared at the masked lion’s face. “Let us in.”

The rain eased so that she could hear him chuckle. “No.”

“Where are the guards?”

“You think we killed them?” He laughed again, his shoulders shaking. “We didn’t kill the guards, Catullus; we are the guards. It’s not only the palace that keeps personal soldiers.”