But the face that appears is familiar.
“They’re here!” Roburn shouts behind him. Guards swarm the room, with Sebastian among them. The eldest prince looks older, harder somehow. He’s armed with a sword and there’s blood on his shirt and trousers. Strange, seeing him like this. I’ve never taken Sebastian for a soldier. But it makes sense that all Rodrick’s sons would have learned how to kill.
Finn rushes toward the captain. “What’s happening?”
“We’ve secured the lawn and we’re sweeping the castle now.”
“Where’s Mother?” demands Damien.
“We’re figuring that out,” says the captain, his face hard.
Damien blanches, turning to his oldest brother. “You don’t know?”
“We’re looking,” Sebastian says. “We thought she was in her chambers.”
Damien exchanges a glance with Finn, and the pair waste no time trying to shove out the door. But Roburn and their older brother roadblock their attempt.
“No!” Sebastian roars. “You two stay here!”
“Like hell we will!” Damien shouts.
Roburn shoves them both in the chest. “Neither of you are to leave this room!”
“But—” Finn protests.
“Back up.Neither of you is going anywhere.”
Damien snaps, “I COMMAND you to let us through!”
Everyone’s watching this play out. Everyone’s distracted. That’s why, when the first arrow hits, I’m the only one attuned to the sound. I notice it before anyone else does—the whistle andcrackof it striking the back wall—but it’s not enough time to change anything.
Finn is the next to discern we’re under fire. He tackles me without a moment’s hesitation, shielding my body with his. Screams explode all around us. Roburn snatches Damien and pushes him out the door, roaring for his troops to follow. I throw out a flare of my Talent, trying to understand the scene beyond Damien’s room.
There are archers in the trees outside the open window. Half a dozen of them. Calm and collected and sure. They must have been waiting for this moment.
I can’t move with Finn atop me. He’s so much larger, I can’t breathe. Arrows rain down around us, and it doesn’t stop. I start to fear it won’t stop—until I’m actually considering strikingout with my Talent. I could cut the archers down to end it. I could strike them all at once—I did it with the skakabri. But I need to draw back those dark impulses, move away from those terrifying thoughts of what the full leverage of my magic could achieve.
I have to wait for it to stop.
And finally, it does.
The onslaught ends just as suddenly as it started. The archers withdraw, leaving aching silence and the fallout as the cold knowledge of death seeps through us.
I’m gazing up through a narrow, slanted viewpoint. It’s all I can manage beneath the weight of Finn’s arm until he withdraws and speaks, placing gentle hands over me. He’s unhurt. I am faintly aware of him asking once again if I’m safe, if I’m injured.
But my attention is elsewhere. On the one person who hasn’t moved since the arrows started.
He’s still standing beside the open window, gazing out at the night. There’s a puzzled expression on his lovely face, and the red that blooms from his throat might be roses…or ribbons…or rubies.
It can’t be anything else. I can’t believe that it’s anything else.
Until Sebastian’s legs give out.
ET ME GET TO HIM!”
“Damien, stop—”
“HE’S MY BROTHER! I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE THERE!”
