Han started untying the sash around her robe. “They won’t. Not with as many of their people as they left here.”
Lilette straightened as she watched the ship come closer. “Han?” It was moving fast—too fast to be just any ship. She pointed to where it now rested in the open waters. “What is that ship doing?”
His brow furrowed as he squinted at it. “Fishing?”
Her gaze swept over the conformation, the lay of the sails, and her breath caught. “It’s Brine’s ship.”
Han stepped up beside her just as a wavering column of blue and purple shot up from the deck. He leaned over the rail and shouted, “Sound the alarm!”
The guardians in the compound whipped around, unsure what to do. But the elite knew. One struck the gong that had been repaired earlier.
As the percussion broke out over the city, Han snatched Lilette’s arm and half dragged her toward the stairs. “You have to create a circle. Deliver a counter song!”
Her mind kept stumbling on the fact that the witches were launching an attack. It didn’t seem real.
They reached the second level of the palace, where the remaining witches were saying. It was a wide room divided by dozens of silk screens. Most of the witches were still out in the city, but a few had returned for the evening. The thought of them dying jarred a protective instinct inside Lilette. “Witches! To me!” she called.
A few screens slid open, and a handful of witches rushed out of their rooms, Nassa and Doranna among them. “What’s going on?” Doranna asked.
“Brine is singing against us!”
“That’s not possible!” Nassa said.
Lilette didn’t have time to argue. “Help me or we’re all dead!” she cried. She rushed into the courtyard, the handful of witches behind her, just as the world bucked beneath her. She found herself face down on the brick-paved courtyard, her nose gushing blood into her mouth.
She could see Han’s lips move as he screamed at her, but she couldn’t hear him over the din. He started pulling her away. She looked back. Looming over them, the palace pitched violently. What if it fell on top of them?
She dragged herself forward as the ground heaved again. The skin on her elbows tore, but she couldn’t feel anything past the bone-numbing fear of being crushed.
Movement in front of her caught her gaze. The last remaining rampart shook itself to pieces and leaned toward them. With a deafening roar, it shattered against the brick courtyard. Han snatched her into his arms, shielding her with his body as broken bricks pounded them.
The shaking subsided a bit. Her ears ringing, Lilette dared to lift her head. She couldn’t see anything through the choking dust. Groaning, Han pushed himself up beside her. Pieces of brick and dust cascaded off his back. Blood coated his scarred ear.
“What are they doing?” Lilette gasped.
Sometime between when he’d been kissing her neck and now, Han had thrown on his death armor. “They’re going to destroy all the witnesses.”
His words refused to penetrate the thick layer of disbelief that held Lilette captive.
“Keepers!” his voice rang out in the unnatural stillness. “To me! If you want to save your lives, to me!”
Lilette pushed herself up. This was happening. And if she didn’t do anything to stop it, everyone was going to die. Wiping blood and dust off her face, she pivoted, searching for Doranna and Nassa. They had to start a circle. Now.
Lilette stumbled over broken bricks, coughing as dust filled her lungs. Her foot caught on something too soft to be rubble. She bent over, her hands grazing clothing. She found an arm and pulled on it. It was Doranna. “Are you alive?”
Doranna moaned. Lilette shook her. “There’s time to be hurt later. Get up.”
The wastrel blinked open her green eyes—the color a shock in a world of yellow dust.
“We have to sing,” Lilette said.
Doranna grimaced and pushed herself up. “Why would they attack us?”
Afraid of being alone—of losing her—Lilette dragged Doranna along as she searched for Nassa. “Because we know too much.” Brine must be in on it. All the Heads must be. Lilette suddenly thought of Bethel—of the history she carved into her cliffs—and wondered if the older woman would engrave this moment as well.
They stumbled upon Nassa, wandering and confused. Only a few minutes must have passed since the tremors had ceased, but Lilette felt the songs building in the elements, building until everything would burst.
“Drop!” she commanded. They hit the ground just as it started moving again. They clung to each other, their cries of fear drowned out by the deafening roar of the earth in pain.