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“You can kill each and every one of us and it still won’t stop the resistance,” Sofia said. “The Dragonborn will keep fighting as long as even just one of us breathes.”

“Perhaps we’ll need to fix that,” he sneered.

Sofia couldn’t stop the laugh that slipped out. “If you kill the Dragonborn, who will clean your homes and serve your tea? Who will work the farms to feed you? You would all die without us.”

“You’re right,” he said, smiling in a way that sent ice down her spine. “Your worth is in your servitude. Our mistake has been ever treating yourpeopleas people. Why confuse the donkey by allowing it to think?”

Sofia lunged at him, knowing there was nothing she could do locked in her cell, but unable to control the urge to wrap her hands around the man’s throat. He only stepped back, laughing as she slammed into the bars.

“Face me like a man,” she sneered.

“I don’t fight livestock,” he said.

Sofia was still pressed against the bars, seething but helpless, as the doors of the hallway opened and the sound of footsteps approached. The echoes beat through her body in time with her heart, sticking in her chest as she tried to breathe and ready herself to facehimagain. She needed a plan, but she couldn’t think through her rage.

The general turned first and her own gaze followed, a new emotion thrilling through her body as she saw Vato walking down the hall, two soldiers behind him that she didn’t recognize.

“Where’s the chief commander?” the general barked.

“There’s been a change of plans,sir.” Vato stepped forward, his eyes focused only on the general.

“Excuse me?” The general’s jaw twitched, the confusion in his face satisfying to see.

“Ian?” Fox said, pressing up against the bars next to Sofia.

“My friends and I are going to leave now, I think.” Vato cracked his fist across the general’s face.

CHAPTERFORTY-SIX

FOX

Fox’s father was a big man, never relenting on his training even after two decades out of the field. But he also wasn’t expecting to be sucker-punched by his inferior. In the same moment the general stumbled back, his hand touching his bleeding lip in surprise, Ian tossed a set of keys from his pocket into Sofia’s outstretched hand.

Chaos erupted.

As soon as Sofia opened their cell door, she ran to the others, unlocking them with practiced fingers as she dodged the fists and weapons amid the fighting.

Fox watched for only a minute, trying to understand what he was seeing, but a yell from Ian drew his attention and then the hilt of a sword was being thrust into his hands. He was tired, his nose likely broken, and he had no idea what was happening, but it didn’t matter. Taking a deep breath, he shoved his way into the melee, lashing out toward his father.

His sword made contact with his father’s own, rattling up through his arms. He was still weak from weeks of near starvation, but his anger seemed to count for something.

“Traitorous scum,” his father hissed as their blades met again and again. “Your brother would be disgusted by what you’ve become.”

“You never truly knew Leon,” he said, feinting to the side before swinging at his father’s leg. He didn’t know how true the words were until he’d said them out loud. Yes, his brother was always questioning the treatment of the Dragonborn, but Fox was starting to suspect it was more than that. He cared. He would have been on Fox’s side—on Ian’s side.

It was this thought of Ian that had him stumbling, his father’s blade cutting into his arm before he could dodge to the side. Ian was fighting for the Dragonborn. He’d come to save Fox, but it wasn’t just that. He’d looked at Sofia like he knew her. She’d known him.Vato.

Fox hissed out a painful breath.

“You never stood a chance against me,” he said with a sneer as Fox stumbled back.

“Fuck you, Father,” he said, even as his father’s sword swung down toward him. He already knew his own parry was going to be too slow. Too late.

His father’s sword went flying as a blur of black and brown attacked him from the side. Sofia was latched around his waist, hands flailing as she scratched and raked at him, weaponless though she was. She drew blood, hissing and howling like an animal, and Fox could only watch with wide eyes. It took a minute, but his father threw her off, her body crashing into the bars of the nearest cell.

But even as his father straightened himself and looked around, Fox smiled.

It didn’t matter; his father had lost. Every cell was open, half the Dragonborn already holding weapons. The two soldiers who had been with his father were bleeding out on the ground.