Page 111 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

Any one of them could kill me with no remorse.

I am in a den full of starved animals.

Seeing Forest and Xavier flinch every time I mention the child, a single thought enters my mind.

"Elyon doesn't know," I whisper, taking in Atticus's look of shock.

Clenching her jaw, Forest's hands run over her stomach.

He doesn't know.

"That's why you ran," I whisper, finally putting together Xavier's reason to leave and not return.

"Christ," I whisper, running my hands through my hair. "Damnit!" I yell, trying to piece together a plan in all of this chaos.

"He doesn't fucking know?" I question again.

Her only response is a slight nod.

"I need you all to leave the Precipice, Mason," she whispers. "Please."

Hearing the distant screams in the city, the Revolutionists have already begun to make their mark.

There is no stopping what has already begun.

"The Revolutionists are here, Forest," I whisper, waiting for Xavier to say something. "One way or another, the Prophet must fall."

"You know what that means," Xavier finally chimes in. "You know what is required to make that happen-"

"We know," Aaron chimes in, his gloved hand wiping away what I am sure will be the last tears he chooses to shed today. "We know what it will take. The question is, are you going to stand in our way?"

Straightening his shoulders, feral rage overcomes Xavier's expression.

"You know I can't let that happen," Xavier warns, both he and Kai moving in front of Forest, shielding her like guard dogs.

"I know you'll stand in my way," I hiss, drawing my blade from my side.

"You won't touch her," Xavier snaps.

"I guess we will see, won't we, Evermoore?"

That was the last thing I could say before all hell broke loose.

Chapter thirty-four

Rowan

This part of the world always made me question what humanity could have looked like before the wars.

Was there really such thing as no divide?

Bumping shoulders with Elias, we creep along the perimeter of the Precipice.

"Fallan has it?" Elias whispers.

"The blade? Yeah, he has it."

When I was spending some time creeping into his mind, I heard the thought no one would want to hear.

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