From the moment she had heard the screams, Kestra had been running. Her feet burned with it. Her legs throbbed with it. Her breath grew ragged with it. These were all secondary. All distant. The rest of the world was in a far sharper reality.

Echoes of screams still filled the air. Blood had caked on her foot where she had stood in pools of it. She could still feel the cooling body that she'd clambered over in an animal desire to get out.

These sensations swamped her, but she wouldn't let them cloud the single command she had given her body, the command that took over her and shoved all her terrrible thoughts out of the way: run.

But her thoughts came sneaking back in again: where was Layla? Nala? Lysandra? Had they struck at the hospital? Was her mother dead?

The last thought clanged through her like a knell and she unconsciously slowed.

"Kestra, we have to keep going!" Jasper urged her, gripping her hand and pulling her forward. Leticia, she could tell, wanted to do the same but hadn't yet built up the courage to give orders to her queen.

"Kestra!" He yelled. "They're still here! You hear that? The screams are still going. We have to run! The country will fall apart if you die!" And so would her mother. She wasn't fooled. That was the real reason he was so desperate to protect her. The fear in his eyes was for Myra—both because he was asking the same questions as she was about the hospital, and also because he knew what would happen to her if Kestra died. Knew that Myra would succumb to a deep, never-ending grief and animal rage that would drive her darker than she'd ever gone before. And destroy every last piece of the woman Jasper loved.

"Kestra!" He yelled again, caught halfway between begging and demanding. She rushed with him, shaken out of her daze. She couldn't afford distractions.

"Where are we?" She asked, still running. They had run blindly, without any sense of direction. Streets had passed by so quickly and the blood and death had wiped all logic from the world.

"I don't even know," Jasper said, exhausted.

"I do," Leticia answered. Kestra felt a stab of guilt as she saw the blood

dripping down the vizier's leg, a grim souvenir of her slide down the cobblestone streets. If it hadn't been for her loyalty to Miras, Leticia could have shifted into her bird elkor and escaped the attackers' wrath with ease. It was only her duty to protect her queen that put her at risk.

"Where are we then?" Jasper asked, out of breath. Goddesses above, she'd gotten distracted again. If it hadn't been so hot, she could have shifted into her snow fox, where animal instinct would be far stronger. But in the Triad heat, magically maintained by elves, her thick fur would make it impossible to sprint.

"A few streets from my house," Leticia told him. "My parents can hide us there."

"It's risky to stop running," Jasper cautioned.

"Less risky than staying out in the open like this. Neither Kestra nor I are warriors. If one of the attackers stumbles upon us, we can't defend ourselves. Especially since you don't have a bow."

"Fine," Jasper agreed. "Lead the way, vizier."

Leticia directed them through a tangle of streets. Kestra had no idea how she remembered where to go. Triad had been constructed hurriedly in order to house the High Council and establish a central point for the Alliance. It hadn't been made with easy navigation in mind. Without Leticia, they'd never have gotten there.

"Hurry!" The vizier called out, panting furiously after shifting out of her scouting bird form. "They're closing in." Kestra and Jasper redoubled

their efforts, forcing their legs to keep going past the point they thought they could push.

"Here," Leticia shouted, pushing them through the door. Kestra felt a flicker of hesitation; how could she put her friend's family at risk? If these attackers found them here, Leticia's parents and sister might be killed. Leticia had signed up for this as a vizier and in a way, Jasper had signed up for it as well when he'd married her mother. But these people didn't even know they were coming—and they certainly couldn't turn their queen away.

"Come on!" Leticia yelled. She didn't move. She knew she had to go but—

"Kestra," she said, voice lowering. "I talked to them about this when I became your vizier. They all agreed to this. They knew the risks. Now hurry!"

Kestra reluctantly let Leticia drag her inside.

"Hurry, Your Majesty," A voice urged. Leticia's step-father—an elf who'd married into their family two years ago, if Kestra remembered correctly. "There's a false door in the bedroom that leds to a panic room. Jasper Merson should fit as well. Gabby, you hurry along with them—"

"I don't want to leave you," Leticia's sister cried. "I'm eleven now, I'm not a child anymore."

