They didn’t seem to hear me over their shouting, because one of them started jabbing me with the bayonet, dangerously hard into the briefcase strapped to my chest.
I took another step back, only to feel more bayonets at my back.
Panic slid through my bones. “Careful!” I shouted.
But my cry was drowned out.
One of them lowered his gun, and I started to stammer an explanation. “You need to know that I have a—”
Before I could get the word “bomb” out of my mouth, someone kicked me hard in the back. I fell forward, onto my hands and knees. My heart skipped a beat, and I stared at the ground.
My mind was working a million miles a minute. I always had a way out. Always had a scam, a bluff, a distraction. And yet right now, I could hardly think straight through the screaming.
They were yelling at me—mostly in Clovian. But one managed Albian, and I understood him perfectly.
He wanted to shoot me.
I looked up to see a trigger slowly squeezing, and my mind went blank.
44
Lila
Raven King, give me strength.
My fingers dug into the dirt, into the roots and plants, the ancient soil.
The deadly nightshade bloomed around my fingers, and God, if only I had a way to cram all that nightshade into their mouths and put them all to sleep.
At that moment, time seemed to slow down, their voices stretching out, movements slowed. Something was happening to me—something I didn’t understand.
Anger was starting to vibrate through my body, trembling from my fingertips up my wrists and arms, circling around between my ribs.
Samael had killed the person I loved most, and I would have my revenge.
Something dark was coursing through my veins along with the anger—something I couldn’t quite explain. I could see Alice’s eyes twinkling blue; I could hear her laughter. Her sharp, dark eyebrows, the pale hair …
Wrath was snaking through my body, my mind. A ruthlessness worthy of Alice. I would avenge her, and it would be Samael’s blood on the stones. A voice rose from the most ancient part of my mind—a voice that sounded both familiar and strange at the same time.
Angel of Death, you will feel my wrath. You will tremble before me and beg forgiveness. I am not what you imagined.
My fingers dug deeper into the ground, where long ago they’d buried the head of my king. I didn’t know what was happening to me, only that a power was overtaking me.
This wasn’t over. I tuned out the sound of the shouting, and dug my fingers deeper into the earth. I felt a song rising around me.
Down by the river, the Tower of Bones
If you’re lost, Dovren is home
The lions are gone; the ravens are dead
The clouds up above, a storm ahead
I could hear it—the most beautiful music snaking around me, music sent by the Raven King himself. But it wasn’t just his power thrumming through my bones, now. It felt like I had my own magic, buried deep inside me. Why? I had no idea. I just knew that as my fingers gripped the soil, I was starting to summon it. The soldiers seemed immobilized, entranced.
I stared, my eyes wide with wonder as the nightshade around me bloomed larger, stretching up higher. Then, before my eyes, the nightshade blossoms started to crumble, to turn into a purple dust. The violet motes rose into the air, and a cloud rose around me. A poisonous mist.
The soldiers started coughing, lowering their guns. The shouting grew quieter, until they were mumbling. They stumbled away from me.
Somehow, the toxic air wasn’t affecting me like it was them. On my hands and knees, I breathed in deeply, but I was staying perfectly alert, unaffected.
All around me, the soldiers started to slump, eyes closing. A gunshot rang out, but it was an accidental discharge, straight into the ground. The rifles fell to the earth.
I caught my breath, staring in amazement. Bloody hell. I’d just done … magic. Or the Raven King’s ghost had done magic through me.
As much as I wanted to stare in wonder at what had just happened, I had to act fast before I lost my chance.
I looked down at the briefcase, still strapped to my chest. I thanked my lucky stars that the soldier had kicked me in the back, not the front, or we’d all be blown to pieces.
I lifted my eyes to the armory window. Almost there. And I had an angel to kill.
I broke into a run, blocking out the terror of the