The man in white armor raised his hand, and the holy chains binding Nysha flared brighter, forcing a strangled scream from her half-transformed throat. The sound bounced between the two city walls, thin and broken, and something in my chest clenched like stone.
"Baldric Stonewall," he said, giving a small bow as if we were honored guests who'd arrived at the wrong party. "Shield Hero, if you need a name to carve on your headstone."
I didn't answer. My wings beat once, and I dropped from the hill faster than any ordinary human eye could follow, the night wind tearing my cloak until it snapped like a war banner. Selena, Nana, and Malrik moved as one, thirty demons behind them howling like a black wave breaking from a cliff, their footfalls shaking the ground harder than any bell that had tolled tonight.
