Page 70 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

Helplessness tore at me. I couldn’t carry Marth. He simply weighed too much. And if I dropped him, the knife in his chest could find its way to his heart.

A choked sound echoed in my head. The sound Cavis had made when—

No.

If I didn’t focus, all of us were dead.

Around us, screams tore through the night. The soldiers had already begun sacking the city, and flames leaped in the distance, greedily eating through the homes and livelihoods of the people who’d lived here.

We needed to cross this street. And as we did, we would be perfectly silhouetted by the flames to our right.

“I’ll go first,” Galon said. “Wait until I signal you.”

It was smart, and I understood his reasoning. If someone happened to look down the street, he would be the only one seen.

At least at first.

Since I couldn’t contribute anything to our escape, I didn’t argue. With a final glance at me, Galon strode across the street, ducking down behind an overturned carriage.

I almost followed him.

But some sense I couldn’t define screamed at me.

I hesitated.

A woman sprinted past me, arms pumping, mouth gaping wide. Behind her, a soldier easily ran within touching distance, clearly enjoying the fact that he could catch her at any time.

My hesitation had saved my life.

The soldier grabbed her hair, and her scream became a choked sob.

Slowly, Galon began to lower Marth to the ground. He wasn’t going to have enough time. Everything went silent around me as I bent just enough to lunge forward from my toes.

I sucked in a deep breath.

Another soldier sprinted past. I hit the ground and crawled toward the shadows of a horse cart on the side of the street, silently begging the gods for just a little help. Just enough that he wouldn’t notice my movement out of the corner of his eye.

The soldier let out a wild laugh, and it was so out of place, for a second I didn’t believe I’d truly heard it. But the laugh went on and on. Because he was havingfun.

Heat began to burn in my gut. My hand squeezed the hilt of my sword so tightly, it felt as if my bones might crack.

Slowing to a walk, the soldier said something I couldn’t hear to his friend. They both glanced around, and I froze like a rabbit, conscious of how little cover I had in these shadows.

I needed the element of surprise. I’d dropped to the right, and I could no longer see Galon. But he was likelyreadying himself to attack. If I just made it a little closer, I could take out the second soldier while Galon took the first.

And that was when I saw them.

Four children, huddled beneath the horse cart. The closest boy was pressed up against one of the wheels, his eyes almost as big as those wheels as he stared hopelessly at me in the dark.

My heart beat inside my throat. If the children made a sound, they were dead.

I held up one finger to my mouth, turning back to the soldiers.

The woman lashed out with a dagger she’d hidden in the hand at her side. It sank into the soldier’s gut. He didn’t hesitate. With a roar, he pulled the blade free and slammed it into her throat.

The world dimmed around me and did one slow spin. I blinked several times, as if I could clear my vision and undo what I’d just seen.

The woman was dead before her head thudded to the ground.

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