Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,51

tough bastard.”

The rest of the fighting inside the building was brief as Judgement led her cavalry inside to exterminate anyone stupid enough to get in her way. Judgement scared a lot of people, but Layla had always found her to be pleasant, if odd. A side effect of living through hundreds and hundreds of years of fighting and killing, she imagined.

“How many did we lose?” Layla asked Piper, who looked singed and was covered in blood.

“Forty-six human civilians,” she said as they walked the hallway of the top floor, heading up to the roof, where the rest of Layla’s team waited. “The APC driver and six cops too.”

Tego lay on the ground, basking as the dawn broke over the sky.

Layla bent down to scratch the large feline and checked her wound at the same time. “You’re okay,” she said softly as Tego purred.

“Avalon forces have moved further across the city,” Piper said. “I think we may actually be able to call this a win. Not a particularly good win, but I’ll take what I can get at the moment.”

Tarron sat cross-legged, further away from everyone else. His eyes were closed, and he breathed methodically in and out.

Layla walked over and stood behind him. “Thank you,” she said.

“I can’t have you die,” Tarron said with a slight chuckle, although he didn’t look back over at her. “We have a lot more fights to win before we’re done. A lot more lives to take.”

“Hopefully once we’re done, we won’t need to do that anymore.”

Tarron looked back at Layla. “And that would be a world I’d like to live in.”

“May I?” Layla asked, motioning to the spot beside Tarron.

Tarron nodded. “Of course.”

“Today was a bad day,” Layla said. “You helped make it better. You might not like war—and honestly, I’d be really concerned about someone who said they did—but we saved lives. A lot of lives.”

“I know,” Tarron said. “Taking lives to save lives is an odd way to live, but so long as it tallies in the right column, I can deal with it.”

Piper stood by Layla, her ear mic in hand. “For you,” she said.

Layla took the mic and put it in her ear. “Layla,” Jinayca said, her voice excited and concerned all at once.

“I’m okay,” Layla said. “We’re all okay. Judgement sort of pissed everyone off, killed them all, and I think we sort of won.”

“The KOA are folding all over the city. You’re needed back here; we got Gawain.”

Layla looked up at Piper. “We got Gawain?” she repeated. “Any casualties?”

“Not on our side,” she said. “But there are a lot of people yelling about how the White House is no longer in one piece.”

Layla paused. “They broke the White House?”

“Sure, let’s say broke,” Jinayca said. “Just get back here. I think this is just the start, Layla.”

“We’re on our way,” Layla said, passing Piper her mic back. “Get ready, everyone—we’re not done yet.”

“Who gets to tell Judgement?” Chloe asked.

“Not it,” Tarron said, raising his hand.

Tego raised a paw in the air.

“We’ll finish up here and head back together,” Layla said, shaking her head in amusement. “Sounds like the shit is about to hit the fan. Again.”

Chapter Twelve

NATE GARRETT

Washington, DC, United States, Earth Realm

After the end of the White House siege, considering the building was still a little bit on fire, I left everyone else to get on with their jobs and found a quiet park bench in Lafayette Square to sit and gather my thoughts.

Gawain had been frog-marched off to a tent, where he was to be interrogated. I still didn’t believe he’d just surrender like he had, and seeing how Merlin and Arthur liked to play the long game, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Gawain had a longer-term plan. We just had to figure out what it was.

“How you feeling?” Selene asked as she sat beside me.

“It’s been a long few days,” I told her as she rested her head on my shoulder. “It’s been a long few years, if I’m being honest.”

“This was a win,” Selene said. “A lot of our people are going back to Shadow Falls, but there will be a contingent left here to help out. Jinayca thinks Gawain knows how to get into Atlantis.”

“Getting him to talk is a different matter,” I said. “Mordred isn’t here with Excalibur, and according to Gawain he’s had runes placed on himself to ensure the sword doesn’t work. Which I didn’t think was possible. We’ll take him back to Shadow Falls and find