Page 186 of The Dragon and the Dove

‘I pull it off.’

‘Let me go!’ she shouted.

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I fucking care about you, that’s why!’

Her eyes went wide. ‘You can’t just say shit like that.’

He cocked a brow. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

The fight went out of her. She stilled in his arms, clutching him a little tighter. ‘I care about you too,’ she hissed. ‘But if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.’

She’d never seen him smile so wide.

‘I have to get to Sera.’ She spoke with mounting urgency. ‘The sooner Andreas is unmade, the sooner this hell-storm goes away.’

They went north together, Caruso swinging at anyone who dared glance her way, while Val screamed above the rising chaos. Magic poured from her like a song.

‘Think for yourself, soldiers of Valterre!

Rip the Silver-tongue’s veil from your eyes and protect this city, as you once swore!

Your people are frightened!

Your people are in danger!

They need your protection!’

For every soldier Val lassoed back to their senses, ten more charged at her. Caruso beat them back with ruthless efficiency, but the Saint of Warriors was no match for the numbers that swarmed Merchant’s Way.

They were soon surrounded.

Anouk ran after them, ripping up the cobbles in a fury. The others flanked her with whatever weapons they’d gathered from the cobbles, fighting their way through the fray. Chunks exploded all around them. Buildings trembled as the Stone Maiden tore through the earth, making a ditch so deep the charging soldiers toppled into it. And still they came. Compelled to march and kill at any cost, they filled the hole with their bodies, while their fellow soldiers used them like a bridge. It bought them precious minutes, enough time for the townsfolk to flee to the harbour or lose themselves in the winding laneways along Merchant’s Way. It gave Caruso time to recover, but the reckless brute didn’t take it. He fought on, sustaining hit after hit, shoving ever closer to Traveller’s Arch, until, with the suddenness of a lightning strike, the Rose-bearers stilled.

Thousands of swords hit the cobbles as they came undone, stalling in the streets like blank-eyed mannequins.

The townsfolk kept running, but there was no one to chase them now.

‘What’s happening?’ Val’s voice echoed in the sudden quiet.

The beginning of the end, whispered the old voice, and she knew, without quite knowing how, that Andreas was being unmade.

‘All saints,’ said Anouk, turning slowly on her heel. ‘It must be working.’

Val smiled.

Then the world went black.

Death came from the north, swallowing the arch. The wind turned to ice and brought with it the scent of ash. Decay.

Val’s stomach turned. ‘Shade.’

It yawned across the sky.

Death rides on the north wind, warned the old voice.