lia

and soaked Sadie's torn collar. Bu

and spent every ounce of air l

Swim! Beg the Grand

e like a blade

. Choosing death

ce blamed me for it. Even at the end, broken in that mass grave, her

ng it again. Dying

drown this enti

lave," Bridger snarled, "or I

sank her teeth into his dagger

ties. His grip failed, and the silver d

r, tore free like a wild bird escaping a cage, and

nged and closed on nothing but a scrap of her skirt. Sadie hit the wate

leeding wrist, face contorting into an ugl

erous. The voice of a man deciding that if he coul

hed a steel-tipped armor-piercing arrow, and drew the s

die so badly, I wil

tting through the water, faster th

ow hissed toward her spi

and yanked her down with all my strength. The arrow grazed the crown of he

h and pulled her into the deep

ainst a rock. "Unleash the hounds! The mutat

lowing red eyes, spiked iron collars - hit the water in a pincer formation. They were b

rely around the exhausted Sadie and opened the gateway to the Hea

bbled weakly, pushing at my arm w

er across her cracked lips; it sank in instantly, steady

, twenty yards away, and mouthed eac

that house one thing - you carry the cur

e empire's deepest secret. She didn't ask. She just nodded,

spun around to fac

foam streaming, close enough now tha

Tate wanted

ge, palm swirling with a dense

d personally