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The man moved first. He wore a red-and-black guard’s uniform—Drakharrow colors. It took a moment for my mind to comprehend what he’d said to the woman: “He told us to kill anyone who came through it.”

He was going to kill us. I tried to react but my body felt cold and slow. My head was still spinning. Behind me, I felt Lysander swaying. Kage mumbled curses under his breath. The room had filled with the stench of vomit.

The guard drew his blade. Everything was happening too fast. He rushed at me.

I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t catch up with my mind. I caught a gleam of steal as the guard angled his weapon down toward my throat, and my mouth opened to gasp—

Then the woman threw herself between us, just a moment before Kage and Lysander surged into motion.

Kage hit the guard heavily from the side like a battering ram, one arm hooked around the other man’s neck. They both went down together, smashing into a stack of wooden crates, and I saw the guard’s steel fall. Lysander had recovered quickly. He had a knife in his hand. He darted in fast, stabbing once, twice. There was a cry, then a gurgle, and a spray of blood. I hardly saw it all—for the woman had fallen backward onto me. I tried to catch her, wrapping my hands around her waist. I fell back, thankfully hitting the wall and not the arch, with her weight in my arms. Warmth spilled over my hands. Blood.

“No, no,” I heard myself saying.

The woman stared up at me, her eyes wide. She looked familiar. I knew her. Theo Drakharrow’s light gray eyes looked back up at me.

“Aryel! What are you doing here? Where are we?”

“North,” she breathed. “O’Rourke estate. Near … the Bone-wood.”

I felt dizzy again but this time with relief. We’d made it.

Aryel’s blood was everywhere—running over my hands, soaking into my sleeves, spreading warmth across my lap as I tried to keep her upright. Kage and Lysander were both there, I realized. Kage crouched beside me while Lysander stood nearby. They didn’t speak.

“Aryel. My brother. Is Persis here?”

She blinked slowly. “Yes. I’ve seen him … wandering the house. They let him move … more than the others.”

I frowned. “Others? What others?”

Aryel closed her eyes. Lysander had yanked off his coat. He knelt down and pressed it over Aryel’s stomach. Her eyes opened, and she gasped.

“We’ll get you help,” I promised her. “Stay awake.”

She exhaled. “There is no help here. Only death.”

A chill passed over me. “What do you mean?” I looked up at Lysander. “Can we … ?”

But his face told me a truth I didn’t want to know. There was so much blood. Too much. Aryel’s mouth trembled. “Viktor … he brought me here. I was tending the children. But … I couldn’t stop them. They kept taking them away.”

“What were they doing with the children?”

“Sacrifices,” she whispered, “to use against the Veil.”

The darkest kind of blood magic. For a second I forgot how to breathe, imagining how they would have soon used Persis.

Aryel clutched at my hand weakly. “I’m glad.”

“Glad?”

“Glad someone will stop them.” She exhaled, and I heard a gurgle in her throat. Blood trickled from her mouth. “Better to be out of it now. But—” she was speaking so softly I nearly didn’t hear “—I’ll miss Theo.”

She fumbled with her hands, touching the pocket of her dress. “Take the keys.”

Kage moved, gently touching her pocket and lifting out a heavy ring of iron keys. The manor house suddenly gave a great shuddering lurch.

“What the fuck was that?” Kage demanded.

“The dragon,” Aryel whispered.