Page 137 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

“Lord Basten will die long before dusk,” Woudix murmurs. “He barely has a few minutes’ life in him.”

My pulse kicks up, threatening to trample me under its pressure, but I force myself to pull in a breath.

“I know.” I spin to face Samaur. “Which is whyyou’regoing to make dusk come early.”

The God of Day jerks back as though I’ve slapped him, his hand falling from his scabbard strap in disbelief. After blinking a few times in surprise, he slowly settles into a full-bellied chuckle.

“Oh. Sure. Right.” He slaps Woudix on the shoulder. “We’re taking orders from a human now, did you know that?”

“I’m serious.” I close the space between us and grab his scabbard strap. An inch away from his face, I hiss, “I know you can do it. You did it when Basten brought Tòrr to the castle in daylight hours. Do it again now, or I’ll reduce Drahallen Hall to rubble. And everyone in it. Including those pretty twins you like to bloodsuck on.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Iyre’s smirk fall, while Woudix rests a hand on the knife at his side.

Samaur’s eyes widen. He flicks an uncertain look to Iyre, who slowly shakes her head.

He forces another laugh. “And how will you do that, little human? Hmm? This castle has stood for three thousand years. You couldn’t bring it down even if you commanded every animal in this kingdom to try.”

“I don’t need every animal,” I say. “I only need one.”

The ground begins to rumble under my feet. It starts softly at first. If I wasn’t waiting for it, I might not feel anything at all. A chill breaks across my skin as I widen my stance. Steadying myself. With Samaur’s scabbard strap still clutched in my fist, I stare at a fixed point on the high stone wall that separates the castle’s Woodland Garden from Vallen Forest.

Samaur frowns as he senses my attention shift. “The gate! Iyre, shut the gate!”

Her red hair flashes in the sunlight as she lurchestoward it, but before her hand grazes the iron latch, an explosion rings out.

A shockwave tears through the castle, sending a fiery burst scorching up toward the sky.

Iyre stumbles backward, off-balance.

I duck, sheltering my head behind Samaur’s broad shoulders.

“What the fuck?” Samaur yells.

Another explosion crashes inside the castle, this one closer. The ground rattles underfoot. Startled screams ring out from inside the towers.

In an instant, Samaur drops his human glamour. Fey lines burst across his skin as he latches his hands on my wrists. “What the hell did you?—”

A third explosion slams through the southern gate. Wood and stones are thrown upward. A wall of heat blasts through the air. Sparks rain down like fiery embers. More screams ring out from inside the castle.

Iyre, closest to the gate, is flung fifteen feet backward, her spine crashing against a stump as wooden beams crash around her.

Broken bits of stone rain down as I clutch my arms over my head.

Samaur squeezes my upper arms so hard I cry out in pain. His sunlit eyes are wild with adrenaline. “What thehelldid you do?”

Woudix holds out his hands, bruise-black fey crackling at his fingertips with the promise of death itself, ready to strike—but to defend Samaur or me, I’m not sure.

My chest heaves as I wrestle against Samaur’s hold. “I didn’t do anything—hedid.”

As the dust settles, Tòrr strides through the breach in the southern gate.

His black mane and tail ripple over his powerful muscles, and his coat is caked in stone dust. His monoceros horn—fully exposed to the sunlight—stabs toward the sky like an abalone sword.

Heart racing, I strain on tiptoe to peer through the decimated gate to make out two more equal-sized holes in the walls that flank both the Hailstrom Tower and Sunflare Tower.

As soon as I catch my breath, I point out to Tòrr wryly,You know, you could have done that with a single explosion.

Don’t question greatness, little fae,Tòrr retorts as he lifts his chin high so his mane whips in the wind.

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