We race back down the tower the way we came, back out onto the pathways. We pass a couple of skirmishes – soldiers fighting students. We race right by them, heading toward the mound of rubble from the collapsed tower.
Together, we climb up the broken stones and bricks, slipping several times, my feet sinking into the rubble. I pull them free and I keep climbing until I’m at the top of the mound, closer to the battle, our view perfectly clear.
“Are you ready?” I ask her, taking her hand in mine.
“I’m ready,” she says, then hesitates. “But they won’t hear me.”
“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “I have a way to deal with that.”
She nods. She swallows. She lifts her chin in that act of defiance I’ve seen so many times.
And then she shouts with all her lungs.
I use my shadow magic to propel her words over the distance, to amplify them so they boom over the noise of the chaos: the battle, the explosions, the people fighting, the people dying.
“I’m here!” she calls out. “Me, Briony Storm, the one you want. I’m here. So if you want me, come and get me!”
She’s barely said a word before Beaufort’s, Dray’s, and Fox’s heads all snap our way, finding us at the top of our tower of rubble. All three of them sprint towards us.
It takes more time for the others out there fighting to comprehend the words, to pause their fighting, to stop battling, to lower their hands and turn in the direction of her voice.
But it comes.
And soon the academy is eerily quiet.
Just the sound now of flames flickering. The murmurs of people dying. My own heartbeat, loud in my ears.
No one speaks. No one stirs. No one says a word.
They just stand and stare at the girl beside me.
The others reach the bottom of the rubble and turn to face the battlefield, their backs to us.
I scan the crowd and the chaos for the Empress. I scan it for the Madame as well. I see neither of them, and a flicker of hope rebounds through my body. Maybe they are already dead.
The clouds have all vanished, dispersed by Briony’s magic, and the sun is high in the sky, beaming down on us all. It reflects in a million shards of light from something gleaming in the crowd.
And then, I understand what it is.
The Empress’s coat of silver armor.
She strides forward to meet us.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Briony
This is it. Our chance. It’s not how we planned it. It’s not how we wanted it. But we take it now, or there may never be another opportunity like it.
I scowl at the woman responsible for my sister’s death and charge the magic in my veins towards her, the beams of light crackling and sparking with rage. My four mates raise their hands, ready to join their magic to mine but before they get the chance, what’s left of the Empress’s army and her elite guards are rushing our way, shooting magic at us.
“No!” I scream at the top of my lungs. This is our fight – mine and hers. Something raw and personal. I won’t let anyone else stop me from facing the Empress. My magic pulses in the air, bright and powerful. It hits our enemies like a fork of lightning, sending them flying from their feet, crashing to the ground, and then I send my magic cascading toward the Empress. This time, my four mates – Thorne beside me, Fox, Dray, and Beaufort below me – do not hesitate. They shoot their magic towards mine.
The beams of light and shadow crash together, and the noise is so loud it’s like someone has ripped the sky from the heavens. Our magic multiplies in strength, a powerful cord of twisted light and shadow, and I direct it toward the Empress.
She doesn’t flinch as it hits the strange metal of her armor. She doesn’t think we’re strong enough to defeat her. She doesn’t think we’re any danger at all.
But much to her surprise, our magic isn’t deflected like every piece I’ve seen so far in this battle. It sinks into the metal and starts to warp and bend it.
