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"You’re hurt," Aedion growled

Lysandra ignored hiore on all of them

She asked Manon, "Will Abraxos live?"

A shallow nod, the Witch-Queen’s golden eyes dull

Lysandra didn’t have it in her for relief Not with the news she’d flown back so desperately to deliver She sed the bile in her throat, then pointed to the battlefield To its dark,this way I just saw it athered atop it"

Absolute silence

And as if in answer, the tower erupted

Not toward theht, a boom louder than thunder, and then a portion of the sky became empty

Where Ironteeth, rebels and the faithful alike, had been fighting, where Crochans had been weaving between the

Just ash

Lysandra’s voice broke as the tower continued ht, unbreakable line toward Orynth "They mean to blast apart the city"

Hands and arms coated in Abraxos’s blood, Manon stared at the battlefield Stared at where all those witches, Ironteeth and Crochan fighting for either arrandmother had claimed about the witch toas true

And it was not Kaltain and her shadowfire that fueled that blast of destruction, but Ironteeth witches

Young Ironteeth witches who offered the as they leaped into the ht take out twenty, thirty witches around her Maybeamplified by the power of those witchabove them would be rubble Another blast, maybe two, and Orynth would follow it

Ironteeth swar the Crochans and rebel Ironteeth out

A few Crochans indeed tried to break through those defenses

Their red-clad bodies fell to the earth in pieces

Petrah, noithin the confines of her coven, even made a run for the tower To rip it down

They were beaten back by a swarm of Ironteeth

The tower advanced Closer and closer

It would be within range soon Another few h for its blast to reach the castle To wipe away this army, this remnant of resistance, forever

There would be no survivors No second chances

Manon turned to Asterin and said quietly, "I need another wyvern"

Her Second only stared at her

Manon repeated, "I need another wyvern"

Abraxos was in no shape to fly Wouldn’t be for hours or days

Aedion Ashryver rasped, "No one is getting through that wall of Ironteeth"

Manon bared her teeth "I am" She pointed at the shape-shifter "You can carry me"

Aedion snarled, "No"

But Lysandra shook her head, sorrow and despair in her green eyes "I can’t--the ic is drained If I had an hour--"

"We have five minutes," Manon snapped She whirled to the Thirteen "We have trained for this To break apart eneh them Take apart that tower"

But they all looked at one another Like they’d had soreement

The Thirteen stalked toward their own mounts Sorrel clasped Manon’s shoulder as she passed, then cli Asterin before Manon