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Moreover--though Akiva didn’t know this--this was the Thiago she had made for herself: one she could bear to stand with The White Wolf was… not himself these days She had sealed a better soul into the body she despised--oh, Ziri--and she prayed to everything in the infinite array of gods of torlds that no one would figure it out It was a wrenching secret, and felt every renade in her hand Her heartbeat slipped in and out of rhythm Her palile, and it fell most heavily by far to Ziri to pull it off To dupe all these soldiers? Most of theeneral, soh esture, every inflection Ziri had to be the Wolf, in manner and cadence and in chill, suppressed brutality--to be hiuide their people toward survival instead of dead-end vengeance

That could only happen by degrees The White Wolf wouldn’t just wake up one , yawn and stretch and decide to ally with his ht now

"Jael must be stopped," he stated as ahuman weapons and support, there will be no hope for any of us In that, at least, we have co absolute authority and not a second’s concern with how his decision would be received It was the Wolf’s way, and Ziri’s impersonation was flawless "How many are they?"

"A thousand," replied Akiva "In this world There will, no doubt, be a heavy troop presence on the other side of the portal"

"This portal?" asked Thiago with a jerk of his head toward the Atlas Mountains

"They entered by the other," said Akiva "But this one could be compromised, too They have the means to discover it"

He didn’t look at Karou when he said this, but she felt a flare of blaent, and he could easily have shown the Dominion this portal, as he had shown it to her The chimaera could be trapped here, cut off from their retreat to their oorld while their seraph enemies closed in on them from both sides This safe haven she had led therave

Thiago took it in stride "Well Let’s find out"

He looked to his soldiers, and they looked back, wary, parsing his every , because it siels killed This was all part of soon," he commanded, "choose teams for speed and stealth I want to know if there are Dominion at our door If there are, keep theh alive" A wolfish sels, and Karou saw some of the wariness leave the soldiers’ faces Thisthe prospect of seraph blood "Send a er once you’re certain Go," he said, and they did, Oora and Sarsagon picking their teaathering Bast, Keita-Eiri, the griffons Vazra and Ashtra, Lilivett, Helget, Emylion

"Everyone else, back to the court Be ready to leave if the report is favorable" The general paused "And ready to fight if it isn’t" Again he ed, with no more than the shadow of a smile, to hint that he would prefer the bloodier outcome

It ell done, and a little hope wicked into Karou’s anxiety Action was best, orders given and followed The response was i The host turned and moved back up the hill If Ziri could maintain this unassailable demeanor of command, even the surliest of the troops would hustle to meet his approval

Except, well, not quite everyone was hustling There was Issa, ainst the tide of soldiers to coo’s lieutenants Except for Sarsagon, who had been given a direct order, the Wolf’s entourage remained clustered around him Ten, Nisk, Lisseth, Rark, and Virko These were the saet Karou alone at the pit with Thiago--with the exception of Ten, who hadon Issa and was now as o--and she hated them She had no doubt they’d have held her down for hiht it necessary

Now their lingering was oo’s order because they believed theiven other orders And the way they were regarding Akiva and Liraz left no doubt what they assumed those would be

"Karou," whispered Zuzana, at Karou’s shoulder "What the hell is going on?"

What the hell wasn’t going on? All the collisions Karou thought she’d averted in the past days had booht here "Everything," she said, through gritted teeth "Everything is going on"

The monstrous Nisk and Lisseth with their hands half-upraised, ready to flare their hao in for the kill--or try Akiva and Liraz, unflinching in the face of it, and Ziri in theto wear his savagery, too--but only the face of it and not the heart That was his challenge now It wasdepended on it The rebellion, the future--whether there would be one--for all the chi, and all the souls buried in Brimstone’s cathedral This deception was their only hope

The next ten seconds felt as dense as folded iron

Issa reached them at the same moment that Lisseth spoke up "What orders, sir, for us?"

Issa elittered with so She looked excited, Karou saw She looked vindicated

"I’ve given o told Lisseth, cool "Was I less than perfectly clear?"

Vindicated? About what? Karou’s ht After she had dismissed Akiva with a cool finality she certainly didn’t feel, and sent hiuessed would be the last ti You don’t have to be asha Akiva, she’d meant And what had Karou’s answer been? "It doesn’t matter" She’d tried to believe it: that her heart didn’t matter, that she and Akiva didn’t matter, that there orlds at stake and that hat ued Nisk, Lisseth’s Naja partner "You can’t els live That this could even be in question: Akiva’s life, and Liraz’s They had coo wouldn’t have hesitated to gut them for their trouble Akiva didn’t know this wasn’t the real Thiago, and he’d come back anyway For her sake

Karou looked to hi of clarity that was the final dissolution of the lie

It mattered They mattered, and whatever it was that had made theo… o didn’t answer Nisk Not ords, anyway The look he turned on him scythed the rest of the soldier’s words into silence The Wolf had always had that power; Ziri’s appropriation of it was startling

"To the court," he said with soft menace "Except for Ten We will have words about my… expectations… when I’ht have enjoyed their shaaze on Issa next, and on her "You, too," he said

As the Wolf would He had never trusted Karou, but only manipulated and lied to her, and in this situation he absolutely would dis with the rest And just as Ziri had his part to play, she had hers In secret she th of this new purpose, anointed by Bri, but in the eyes of the chiirl who had stuo’s broken doll

They could only work froravel, blood, death, and lies--and she had no choice in this moment but to uphold the charade She nodded her obedience to the Wolf, and it was acid in the pit of her belly to see Akiva’s eyes darken By his side, Liraz orse Liraz was contemptuous