Up. It’s coming from— “The dam,” I whisper.
Pebbles rain down the cliff face.
Fae stagger out of their shops, all of them looking about.
“What in Maia’s name?” My whisper dies as the beast finally emerges.
An explosion of stone detonates far above us.
I scream as rock bursts into shards, flinging my arms over my head. And then Thiago is there, sweeping me under the overhang of a shop as enormous chunks of stone slam into the streets.
Seconds later a ward forms above us, quietening some of the noise.
“Vi!”
“I’m all right! I’m fine!”
“Where are the others?”
I catch a glimpse of Eris and Finn ducking under an overhang across the street. Baylor simply stands in the middle of the street and slowly looks up.
There’s a rushing noise, like the sound of—
“Water,” I breath.
It was never a storm.
Thiago scans the cliff as that rushing noise begins to grow louder. And then his face suddenly whitens as a sluice of water pours toward us, trickling through a crack in the dam walls. “The dam. They’ve set charges on the dam.”
BOOM.
Another one.
Fae scream.
Thiago takes a step in that direction and as if his illusions are a veil, I catch a hint of wings spreading. “Go with Baylor. He’ll keep you safe.”
Safe?
Grabbing his arm, I haul him toward me. “You’re not going up there?”
A third explosion echoes, this time weaker than the others and further along. Bells begin ringing throughout the Old Quarter—the same bells that had rung for Elms Day—though these ones sing the song of alarm. Panic echoes through the quarter, and the bells are the symphony.
“The dam walls haven’t broken yet—they’re solid stone. If I can stop those charges….”
The world will see what he is.
They will know the truth.
I can’t fly, but he can.
I see it in his eyes, and then he gives me a crisp nod. If those dam walls break, this part of the city will be washed away. Thousands will die. And if he can stop it from happening, then it’s worth the cost of his unseelie secret.
“Let me go.” An implacable sort of violence crosses Thiago’s face as he turns to face the threat. “Finn! You’re with me. Eris, get to the Bone Church and find out what Theron knows.” He takes two steps, then turns back to her. “Don’t kill him.”
She makes an innocent gesture to her chest as if to say, would I do that?
“Baylor and I will help these people to evacuate,” I tell him. “They’ll die if they stay here.”
“And so will you.”
“Not if you stop the dam from breaking.”
“Vi!"
“You want me to be your queen?” I push away from him, staring up at the water gushing down the cliff. “Then you need to let me be your queen. If I survived my mother’s court, then this should be a laugh. Panic will only inspire death. Someone needs to take control.”
Thiago’s jaw clenches. “Promise me you’ll get out before it’s too late.”
“I don’t intend to die here.” I dart toward him and kiss his startled mouth. “I have an appointment with my mother, and she’s not going to escape my vengeance this time. Now get up there and stop those explosions.”
He grabs my face in both hands, kisses me hard and furious, and then steps away. “I’ll veil as best I can.”
Ripples of invisible force stir through the air as he spreads his wings wide, and then he launches himself into the sky, vanishing in an instant. Finn curses under his breath, sheathes his sword, and then hauls himself up the side of a shop and onto the roof. He takes a running jump and leaps onto the side of the cliff face, finding handholds where none appear to exist.
A veil is all good and well, but I catch glimpses of Thiago as he flies. Even the best veil is prone to wind shifts and body movements. “They’ll see his wings,” I tell Baylor.
“He knows what he’s doing. Come on.”
Time to follow through on my own promises.
I consider the topography of the city. The old quarter has excellent views of the harbour below it, but if that dam breaks then it will be under water.
The highest point of the city is where the castle looms. I’d like to think it was mere happenstance that saw it built in a defensible position, but my familiarity with queens makes me suspect some long-ago royal liked looking down on her subjects.
“To the castle!” I yell.
My voice is lost within the cacophony of screams and fae scrambling for cover.
Curse it. I need to be heard.
There’s a spell my mother uses when she’s speaking before the court. Few know what she’s doing, but she can modify her tone so it either cuts like a sibilant whisper, or is loud enough to send her border lords to their knees.
It’s not something I’ve practiced.
My childhood taught me to amplify voices so I could hear what was being said several rooms over, but not how to amplify my own voice.
Maybe I can twist that spell somehow?
I scramble up on top of a shoe shop and quieten all my senses. Instead of reaching out, I reach within and feel my magic brewing.
“Evacuate to the castle!”
The words tear from my throat and vibrate through the air. Bells shatter. Birds squawk. Baylor winces, clapping his hands over his ears. The spell shreds my throat and nearly sends me to my knees, but I know everyone in the Old Quarter heard me. Possibly everyone in the city. Coughing blood, I try to croak something else, but my voice is gone.
Curse it. That will have to do.
Fae flee in all directions, but I see heads turning, looking for the castle.
“Go!” I mouth silently.
Above me, a shuddering groan of rock indicates another fracture of the dam walls. A black shape forms, elegant wings flaring wide. Fae stop and point and my heart
