Surprise flitted across Yuri’s face. “Liliya,” he gritted. “Stand aside.”
“She’s your friend!” Liliya refused to move, her face set in defiance that rivaled Yuri’s.
“She’s our enemy,” Yuri shot back.
Leaning against the wall, head aching and limbs still recovering from the blast, Ana only felt a dull sorrow somewhere in herchest. The last time she’d seen Yuri had been in Goldwater Port, at his family’s café, where she’d met his mother and his sister, Liliya, one moon past.
The memory felt like years ago. They had parted on conflicting terms, with Yuri convinced that the Cyrilian monarchy was to be overthrown…and Ana unable to swallow that bitter pill.
She needed to speak to Yuri. She needed to tell him…to tell him that he was right.
“She saved yourlifeduring the Goldwater Port Inquisition,” Liliya snapped back. “I know you blame her for Mama—”
“Don’t.”Yuri’s voice cracked, and the cold hatred returned to his face. It was such an unfamiliar expression, so jarring on his features, that Ana felt as though she were gazing into the face of a stranger.
She’d sent him a message by seadove one fortnight ago, before she’d begun her journey back from Bregon, across the Whitewaves.Prepare for war. The Red Tigress returns.
It had been a sign from her, a suggestion that they could be allies, that theyneededto be on the same side in order to bring down Morganya.
Looking into his eyes, she realized the message had been futile.
Ana exhaled. Slowly, she straightened from her slumped position, using the wall for support. It took the last of her strength to sit up, but she clung on. “Yuri,” she began. “I understand—”
“You understandnothing,” he snarled, raising his dagger and pointing it at her. “You’ve always stood against everything we work toward.”
“Listen to me—”
“I’mdonelistening to you, Ana,” he snapped, and she heard it, then: the smallest crack to his voice. “I should have listened to Seyin all along.”
Cold squeezed her heart. Ana pushed to the single lucid thought that she’d kept throughout all this.
“Yuri,” she said. “Shamaïra is here.”
His eyes widened; his grip on his dagger turned white. “Where?”
“I don’t know, but they have her, and—” Ana drew a deep breath, trying to quell her rising panic and gather her frantic thoughts. Shamaïra. Henryk. They were both still in there, and Henryk had told her Morganya held other Affinites prisoner. “There are Affinites imprisoned here, Yuri—if we don’t get them out, then Morganya—”
“Why else do you think we’rehere?” Yuri growled. “The Redcloaks have been conducting rescue missions all over the Empire, trying to save lives, and all this timeyou’vebeen sailing across oceans—”
The words twisted sharp in her chest, but at that moment, Konstantyn cut in.
“We should go,” he said. “I can sense Affinites—over a dozen of them, closing in from all directions.” He swallowed. “I can sense Affinites—Inquisitors, over a dozen of them…. They’re headed our way.”
Yuri looked up at the burning scaffold, the wood beginning to collapse on itself. “The rest of the Northern Crimson Forces, have they completed the rescue?”
Konstantyn hesitated. “We were only able to free a portion of the Affinites before Inquisitors were on our tails. Lil and I caused this explosion as a distraction, to lure the Whitecloaks away.”
Yuri looked to Konstantyn. “How many Inquisitors did you say are headed our way?”
The slightest pause as Konstantyn closed his eyes to count. “Seventeen.”
“Shit.” Yuri’s voice cracked, and he looked desperately at the mansion, one of its walls broken through and rapidly being swallowed by flames.“Shit!”
“Bratika,” Liliya cut in, her tone sharp in a way that suddenly reminded Ana of their mother. “If you try to rescue Shamaïra now, we all die.”
“Inquisitors,” Konstantyn chimed, a tremor to his voice.
But Ana was watching Yuri, the firelight enveloping him like a halo. If there was still one thing they had in common, it was that they both loved fiercely, and would rather die than see their loved ones be hurt. Henryk would be fine, he’d continue playing the part of a loyal Whitecloak, but…“Yuri, wemustcome back for Shamaïra—if not today, then another day. What Morganya’s planning to do to her—” Her voice caught.
