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Wait,est amage.

I pause, turning back.

Memnon’s gaze is fierce.Cities can burn and centuries can pass and none of it means anything to me without you. So stay safe, my queen. And remember—stab first, ask questions later.

A feeling rises in me.I love?—

His eyes flash.

The rest of the sentence snags in my throat.

I’ll be safe,I say instead.

Then I turn and run.

CHAPTER 47

Not even thirtyseconds have gone by before I hear a sound like shattering glass. I glance around me at the various parked cars when a wave of magic throws me forward. I catch myself on a concrete pylon.

What was that?I ask Memnon.

The sound of me changing my mind.

Fuck, did he knock out the ward already?

You were supposed to give me a two-minute head start.It was a paltry enough amount of time as it was.

Yes, but then I decided I’m not going to let my queen face our foes alone.

Memnon. We had a moment there and everything.

Memnon jogs over to my side, his shoes clicking against the ground.It was a good moment too,he agrees.

The pound of footfalls heading our way interrupts our exchange.

Hide, Memnon commands me, using a tone of voice he only reserves for battle.

Without thinking, I duck behind a nearby car.

I narrow my gaze at the sorcerer, who still stands out in the open.Did you have to use that tone on me?

It was effective. I wonder what would happen if we tried it in the bedroom…

I’d get violent,I say.

Well now, consider me intrigued.

Memnon’s magic billows out of him before I have a chance to respond. I hear two bodies fall.

It’s clear, Selene.

I step out just as he’s bending over two fallen guards, his magic flowing over their faces. It’s likely he’s altering their memories.

Memnon straightens, then juts his chin ahead of us.Elevators are that way.

The parking garage is unnervingly quiet as the two of us head toward them. Aside from those two guards, no one else has come to see why one of the Equinox’s outer wards was broken. That can’t be accidental, can it?

When I catch sight of the elevators, I tense. In front of them is another ward, this one a translucent crimson color filled with row after row of curling glyphs. This ward isn’t even trying to blend in. It’s meant to scare off trespassers.