"Gabby, come with me!" Leticia cried, dragging her sister with her and leading the way for Kestra and Jasper. "Mum, come on!"

"Your step-father and I are going to hide in the other bedroom," her

mother said. "There's not room enough for all of us. Look after

Gabby—"

A bang shattered through the air and even though she knew she should be running, she froze. Another bang pierced their terrified silence. Someone screamed—Gabby. It was a high-pitched, keeling noise.

Another bang. Louder than before. The door was shoved to the ground.

Leticia threw herself in front of Gabby, Jasper and Kestra, shielding

them with her body. Kestra tried to move her away and take her place, but the vizier held firm.

"We know you're here, liar queen," someone called out. "Come out, come out. We're going to find you in the end. It's just a matter of time before we get to you."

"We chased you all this way." Another added." It's now just about how many bodies we leave in our wake." Leticia shoved a hand over Kestra's mouth and held her in place.

"You are the queen," she whispered, soft enough for no one to hear. "You are the Keeper Queen, Kestra, and you have no heir. You will not be giving yourself up. I don't care about selfless heroic antics. A queendom rests on your shoulders and that matters a whole lot more than me."

"Leticia—" she argued, but was cut off.

"Every valkyrie swears their oaths of faith. We all made this choice and we are all willing to lay down our lives for you. Do you understand? You have no heir. The next Keeper Queen is sixteen years away from coming of age at best. You have to live. That is more important them anything else." Kestra wanted to protest, but Leticia held firm.

"If I'm captured or killed, you are my regent until the next heir comes of age." Kestra told her. Leticia hesitated, but nodded.

"Shift!" Leticia shouted, breaking the silence. There was a thundering of footsteps as the attackers rushed towards the sound, but it was too late. Leticia and her family had already shifted—she, her mother and her sister were all birds, her sister the most ferocious as a hawk. Kestra took her snow fox elkor without a second thought. It was still a carefully kept secret.

Only Leticia's stepfather, an elf, didn't have an animal form. But he had disappeared into thin air. She was tempted to think he was a MindWeaver for it, but then she remembered Leticia telling her he was a AirWhisperer, a rare type of elf that could wield the air to their advantage—and have it reflect an illusion of their bodies.

Jasper can't hide, Kestra realised with horror.

The moment they shifted, Kestra, Leticia and her family rushed through the house, running blindly and dragging Jasper with them. Animal fear consumed her, egged on by the elkor she wore. It was boiling hot with the weight of her fur, but the temperature was far from her mind. She might have her teeth bared and her claws out, but there was nothing she could do against people like this—almost certainly valkyrie warriors. Despite the mild war-gift she possessed, she was untrained and unarmed.

A growl rumbled through the air. It wasn't her own. One of their attackers had shifted as well—into a powerful cheetah form. Unusually powerful, Kestra thought. Cheetahs were almost as deadly as snow leopards like her mother. But the thought faded from her mind quickly as she ran.

She could only hope Leticia had a plan. The thought sent a wave of helplessness through her. Why was she relying on someone else to get her out of this? Again?

The world shifted beneath her paws and she let out a desperate shriek as she tumbled onto the floor. The cheetah tackled her to the ground and she

struggled hopelessly. Her attacker barely noticed, pinning her with ease. Pain rushed through her as its claws dug through her thick fur and into her skin.

No, no, no. It couldn't end like this. She'd survived Medea. It couldn't end like this.

"It's the mark!" One of the valkyries cried, pointing to a black smudge on her neck. "The phoenix mark."

"This is the liar queen," another voice called out. It filled Kestra with animal fear and she struggled once more. Leticia was rushing back to her, too panicked to shift into valkyrie form. One of the valkyries grabbed her, squeezing her fingers around her bird's throat.

