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“Do we have your support?” Onyx asked.

Niamh was first to her feet. “You have mine,” she said.

Marie was next. “And mine.”

Another stood up. “Whatever I can do, I will.”

“Me too.”

“And me.”

One by one, everyone rose, Cole included. Snow met his eyes briefly. She should not have been surprised by his presence or his support, but that minute gesture, her simple smile, seeped into his skin.

Something crashed overhead. There was a shout, a loud scream, the sound of something being wrenched open.

Bang.

The doorman came tumbling down the stairs with a bullet in his chest.

“Guards!” yelled Wren. “Run!”

The room erupted into desperate cries. Another bullet went off. Wren removed a crossbow from her back and fired upwards. Another two of the dwarves backed her up.

The cellar hatch was thrown open, but three metal helmets from the palace guard glared down at them.

Before they could aim, Cole snatched up one of the crates and hurled it into the space, catching them off guard just long enough for someone else to impale one of them on a sword and yank him to the ground.

“Eira!” hissed Onyx. “Run!”

Eirwen was still standing on the platform, staring at the chaos unfolding around her, while Onyx tried to tug her towards a door in the corner of the room. She was rendered immobile.

Not thinking about Niamh and Marie, Cole sprung to her side. He grabbed her face.

“You need to go,” he told her. “Run today, fight tomorrow.”

“Duck,” she said.

“What?”

She shoved him aside, swinging a sword over his head and cutting the arrow streaming through the space his head was clean in two. A guard rose towards her, but she twisted out of the way of his strike and stuck him neatly in the underarm with a dagger.

The blood on her blade gleamed. She stared at it, bewitched and horrified.

“Go,” Cole urged again, drawing his own sword to cover her. “Hurry!”

This time, she let Onyx tug her away.

The path to the cellar hatch was clear. Cole turned, searching for Niamh and Marie. They were huddled in a corner, the maid shielding the girl with her own body.

“Come on!” he barked. “Move!”

Niamh dragged Marie to her feet and shoved her towards the exit. Cole pushed them out, glancing around the room at the bodies piling up, and the flagstones sloshed with blood. No wonder Eirwen had paused. He had never seen anything like this.

Niamh clutched his arm. “You can’t be found here,” she said.

“But the others–”

A horn sounded in the distance. More guards were coming.