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"Here he’s an outlaw, to be killed on sight!" Rosier panted, having just thrown another guard over the side

"The council’s order?" I repeated, getting a bad feeling suddenly "But ould they want--"

"Because of you," Rosier spat, getting in my face "He has his own past with them They never liked hian to fear hi, border-crossing h you seeh as it is!"

"I’ve told you before, I’ to have your word on that Unfortunately, they’d prefer so a bit more certain--like my son’s head!"

"Why not mine?"

"You’re needed for the war effort," Rosier said bitterly "He’s expendable--"

"He’s no such thing!"

"Tell them that"

"Summon them and I will!"

Rosier’s eyes flashed neon, and if looks could killwell, they would have saved him some trouble "Yes, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?" he snarled

Pritkin cursed "Do it! There’s no choice!"

"You planned this," Rosier hissed "You planned this all along I know damned well she didn’t coh not as uards wised up, and four of the at the sa between ht sentand body desperately trying to shift--and failing

And staring into Pritkin’s panicked face as I started to fall, because it was a long, long way down

Chapter Nineteen

Or it would have been if I hadn’t fallen straight onto Casanova

And that would have been great--ifto dip a full story doard And then to fly back up And then to bounce back and forth between the two extre on both carpets

"Ooooh," the crowd said, i Casanova around the neck, because I am not a member of Cirque du Soleil

"Get off!" he snarled, because I don’t think he’d planned the heroics He’d been on hands and knees, peering over the edge of his unsteady perch as he tried to get hisaround, trying to clear the croay from what they, at least, realized was not an act

And therefore there was no one to catch either one of us

Not that I was all that interested in getting down The storures on the surrounding rooftops, too far away to reach the hts of stairs away from the floor I assus in the air Fighting on a tiny, unstable platfor mobbed by two dozen otherworldly soldiers all at the saht at Rosier’s court and the flurry of activity around our escape, I hadn’t gotten a good look at the elite, black-clad troops before I was getting it now One of the creatures’ hoods slid back enough to show me his face--if he’d had one Instead, a blank bronze faceplate glea

"What?" Casanova’s head whipped around "What now?"

"That now," I said, pointing

"What?"

"Allû"

"Allû?" For a second, he stared blankly at the nearest carpet, and then his face changed "Fuck!"

And yeah, that about suuards, ere usually ca life in hell a little more hellish for anybody who dared to cross their deot sent on errands, like when the council really wanted soot their wish, since their freakish arht them before Not that that experience was likely to helpkilled over and over again I’d been caught in a ti" whenever tiured out a way to beat them