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Chapter 54

Theo

Three knights fell before the fighting began in earnest.

LAO weapons cracked out over the fleeing crowd even as the knights braced themselves at the mouth of the Clandestine Court. They moved around the panicked 1st-circle wealth easily, letting them pass to safety as the Grims came after them.

“Hold!” Benedict’s voice carried over the chaos as two more knights were struck in the chest by the blast of magic from the Grims. “Hold!”

They stood united now, but Edmund’s raving’s still rang in Theo’s ears. His wild false promises that their oath was broken. He had been proven wrong. But if Edmund had been right, if the oath had been broken, how many among them wouldn’t be standing shoulder to shoulder with the rest of them now?

Another blast came, this time from behind, striking a knight in the back, who fell with a cry.

“At will!” Benedict’s voice carried over the fray, and as one, every knight moved.

Theo had trained all his life with the knights who stood with him now. But he knew that training was not the same as a fight. Another knight fell in front of him. Even as his own sword swung up, breaking a weapon away from the Grim who had fired the shot.

They were heavily armed.

Because of him. Because he had been torn between treason and loyalty. Because he had tried to find a way out when there was none. Guilt weighed heavily on Theo as bodies fell around him on both sides.

Through the fray, Theo caught sight of Modesty.

He moved, fighting his way toward her as a Grim rounded on her. In a second, Theo was between them.

The Grim snarled at him from behind the mask. “So this is your choice, lapdog?” Theo recognized the man’s voice. It was one of the Grims who had Alaric prisoner. He raised a weapon, aiming straight for Theo’s chest.

Theo braced himself. This was how he would die. As a knight. Standing by his oath.

But as the man’s finger went to the trigger, the streetlights were extinguished.

The whole city plunged into darkness.

There was a moment of chaos, of confusion, that lasted for only a beat as their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

As the knights realized that they had the upper hand.