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But no one drew

Akiva’s pride in theed by it, and charged by it, and he wished he could go to each one and embrace them in turn There was no time for that now After, if all ell As it would As it must Elyon stood ahead of the rest, so Akiva and Liraz crossed to hih the narrow crescent, the entrance "hall" to the Kirin caves revealed itself to be a series of connected caverns stair-stepping deeper into the o, the walls had been opened up and shaped to create one continuous space, but it was still in every way rough and cavernous, co more niches for archers; this was a fortress, not that it had saved the Kirin The floor was of uneven rock, in which the in-billowing snow and rain caught and gathered in puddles and froze Though the sky was clear today, there was ice on the floor, and frost plumes where each soldier’s breathnoise, already kicking off echoes, was not co from them Akiva turned on his heel and watched with the rest as the chiraceful, with a pair of griffons All were light in their landings, though burdened with gear, thuribles included Astride one of the griffons rode Thiago’s wolf-aspect lieutenant, Ten, who slid to her feet and stalked forward, eyesthe of a line One ar another It made Akiva nervous; it looked too much like battle formation, but he couldn’t very well expect the chimaera to turn their backs on their foes

More cae: the least fearso space between groups so that the seraphirees to the presence of theirof two or three creatures, the formation took shape Somewhere in the middle, the humans were delivered, and the kitchen worace fro reeting to the angels She was beautiful, her hter Akiva saw Elyon blink, and stare

As for Karou, the angels could have no idea what to less, absent beast aspect, and trailing her genize her for what she was: a Kirin come home But Akiva saw the taut sculpt of her expression and knew that she was living a barrage of memory He watched her eyes sweep the cavern and wished he could be with her

He watched her when he should have been watching the rest Both sides

There

Eighty-seven was not a great many, as Elyon had previously observed, and they were short even that nuo had dispatched Soon the bulk of the chiotten had heard, of course, that these chimaera rebels were a breed apart When their first round of strikes had hit the slave caravans in the south, they hispered to be phanto words come back to haunt theed--ray cast to their flesh that made them seem half-stone, or iron In flew a pair of Naja who bore but passing resemblance to Issa; if Elyon blinked at theether, and far less pleasant There were bull centaurs with hooves as broad as platters, Hartkind whose massive antler racks bristled more points than Joram’s whole trophy room

It came to Akiva that his father’s barbarous trophies--chimaera heads mounted on walls--would have exploded with the Tower of Conquest and dispersed with everything else, and he was glad He hoped they’d vaporized He still didn’t understand what he’d done that day, and even doubted at times that it was he who had done it Whatever it was, it had been epic, and a failure--coet aith his life Unfocused energy, pointless violence

Thoughts too grio’s Vispengtoward the crescent They would be the last All the other chi each other, tense and alert, each biting their promise between their teeth

Or their lie

Akiva realized that he’d been expecting this success, because he was unsurprised by it He was pleased--or a greater word for pleased Moved Grateful, to the full reach of his soul

The détente held

…

Until it didn’t

17

HOPE, DYING UNSURPRISED

Froh center of the chimaera forer soldiers surrounding her, but she had a clear line on Akiva and Liraz, standing apart from the rest with one of their brothers

Here we are, Karou was thinking Not "ho else Yes, it was home, and the memories were vivid, but that was the past This… this was the threshold of a future The Wolf was still in the air; she are of his approach behind her, but she atching Akiva He had done this, and she felt the bird-

Could it really happen?

It was happening When she and Akiva had breathed their first thoughts of this dream to each other, they had wondered if any of their kin and coht around Not all, they’d always known, but some Some, and then innings of els--her eyes were on Akiva--and so… she witnessed the precise moment when it all fell apart

Akiva recoiled For no visible reason, he flinched as if struck So, too, Liraz and the brother beside her, and though Karou wasn’t looking directly at the greater throng of Misbegotten, she saw the wave ofinside her died And she knew that this alliance had been doomed the day Brimstone dreamt up the marks

The hamsas

Who? Damn it, who?

It didn’t er well and truly pulled A flicker of a second, and everything changed Just like that, the charge in the cavern went fro of muscle and will--and relief, to shake off this madness imposed on them and fall back to the way they had ever dealt with each other

There would be blood

Karou’s panic screamed inside her No No! She was in motion A leap and she was airborne, over the heads of the arun it? No one was standing with hands out-held Keita-Eiri? The Sab looked alert, alarmed, her hands clenched in fists; if she had done this, she had done it like a coward, like a villain, picking a fight that must kill so many…

Zuzana and Mik Karou’s heartbeat stuttered She had to get her friends out

Her look swept backward, an arc that took in the collective crouch to pounce, the baring of fangs, the first instant of soldiers giving in to instinct

And she saw Thiago, still in the air Uthe his beautiful length fros And she saw a streak in her peripheral vision A second later she registered the twing that had preceded it…

As the arrow pierced Uthele word no pounded in Akiva’s head No no no no no no!

And then the arrow--