Page 167 of The Iron Flower

“Kamitra, I want a lock placed on this door,” he demands.

As if that could keep her in.

“And I want guards posted in the hallway.”

As if they could fight her off.

“Very well, Lachlan,” Commander Vin capitulates. “We will post a joint guard.”

I’m numb and dazed and want to scream, all at the same time.

But I don’t scream. Instead, I follow them outside, through the throngs of Gardnerian, Verpacian, Vu Trin and Elfhollen soldiers.

The number of Gardnerian and Vu Trin soldiers has more than tripled in size and covers the entire field.

Newly arrived Elfhollen guards have brought their families with them, and I catch the eye of a silver-eyed Elfhollen girl in the now steady stream of Elfhollen refugees passing by, many with owls on their shoulders or winging overhead. The little girl and her mother look stressed and like they’ve quickly pulled together as many of their possessions as they could, each of them wearing multiple sweaters and cloaks. They quickly disappear into a protective throng of both Elfhollen and Vu Trin soldiers.

Thunder cracks and lightning flashes in the sky above.

Both sides are erecting tents all over the field—dark, angular canvas tents on one side for the Gardnerians, and circular, rune-marked tents on the other for the Vu Trin. And in the middle stands the North Tower, where my friends...

No.

Where my sister and brother are now prisoners. Where they’re no longer seen as people, but as dangerous weapons.

Two pawns in the middle of a war.

I follow Commander Grey down the center of the field as an overwhelming grief swells in my chest and tears well up in my eyes.

Dead.Almost all of the Lupines are dead, and everyone’s hopes and dreams are dead with them. My brother will never take Diana as his mate in front of all her family and friends. He’ll never join her pack, his true people. And Andras will never be part of a pack that accepts him as family.

All the Fae children and the Gardnerian families who’ve rescued them will be discovered by the Gardnerians and killed. And Yvan and his mother, they’ll have no place of refuge. Like the other Fae, there will be no safety for them, nowhere to run.

Aislinn will be fasted to Randall and forced to stay in Valgard. And I will no doubt be dragged to Gardneria and fasted against my will to someone I can never love.

No. Now is not the time to think on these things.

I roughly wipe away the tears.

Andras was right.

There’s no time to grieve. That will have to come later.

We have to get them out.

CHAPTER EIGHT

BATHE HALL

I’m met by two Gardnerian soldiers at the edge of the North Tower’s field. One is bearded and brawny and glowers at me through flinty eyes. The other is young, smooth-faced and hawkish, with pale green eyes and a level, predatory stare.

“We’ve been sent to accompany you to your new lodgings, Mage Gardner,” the bearded soldier tells me, his stance domineering. “We’ll be acting as your personal guard, at the direction of your aunt.”

My pulse quickens. Everything about this shouts confinement and control. “I need to find my brothers,” I inform them, forcing calm.

“They’ve been arrested, Mage,” the bearded soldier says, his expression stony. “One for assaulting a fellow Mage. The other for pulling his wand on a Mage.”

All the blood drains from my face.

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