Her face drains of color.
I don’t think. I bolt forward. I break rank and surge ahead just as the first of the Skyhunters hurtles into the air. The other voice in me rises now.
Your only purpose is to give Talin time. And that, you are going to do to the very end.
You grit your teeth and whisper a verse of forgiveness for everything wrong you’ve ever done. Every innocent life you’ve ever taken. It is not unlike what your father said when the guards came for you. It is the same phrase you’ve used under your breath many times in battle, whenever you were forced to lift your gun or blade or arrows to cut down a civilian. Their eyes haunt you now.
The first Skyhunter comes soaring down at me, wings spread, his eyes ready to murder.
My wings are broken. My back is a mass of wounds. But I feel no fear. Right now, there is only one person who needs every bit of protection I can offer her. Talin.
This is your redemption.
39
TALIN
The two Skyhunters from back at the labcomplex, when Raina showed me around. How could I have forgotten about them?
I look back and, in horror, see Red barrel forward to face the first of them. He’s buying me time.
Red!I scream through our link, but I know it’s no use. No time to waste now—and certainly not when Red is risking his life to give me that time.
I tear my eyes away as Red clashes with the first Skyhunter. I rush into the door. A gush of cool air greets me as I hurtle into the palace.
The instant I set foot in here, I feel the weight of Constantine’s presence. It’s so strong I’m not even sure if it’s just through our bond. Perhaps it has always haunted every hall of this palace, the whisper of his legacy in every tile and stone and wall of this forsaken place. But the beat of his heart turns into a drum in my chest as I hurry down the corridor that widens into the main atrium of the palace, until I almost mistake it as my own.
Come out, Constantine, I tell him through our link as I head down the path. My anger is a fire in my mind now.You’ve lost.
He doesn’t answer, but I can feel the shift of his emotions, the hatein his heart. It is strong here, echoing off the walls. At least he’s still trapped.
Somewhere behind me comes Red—but almost as soon as I feel his energy follow me in, something attacks him, sending him crashing against a wall. I wince as I feel agony lance through his body and tremble through our link, and turn around long enough to see him struggle with a Skyhunter.
He shoots me a grim look before he bares his teeth at the Skyhunter and attacks him.
Go, he tells me, his voice a hammer through our link.Go!
Constantine. I have to find him. I tear my eyes away from Red and force myself to continue down the hall. The space opens into the soaring ceiling of the atrium. I’m so used to seeing this space speckled with sunlight that at first it looks completely unfamiliar—the sky through the glass ceiling is dark and churning, fires burning around the city casting the sky in shades of crimson. It gives the entire space a scarlet glow.
Bullets fire at me from somewhere high on the balcony. I glance up, my eyes narrowing, to see snipers positioned between the banisters, their weapons aimed down at me. They cringe at my stare, then back away from the edge. At the same time, I hear the unmistakable growls of Ghosts emerging from the shadows of columns around me. Their milky eyes roll at me, and blood drips down their chins.
Everything around me moves like I’m in a dream. The Ghosts seem to float, dragging through the air, as they move. Their muscles crack, bleeding and raw. I am on the warfront again, Corian at my side, fighting for survival. Through my link with Red, I feel currents of his own fury as he fights farther down the hall, pain rippling through him with each strike from the enemy Skyhunter.
One of the Ghosts near me lunges, its fangs seeking out my arm. I dart to one side, then launch into the air and fatally cut its neckwith my wings. If it bit my flesh, would I transform eventually? Can a Skyhunter like me turn into a Ghost? Then its blood spills on the floor around me, and I turn my concentration toward the others. Their screams echo through the room. Another bullet flies from somewhere above and hits me in the upper back. I flinch at the strike—even though it doesn’t penetrate my body in the same way as it does a normal human—I still feel the pain, followed by the sharp smell of my own blood. I cut through another Ghost, then launch into the air and hurl myself at the banisters. As I reach the balcony, I arc my wings protectively around myself.
I smash through the banisters. The guards lose all their nerve at the sight of me, and flee. As I stare at them racing down the hall, Constantine’s voice comes to me through our bond, haunting and cold.
It’s such a shame, Talin.
His words send a chill down my spine. I look around me, as if I can see him.
You were my strongest Skyhunter.
The halls are bathed in that ominous red from the sky through the glass ceiling. I start running again, trying to pinpoint Constantine’s location through our link as I hang on to his words.
What will you do when my new Skyhunters tear you apart?he asks me.
They won’t, I answer.Because by the time they arrive, you’ll be dead. They’ll have no one to fight for.
