"Slowly? Why?"
Ammor's voice carried disbelief and irritation.
Simon glanced at him.
"Because there is no need to rush," he replied indifferently.
Ammor looked at the frost spreading across Sonya's wall, then at the exhausted demons sheltering behind it.
"No need to rush?"
"If we take Frostveil as quickly as we took Ironcrest, Marek will send us to another tower," Simon said. "Once that tower falls, he will find somewhere else that needs us."
His gaze passed over both cores.
"I have no desire to become anybody's dog. An oath does not change that."
Sonya immediately nodded.
"This Honourable agrees. We did our work. Apparently, that means we now have to do everyone else's."
She directed the last words toward Ammor, whose jaw tightened.
Akaza shifted his injured shoulder and exhaled through his nose.
"We did not even have time to rest."
"Or recover our demonic energy," Virella added quietly. Her fingers were still trembling as she maintained the roots reinforcing the wall.
