Chapter 5

The warriors went down first. Spears clattering on stone, foreheads to the floor, like their bodies had obeyed an order their ears never caught.

Then Nessa, her lantern shaking. Then my foster father — pale as bone, lowering the head he had never once bowed to me.

Cassian fought it the longest. His whole body shook with not doing it. But his wolf knew something his pride refused to say, and in the end it dragged his gaze to the floor and held it there.

Boots sounded on the stairs. Gamma Rook came down himself, old sword drawn, expecting a…