Another of her attackers—this one wore an elaborate iron mask—lunged towards Gabby. In her shock, the girl shifted into a valkyrie again. The attacker shoved a knife to her throat.

Leticia let out a warbled cry of pain and her mother screamed, only to find another attacker in their animal form—a wolf this time—strike for her. The Keeper shifted into her valkyrie form and was pinned by the furious creature.

Leticia's stepfather reappeared and sent a gust of wind for his wife's

attacker only to receive an arrow to the leg. Screaming with pain, he found a knife at his throat next.

Only Jasper was free. Kestra tried to tell him to run with a warning growl, but she knew it was hopeless. The sixth and final valkyrie had a sword at his heart within seconds.

"Leave the liar queen, or we kill your sister." One of the valkyries—the one with the iron mask and a knife to Gabby's throat—demanded. Still shoved to the cold marble floor, Kestra saw the silent war in her friend's eyes.

Duty only ever went so far. For her mother, the breaking point had been when

Jasper had been sent to assassinate General Hadlow. For Kestra and Layla, it was

the ones they loved.

For Leticia, it was her sister.

"So easy to sacrifice yourself, isn't it?" The valkyrie laughed. "So easy to risk your own life. But it's far, far harder to risk the ones you love. We're not coming for your family today, my dear vizier. All we want is the queen." Leticia gave Kestra one last sorrowful glance and backed away. Kestra tried to nod her understanding, but the cheetah pressed her harder to the ground, claws drawing blood. She let out a whimper, a pathetic, hopeless sound. Stop it, she told herself. You will face your fate bravely. As Vera did. As your mother would.

The valkyrie realeased Leticia and her sister and both let out a sobs of

relief. The former shifted into valkyrie form and clutched Gabby tightly.

"Bind the rest and then let them go," Gabby's former captor—the leader in the iron mask—demanded. "Reina, bring the queen to me."

"At least let us kill the Merson boy," one of the valkyries—the one with a knife at Jasper's throat—replied.

"I told you. He comes later." The leader replied. Kestra couldn't help the relief that flooded through her. "I want Myra Isidore destroyed piece by piece. We take her liar daughter now, then her turncoat heir, and then the boy."

"We shouldn't waste this opportunity," another of the valkyries frowned.

"Who is in charge here?" The leader demanded. "You were nothing before I found you. A few fools handing out pamphlets. I gave you strength. Power. Purpose. And in return, I make the calls."

"Your Majesty—" Kestra blinked. The only valkyrie queens were her and Myra.

"I'm not satisfied with killing the traitor." The masked woman continued. "I want to pull her life apart at the seams."

This is personal, Kestra realised. This isn't about the Alliance or the elves or even humans. This is vengeance.

Then another, more chilling thought hit her: Who is this person to my mother?

The valkyries hesitated, as though thinking over the same things, then said:

"As you command, Queen Juliet Isidore."

Kestra reined in a scoff. Whoever this woman was, she was no Isidore and certainly not a queen. But Juliet...that rang a bell.

The cheetah pinning her shifted into valkyrie form and flicked her knife

to Kestra's throat. She struggled uselessly one last time before they forced her to shift as well—and clapped her in chains. Jasper, Leticia, Gabby, their mother and stepfather all watched on horrified and helpless in bindings of their own.

"The guards will come for me," Kestra promised them. "The Elfin Queen, Lysandra Crimson, Nala Merson, my mother—all the Alliance's might will come down upon you. They will wipe you from the face of the earth." The others looked around nervously, as though they'd considered the same, but their leader only laughed.

"Your soft-hearted mother had a chance at my life before," she smiled, her grin

razor-sharp as she took off the mask. "She didn't kill me then. She certainly won't

get the chance to best me again."

It was then that the name Juliet clicked. She'd only ever seen glimpses of her face in parades and Medea's wanted posters. She'd only ever heard stories about her, never met her face to face.

But there was no doubting it. This was Juliet Diaz, disgraced general of Miras now parading as an Isidore and War Queen.

The Tiger had come, and she had already stained their world of glass blood red.