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We use our gravBoots now to cut across the Citadel Skirt as, gardens, and parks Barracks and statued plazas A ripWing cuts through the sky We slide behind a spire and stick there like spiders till our scanners say he’s passed I shiver aain A kilo around his back, it weighs him down a bit

I land on the wall that surrounds the villa and separates it from the other compounds where the other notable fas

It’s warround Howlers land around oyles on the wall Darkness clains of fighting But the lights are out

"Or late," Sevro says, "if they were murdered in their beds"

"They’re not stupid," I say "They wouldn’t just wait to be killed This is to look like a Bellona n won’t want to be implicated" But what does that even mean? The Bellona would come with Grays, Obsidians, Golds, and despite all their vaunted honor, they would destroy every last woman and child with any means at their disposal You do not let your foot off the throat of an enemy and remain powerful, as they have, for hundreds of years

The killing will be silent, though The Sovereignunwelcome eyes, unwelcome variables, and it would make her look weak Better to have the act done Better to say the Bellona did it and daustans dead, what is the point tothe escaped assassination … well, that’s another thing entirely

"Quinn" I lean close so I can hear her whisper

"Visual is too clear If they have optics, they’ll spot us up on the wall" She points to the roof "We can make an incursion there Sweep down level by level" I hear the worry in her voice

"We’ll get Roque," I say "Pro till we have the shuttle?"

"Mustang is ten out," Sevro says

I pop ers "Per aspera ad astra"

"Through the thorns to the stars," Sevro snickers "You fancy little fart Omnis vir lupus" Everyone a wolf The Howlers flash smiles to one another, and we rip away from the wall

We land on the roof Silent and dark Weed stays on the high ith Mustang’s present squirh aon the villa’s seventh level, two at a time The place is a cohout Baths Basement Steam roooing through pipes It’s quiet as a crypt in here

We creep along, checking the bedroo like water around one another as we did at the Institute Sevro and Thistle ghost ahead, scouting GravBoots deactivated so the hum can’t be heard There’s not a soul to be seen Every rooustans are not here So where are they?

They’ve no military armaments besides souards iped out before they even returned to the villa Augustus and his entourage couldn’t have cliravBoots? But they would have been spotted Shot down We only slipped in because we’re unexpected