Fun?Lu raised her eyebrows at Nayeli, who gave a sympathetic sigh.
Around their boat, the two others flowed at the same pace, one Grozdan, one Tuncian, waves shushing against the bows and bodies crouched, waiting.
Lu didn’t know where Kari had ended up, if her mother would join the fight or be one of those chosen to assassinate Elazar himself. Regret spiked in Lu’s chest, metallic and demanding, but she turned away to watch as the city center’s docks drew closer.
Two Argridian defensors stood at the end of the closest dock.
“Hold,” one called, “in the name of—”
A gunshot. One of the defensors tumbled into the water with a splash.
Lu jolted, catching herself with a palm flat on the deck. But this was war, wasn’t it? This was what she had wanted. Blood. Death. To watch defensors suffer as she had suffered.
“Gods,” Nayeli whispered.
The other soldier sprinted up the planks, shouting, “Attack! Raiders!”
Rosalia was all wicked grins and flashing eyes. She holstered her smoking pistol as her boat bumped the dock. “You heard the man! Attack!”
21
DOZENS OF GROZDANand Tuncian raiders flooded the docks. Some didn’t even wait for their boats to land—they dove into the river, sloshing to the shore with swords and pistols ready.
Lu didn’t move. The raiders emptied the deck of her boat, one remaining to watch the vessel until their departure.
Nayeli’s grip on the Hemlight pinched tighter. “What’s our plan?”
Lu frowned at her. “Our plan?”
“Yeah. Are we gonna just listen to Rosalia? Grab some random defensor and hope they know where Cansu is? Tell me you’ve come up with something better.”
Lu’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t come up with anything better. Her skin crawled with the remnants of her bloodlust, half of her still clinging to it, half of her terrified.
She wanted to use her newfound speed. She wanted torace into the battle, expel the horror Argrid had heaped on her for years.
She wanted to hide on this boat and wait for Kari to come find her.
A cry came from the square. A child screamed.
“We should—” Lu swallowed. “I don’t—”
Gunshots peppered the air in a sickening volley. Lu couldn’t get her mind to think past it—this was what she had wanted. Why couldn’t she move?
“Damn it, Lu!” Nayeli launched up and leaped onto the dock. Lu followed, her heart fluttering at a hum in her chest. Her grip slipped on her pistol and she righted herself. She needed to focus. To survive. To keep some semblance of control on this war.
The city center was a wide square of gray stone rimmed by sweeping, graceful buildings. Citizens had packed it as tightly as they had at the assembly in Fort Chastity, and they ran and screamed now, ducking into buildings or hiding behind market stalls.
A platform stood at the far end in front of a squat stone building. A weather-beaten carving sat on top, telling why this structure’s design contrasted: it was a mission. An Argridian Church outpost that the citizens of Port Fausta had not torn down after the revolution, likely for the same reason the Tuncians had left Fort Chastity: a reminder of Argrid’s truth.
The thought spiked Lu’s fury again.
Defensors formed a tight knot as they fled the platform for the mission’s open doors. Elazar. They were covering him. And likely Tom, Milo—
She could reach that group before any of the defensors so much as breathed. But could she break their lines and get to Elazar? She needed an opening.
“There!” Lu shouted. “Elazar—there!”
Across the square, a face whipped toward Lu’s cry. Kari. She was with a group of Tuncians, and at Lu’s prodding, she sent them racing toward Elazar’s protective guard.
