Page 34 of Three Scorched Kingdoms

Why?

There’s a reason the orcs have managed to destroy so many villages along our borders.

What reason is that?

They have developed a new technology of siege weapons.

What are you talking about?

Look. Down there.

He nods to the left of the camp, and I finally spot what he’s talking about. Long-barreled and narrow, the gleaming black machinery isn’t something I’ve ever seen in this world.

But I’ve seen it in another.

On Paige’s television.

Depicting the most lethal violence I’ve ever witnessed.

My gut twists with recognition—and horror.

Bullets. Guns.

Manmade weapons capable of vast destruction.

Where did they come from?I ask.

No idea. Some speculate it’s a technology from the fae in the outlands.

These are not fae-made,I say grimly.

Either way, our best guess is that the technology was stolen from somewhere.

Stolen.

Or given freely.

The council needs to know about this.

They do.

I grind my teeth together.

Don’t shoot the messenger.Leo’s attempt to lighten the mood doesn’t get very far.

I have no idea how it’s possible, but I do know guns like these could only have come from another world entirely. Brought through a portal. To be used against me.

Constantine orchestrated this. Even without proof, I know it’s true. Just like I know all the way down to my bones that I’ll defeat the orcs, whatever it takes, and then I’ll return to the library and kill Constantine myself.

9

ARIES

When we return to the castle, Leo heads off to round up our top strategists while I go in search of Paige. Part of me wants to keep all that’s happened today to myself, to spare her more stress. But I’ve seen what keeping secrets does to us, and I won’t allow it to drive any more wedges between us again.

Besides, I need to feel her arms around me if only to quench the bloodthirsty beast shuddering inside my bones. Between the orcs’ mysterious firepower and the council’s political maneuvering, it’s more than just my dragon that wants vengeance. It’s the very essence of my soul. And since Paige is the other half of that soul, I can only hope she’ll calm me.

But she’s not in our bedroom, nor is she anywhere to be found in the castle itself. None of the guards have seen her. Even the maid looks mystified. My worry spikes as I imagine all the possibilities: the orcs stealing her away, Constantine finding us already, Esma?—

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