The guards led us through the mountain pass in single file. Stone pillars rose on either side, each one topped with a massive harpoon that tracked our movement as we walked beneath them. The mountains pressed in from every direction, close enough that I could see the individual cracks in the rock face. Eratiell wasn't built here by accident. It had been carved into a position that made attacking it a death sentence.
The castle filled most of the available space inside the range. The kingdom spread around it in layers, buildings climbing the mountain walls like the whole city was trying to get closer to the structure at its center. Someone had told me once that the castle was so large there was nowhere left to build. Looking at it now I believed them.
"Stop here."
The commander held up a fist. Ahead of us a checkpoint stretched across the entire width of the pass. Archers lined the walls above it. Guards stood at intervals close enough to cover each other's blind spots. Nobody was getting through this without being seen from six different angles.
"All weapons stay here. None permitted inside the castle."
I reached for my swords. Rue's hand came out and stopped me.
"That's not happening. Our weapons are our lifeline."
The commander stepped forward. "It wasn't a question. Hand them over or we consider you hostile."
Dormin walked forward without hesitation and placed his daggers in the commander's hands. He held the man's gaze as he did it. A faint crimson spark flickered at the edge of his aura. The commander's eyes widened slightly before he breathed in and accepted them.
Layla and I followed Dormin's lead.
Rue looked around at the checkpoint, at the archers above, at the guards on either side. Then he exhaled and tossed both swords to the commander, who stumbled under their weight and barely kept hold of them.
The well dressed man appeared from inside the moment the commander stepped away.
"Welcome, gentlemen. May the grace of King Elyas bless us this day. You are expected in the throne room. Please follow me."
He turned and opened the castle doors. A hall stretched out before us, long enough that the far end felt distant, with high ceilings and stone walls that swallowed sound. A throne sat at the back of it. A man occupied it with one hand resting under his chin, watching us approach with the expression of someone who had been sitting there too long already.
"I present King Elyas, fifth of his name. Ruler of Eratiell and all its lands." The attendant stepped back.
"So you're the ones who destroyed my compound." Elyas smiled like it amused him.
"We didn't destroy anything," Rue said, stepping forward.
Elyas raised one hand without looking at him. "Come on out."
A door opened to the left. The air changed immediately. Something heavy and familiar settled into the room like a held breath.
Catarina walked through it.
"Imagine coming all this way just to find me waiting." She took her place beside Elyas without hurry, hands clasped behind her back, completely at ease.
Rue went still. Not tense. Still.
"My personal guard," Elyas said pleasantly. "You've met, I take it?"
"Yesterday," Catarina replied. "They assaulted me and destroyed the compound you stationed me at."
Her eyes found mine across the room. I felt the pull of shadow at the edge of my chest and forced it back down. One wrong move in here and none of us were walking out.
Elyas leaned forward slightly, the amusement sharpening. "Death penalty for attacking a member of the royal guard. That seems appropriate, doesn't it?"
He was still smiling when the torches exploded.
Every flame in the hall blazed simultaneously, torches and candles roaring upward in a single surge of heat and light. A fireball condensed in the center of the room, dense and brilliant, hot enough that I had to raise my arm in front of my face. Then it split apart and someone descended through the gap, landing between us and the throne with a sound like a controlled detonation.
Black armor. Intricate. Glowing at the seams with a deep red aura. The sword across his back already wreathed in fire before he'd taken a single step.
Damian.
He straightened and looked at Elyas with the calm of someone who had walked into a hundred rooms exactly like this one.
"Sentencing members of the Society to death without a trial." His voice carried the length of the hall without effort. "And without proper representation. Elyas." He tilted his head slightly. "I took you for a man of honor."
Guards rushed in from every entrance, armed with spears and swords. Catarina's aura flared in response. The weight of it hit the room like a physical thing. My legs trembled to stay under me.
Damian clasped his hands behind his back.
"My dear Catarina. Betraying the people who gave you your strength for this?" His eyes moved over the throne room with mild distaste. "Even for a whore from Riverdale, that's low."
He smiled. Rue moved toward his side instinctively. Damian met his chest with one hand and pushed him back toward us without looking.
"Let the adults talk."
Elyas had lost his ease. His hand gripped the arm of the throne, knuckles tight.
"You dare enter my kingdom like this? Have you no respect for your superiors? Are you prepared to deal with the consequences of your actio—"
Damian was no longer standing where he had been.
He was face to face with Catarina, close enough that neither of them would need to move far to make a decision. Her eyes locked onto his without flinching.
"Elyas." Damian said it quietly, without looking away from her. "Be quiet."
Elyas stood. Reached for Damian's arm. He took one step.
Damian's arm flashed toward his throat. Catarina's hand caught his wrist inches from contact.
"I suggest you step back." Her voice was steady. "Remember what happened the last time you challenged me."
"I remember it very well." His grin didn't waver. "You pleaded at my feet before the fight. Asking me to let you win."
Catarina's face went dark.
Gravity dropped on the entire room at once. Every person in the hall hit the floor simultaneously. Guards, Elyas, all of us. The stone was cold and hard and I couldn't move against the weight pressing down from everywhere at once.
Damian stood in front of her. Still upright. Still grinning.
"You dare—"
Damian turned away from her mid-sentence. Still smiling.
"My team and I will be leaving now, Elyas. If you ever do something like this again it will be treated as a declaration of war." He glanced back at Catarina. She was still watching him with something that had moved past anger into something colder. "This isn't over," she said. "You don't just get to walk away."
"Do not engage." Elyas said it quietly, brushing himself off as the gravity eased and he found his feet. "Let them leave."
Damian's smile widened. "Let us is a generous way of putting it, don't you think?"
He turned and walked toward us. His face said everything his voice didn't. He was not happy.
"Leave. Now."
We filed out. Damian followed behind us, his footsteps steady and unhurried in the corridor.
"You four are the worst operatives I've had the privilege of managing." His voice was low and even, which was somehow worse than shouting. "You engaged someone you couldn't possibly stand against. You failed your mission. You disarmed yourselves in hostile territory." He let that sit for a moment. "I'd expect it from Oren. The rest of you have no excuses."
"Sir, if you'd allow me to explain—"
Damian's foot caught Rue in the back and sent him into the wall. Rue hit it hard and caught himself against the stone, breathing controlled.
"You are especially to blame. You're supposed to know better." Damian looked at the rest of us. "Anyone else feel like explaining?"
We kept walking. Heads down. Silent. The mountain pass stretched out ahead and none of us had anything worth saying.