the sea on the air. Instead there was a pungent scent of freshly turned dirt and wood smoke that left a metallic taste in the back of my throat.
It was Mateen’s earth magick, and that sound must have been the Second General boring through the outer wall. Everyone around me slowed, but I pushed past them, shoving heedlessly until I reached Dthazi and Aketo.
Up ahead, fifty feet beyond the gate stood row after row of soldiers. The gleaming medals on their lapels brought an unbidden memory of my father in death, his every pin and honor soaked in blood.
I scanned them, getting a quick count. There couldn’t have been more than three hundred. Where were the rest of the soldiers under Throllo’s command?
Where was the General?
As soon as I stepped up beside Aketo and Dthazi, one soldier broke off from the rest and began to approach us. She was a middle-aged woman with her hair in knots, and though she walked with her hand on her sword, she did not draw it.
I glanced at Dthazi, who inclined his head as if to say, You figure this out. I lifted my sword. “Stop there. Where is your commander? Where is General Sareen?”
“The General fled in the night.” The woman paused. “May I ask, Lady, who you are?”
Cold bled through me and roaring filled my ears. My mind presented an answer to all this. I had no reason to believe this was my sister’s doing. And yet I knew in my bones. Isa, what have you done?
Saliva filled my mouth and I swallowed it down, forcing away the urge to sick up. “I am Princess Evalina Grace Killeen.” Sounds of surprise from the assembled soldiers filled the air. The weight of their gazes felt like an anvil on my chest. “Tell me, do you plan to hold this place in General Sareen’s stead?”
Three hundred still far outnumbered us, but Mateen was on the way. And without a real leader, they would eventually fall apart in a real clash.
Slowly the woman released the pommel of her sword. “I am just a Lieutenant, Your Highness. I speak only for myself, but I will not stand against you.”
She knelt and bent her head to the ground. Several soldiers followed the gesture, but the rest looked confused and listless.
Somehow this display of submission infuriated me. I couldn’t forget that some of these people had likely sat by while khimaer were hanged. Some might have even participated in the beatings. “Then go. Leave this place! Flee and never return.”
As if they’d planned this from the beginning, a limestone wall at the opposite end of the courtyard collapsed in with a huge crash. A vast cloud of dust rose up in its wake, and when it cleared, General Mateen and his company, all in their jackal masks, stepped through the opening.
Throllo’s soldiers scattered, and in the crush, it was apparent not all were as peaceful as the Lieutenant.
Dthazi stamped his spear into the dirt, calling for them to remain in formation, but as a hail of arrows flew in our direction, the formation shattered.
Lightning rent the sky, striking the ground where many of the human soldiers in white still stood. Then it became a battle in earnest.
Aketo and I stood back to back as half a dozen men rushed us. I darted forward, blade singing before it struck one in the chest. Blood sprayed, burning where it coated my hands, and I ignited.
Power swelled within me. The smell of magick was thick in the air, but I felt invincible with blood magick coursing through me. The soldier nearest went down first, a flash of my blade opening a wound from neck to groin.
Sword lit with killing power, I spun, crimson magick leaping off the blade with every thrust. Soldiers ten feet away fell as the power met their flesh.
I lost sight of Aketo and Dthazi. Jackals battled the other soldiers alongside us and I was grateful for the masks, which were the only difference between the two groups, both clad in soldier white.
Then in the corner of my eye, I spied a sword aiming to sever my wing. I pictured it, my wing as it was now, and my back smooth and unadorned.
In a flash of golden light, I watched, gaping as the wing unmade itself. There was a sharp pain in my back, but that was it.
Just like that, my wings were gone.
One of the Jackals close to me lifted a hand into the air, their mask