I hold him at arm’s length. “You’re a little busy,” I say, jerking my chin toward the armada below us.
“A little,” he grinds out.
“I can finish this.”
“I know you can.”
His armor warms beneath my hand, and he covers my fingers with his own.
Then the Bridge buckles beneath us as something slams into it, a dozen times, from all angles. Above, below. Missiles, shells. A crashing wave sends spray up the supports and onto the level where we stand. Heavier in his armor, Cal loses his balance, falling flat while I fight to stay upright.
Except there is no such thing as upright.
The three-tiered Bridge of Archeon, massive stone and steel, bows toward its center, drooping downward. It isn’t difficult to guess why. Another explosion shudders, and a spray of debris plummets outward, falling with the central supports of the Bridge.
Cal scrambles, trying to get his feet, and I seize him beneath the arm. I would drag him if I could, but the armor is too heavy.
“Help!” I shout, looking for his guards.
The Lerolan soldiers, his grandmother’s own kin, waste no time dragging Cal to his feet. But the Bridge fights us, falling faster and faster, roaring against its own demise.
I scream when the pavement under our feet gives way, slamming into the next tier thirty feet below. I land hard on my side and something cracks in my ribs, sending spiderwebs of pain over me. Hissing, I try to roll and get my bearings. Get off the Bridge, get off the Bridge drums in my head.
Cal is already on his knees, a hand outstretched. Not to grab me.
To stop me.
“Don’t move!” he screams, fingers splayed.
I freeze midstep, my arm wrapped around my rib cage.
His eyes stand out sharply, so afraid, his pupils blown wide and dark.
Instead of the armada, their guns raining concussive hell upon us, I can only hear one thing. Like a whisper, but worse.
Cracking. Crumbling.
“Cal—”
Everything collapses beneath us.
THIRTY-FOUR
Cal
I fall like a stone.
The useless, patronizing armor that never did anything but slow me down won’t protect me from a hundred-foot drop into raging water. It can’t save me, and I can’t save her. My hands claw through open air, reaching for anything to grab, but the fog just whistles through my fingers. I can’t even shout.
Debris tumbles with us, and I brace for the impact of solid concrete. Maybe it’ll crush me before I get the chance to drown. What a small mercy that would be.
I try to see her, even as the river rises up to meet me.
Someone grabs me around my middle, arms squeezing so tightly the breath is crushed from my lungs. My vision spots. I might be passing out.
Or not.
I howl as the river and the fog and the crumbling bridge disappear, swallowed up by a blackness. My entire body tightens, tensing up, and when I hit something solid, I expect all my bones to shatter into dust.
But nothing breaks.
“I didn’t know kings could scream like that.”
My eyes fly open to see Kilorn Warren standing over me, his face pale behind a friendly smile. He offers a hand and I take it gladly, letting him pull me up.
The Montfort teleporter looks on, panting slightly in her green uniform. She’s small, almost as small as Mare, and gives me a curt nod.
“Thanks,” I gasp, still trying to wrap my brain around surviving.
She shrugs. “Just following orders, sir.”
“Will we ever get used to that?” Mare says from a few feet away, still on her knees. She spits a little, looking a green in the face.
Her teleporter, the Montfort officer Arezzo, looks down at her with a smirk. “Would you prefer the alternative?”
Mare just rolls her eyes. She glances at me and sticks out her hand, gesturing for help. Kilorn takes one side, with me on the other, and we pull her to her feet. She pats dirt from her own uniform, the bloodred color of the Scarlet Guard, if only to do something for a moment. She’s just as unsettled as I am, though she is loath to show it. I suppose you never get used to being plucked from the jaws of death, no matter how many times it happens.
“How many fell?” she asks, still not looking up.
I bite my lip and glance around, spotting a few Lerolan guards recovering alongside us. But teleporters can only do so much, and I had hundreds of soldiers on the Bridge, with even more below. My stomach churns with the implication. Gritting my teeth, I get my bearings and