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And somehow knowing he’s right there makes it possible to take the first full breath since Thessaly said the word ‘lethal.’

Three days. Twelve years of running, and suddenly the rest of my life has been reduced to seventy-two fucking hours.

Go back willingly and hand over the one thing the Conclave has wanted from me since I was a girl…

Or stay.

Make them come for me.

And watch the Kings bleed because I finally found somewhere I don’t want to run from.

Then I hear her voice again, low, carrying on the wind from around the side of the building, and every instinct I’ve spent twelve years running on tells me to move toward it instead of away.

I press myself against the cold siding and look.

Thessaly stands in a shimmering seam of light hanging in midair, a portal stretched thin and silver like something torn out of the sky, and through it, Malgrave’s gray face watches her with those black, bottomless eyes.

What the fuck?

“The extraction is behind schedule,” Malgrave says, his voice rough enough to grate. “The hellhound resists more than anticipated.”

“Then let me help you finish it.” Thessaly’s voice shifts, smoothing out as she steps closer. “The Conclave will give you whatever resources you need to complete the extraction. In exchange, we want protection when the celestial authorities begin asking who assisted in stripping a hellhound of his roar.”

Malgrave studies her. “That is all?”

Thessaly’s mouth curves slightly. “No.”

My stomach tightens while waiting for the answer.

“Echo belongs to the Conclave. When this is finished, you will not interfere when we take her back.”

Every muscle in my body locks.

Malgrave’s black eyes move to Thessaly. “The siren is under the protection of the Kings.”

“For now.”

“And if they refuse to surrender her?”

Thessaly doesn’t hesitate. “Then we remove her from their protection ourselves. I’m asking for your assurance that neither you nor those you serve will stand in our way.”

Those you serve.

The phrasing gives me pause.

Malgrave is quiet for a moment. “You would align the Conclave with an infernal operation for political protection and a single siren?”

“Echo is not simply a siren.”

My pulse kicks.

Malgrave’s expression gives nothing away. “No… she is not.”

Thessaly’s smile returns. “Then we understand each other.”

“You would risk the Conclave for this?”

“I would align the Conclave with whoever’s still standing when this is finished.”