I let out a relieved breath. No blade would kiss my neck.
But then General Hyton tore off the prisoner’s hood and my heart stopped.
It was Brandt.
Brandt’s round face was white and his eyes were the size of saucers as he faced the vicious crowd.
What had he told the General? Maybe I could stop this.
I shifted my weight forward but Amethyst kept her hand on my shoulder.
“Stay still,” she whispered. “Everything we do affects how they see him.”
I frowned. Regardless of the delicacies of the ritual, I still had to try to save Brandt.
I called out to the magic in the air, fanning out my power as much as I could.
“This man used his knowledge from our military academy to form his own militia in Bloodstone!” General Hyton boomed. “He snuck into the palace using a noble woman as his cover. He was found consorting with a raven, bringing Death into our walls!”
A raven—Erik. General Hyton had found Erik.
But the General saidmilitia,not army. Brandt had kept some of the truth back.
As my magic searched for an opening, the crowd jeered.
“Northern filth!”
“Traitor!”
“Kill him!”
The magic swept around the scaffold, but none of the soldiers opened up. The light did not shine behind Brietta’s veil. Derrick was all iron as he gripped his ancestor’s spear.
Finally, my eyes met Brandt’s watering ones.
“He used the raven to send secret communications to his conspirator!” the General shouted.
My lip trembled as my mouth fell open. General Hyton found my message to him, maybe even the one I penned to Evereon.
Brandt was captured because ofme.Riyan had trusted me to protect the North, protect Bloodstone Fortress and its soldiers…and I failed.
Because of my carelessness, I failed themall.
“But herefusedto reveal the other traitor!”
I choked on a sob as the corner of Brandt’s mouth flicked up. He had still protected me.
Tears stung my eyes, but suddenly the white pinhole of light appeared between Brandt’s brows and the bouncing tune of a flute echoed in the back of my mind. I desperately threw out the invisible tether and sent a message into Brandt’s head:
“I can get you out of this. I am going to try everything I can.”
Brandt took a shallow breath and shook his head once, only enough for me to see.
I bit my tongue so I would not cry. Brandt had called me the North’s last hope. He would rather die rather than risk exposing me as a sorceress.
General Hyton gestured to Derrick. “Will you, the spirit of the Conqueror, defend this land? Will you protect its people?”
I nearly dropped the hold over my magic when the realization hit me—General Hyton was not supposed to kill Brandt. Derrick was.
