Book 3: Foregone Conclusion

Hollis

I stand with my squad at one of the side doors, waiting for the final signal from Father. Pinning Soren’s forces in, making it so their numbers are useless because they can’t get enough of them out to change anything, is the highest priority, so everyone is attacking from different angles. Candace is already somewhere on the west side, where fighting is expected to be thinnest, because she barely has any training.

My stomach churns. I touch the smooth bow on my back, the one-handed sword on my hip. The familiar weapons don’t steady me. My mate is dozens of feet away, about to risk her life, and there’s no more I can do to help.

And I didn’t even tell her I loved her.

‘Ready?’ Father barks.

‘Ready!’ I roar in return with a hundred other Snowcrest voices.

‘Now.’

One of my squad mates slams the door open, I whip my bow off my back, and we pour out. Nock an arrow, breathe, release. A soldier falls. A maid shuts the door b