You won’t bring down this Federation alone, Talin.
I am not alone.My teeth clench into a grim smile.But you are.
Constantine doesn’t answer that. But as I reach the end of the hall and draw near the stairs, his voice comes back to me. Suddenly, I feel like I can sense his heartbeat strong and unrelenting here.
I turn my eyes up to the glass ceiling, then to the staircase that winds high, ending through a door that leads out onto the roof.
It’s a trap. I can feel it in my bones, the tingle of something sinisterand knowing from him. He doesn’t try to hide it either. He knows this is the only reason I’ve come inside, that everything about our plan centers around me getting close enough to kill him. Down below, the atrium floods with soldiers. Their boots echo down every path, and I hear them coming up every stairway. Ghosts scream alongside them.
From somewhere below, Red calls out to me in desperation.Don’t go!he shouts through our link.They’ll trap you up there!
But we don’t have the time to wait any longer. I clench my hands into fists and think about my mother outside with the other rebels, launching arrows into the melee. None of us should be here. It is all one big trap.
But I’m done being afraid.
I push away the feeling of Red’s terror and launch up at the stairway.
I burst through the door and onto the roof. It’s one vast expanse of flat stone broken by the glass ceiling in its center. No sooner than I emerge, another bullet hits my arm and sends me careening backward. My wings arc instinctively—I feel and hear the pings of more bullets against the metal. I close my eyes and let my Striker training take over. It is a midnight forest; I am hunting Ghosts by sound alone. I concentrate on the direction of the bullets, then paint in my mind a picture of where they’re coming from. I remind myself that his guards fear me more than I fear them. And I launch through the air at them.
I cut down soldier after soldier. Others run from me, dropping their weapons as they go. Even they must know that this battle can only end with me facing their Premier. My eyes glow as the fury within me rises.
And then I see him. He’s standing in the middle of the roof, from a spot where he can still see beyond the edge of the palace to the masses of rebels pushing back against his soldiers below. At first glance, Constantine looks alone. He stands straight, his hands folded behind hisback, the black and scarlet of his uniform reminding me of the first time I’d ever seen him silhouetted against a burning sky.
His eyes, as piercing and fierce as ever, are focused directly on me.
He gives me a smile.Hello, Talin.
Something barrels into me from behind. It hits me so hard that my vision turns black for an instant before I shake myself awake and find myself hurtling through the air. I twist, landing on my feet, then crouch low.
To see two Skyhunters rushing at me.
40
RED
I feel the presence of the other Skyhuntersconfronting Talin without even seeing a vision through her eyes. The spike of her emotions tells me everything I need to know.
She’s going to face them alone up there.
They’re going to kill her.
How many Skyhunters has Constantine been working on? Was he in the process of building an entire army?
The thought sends a ripple of animal strength through me. I duck as the Skyhunter attacking me sheers his wings at me, seeking my throat. Then I run. As the other Skyhunter gives chase, I speed up, pointing my boots in the direction of the atrium. Everything is cast in a shade of crimson. There are soldiers everywhere, all bathed in the bloody light. They hesitate at the sight of me—and I realize that, for a split second, they can’t tell the difference between me and the other Skyhunters, thinking that both of us are war machines loyal to the Premier. I take advantage of their confusion to barrel past them. Behind me, the Skyhunter draws near.
As he reaches me, I suddenly halt and twist around, grabbing for one of his wings. He shoots me a furious look of surprise—my hand closesaround one of his bladed feathers. It cuts deep into my palm. I ignore the sharp pain, then use the momentum of his movement to swing around until I’ve leaped onto his back, then grab the edge of his wing with my other hand too.
He twists, frustrated, trying to reach me. We spin in a mad, chaotic circle in midair. Then he does what I want him to do—he launches upward, right at the glass ceiling. His wings curl forward to protect himself.
I shut my eyes and brace myself.
He hits the ceiling with all the force of an explosion. Glass shatters in every direction—shards rain down to the atrium below us as we burst onto the roof. The impact nearly knocks me off his back, but somehow I manage to hang on as he twists again and again to reach me. Finally, he hurtles to the roof, turning so that his back will take the impact.
I let go the instant we hit. The force knocks the breath from me. My body rolls—the world spins furiously around me. I shake my head, then glance up for an instant to see Constantine’s lone figure standing at the other end of the roof from us.
But it’s not him that my eyes jump to. It’s Talin. She’s in midair, struggling to fight two Skyhunters at once.
I can’t get to her fast enough to protect her. All I have time to do is leap to my feet, still gasping, and send a searing message through our link.Talin.All I can say is her name. For an instant, I feel her response come through the bond—a trembling, angry, terrified tremor.
