Chapter 4

Briony bursts from a collapsing secret passage, fearing Cordelia is trapped, but the sound of approaching soldiers forces her to flee. The shaking castle, weakened without Rory’s sustaining magic, sheds debris as Briony races through corridors and finds Anna’s lifeless body at the grand staircase. Realizing the enemy could seize sensitive correspondence in her rooms, she runs to her chamber and burns the papers listing safe houses and potential allies.

With enemy soldiers closing in, Briony assesses the window escape but hides instead, climbing into her armoire and casting a difficult blending spell to mask herself. Toven Hearst storms into the bedroom, searches the bathroom and trunk, then opens the armoire, nearly sensing her before Finn Raquin arrives and urges him to leave, warning that Mallow knows Toven is present. Toven insists there is still time and departs, leaving the scorched desk behind.

Briony drops the spell and realizes Toven was looking for her. She moves to escape the palace in the opposite direction, but Gains intercepts her in the corridor, seizes her by the throat, and knocks her unconscious with a spell, leaving her fate in enemy hands as the castle continues to crumble.