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these terrible days of siege and bloodshed, as
if the men hewn down today, were just the
start.
Hasar said, “Wise enough.”
Sartaq winced slightly. “It might not have
wound up that way.” Chaol lifted a brow,
Hasar doing the same, and Sartaq said, “Had
you not arrived, sister, I was hours away from
unleashing the dam and flooding the plain.”
Chaol started. “You were?”
The prince rubbed his neck. “A desperate
last measure.”
Indeed. A wave of that size would have
wiped out part of the city, the plain and hot
springs, and leagues behind it. Any army in its
path would have drowned—been swept away.
It might have even reached the khaganate’s
army, marching to save them.
“Then let’s be glad we didn’t do it,” Yrene
said, face paling as she, too, considered the