Chapter 21 · The Assassin's Last Seal

"Step away from the console, Evelyn."

Cedric's hand closed around my wrist before I could touch the iron lever.

His grip was hard enough to hurt. His body crowded mine from behind, chest against my shoulder blades, breath hot against the side of my neck. One more inch and my fingers would have reached the old gun console.

"You brought me here," I said.

"I brought you to the armory. Not to fire a dead weapon with half the city standing behind its barrel."

"It's not dead."

"The council stripped the power lines three years ago."

"The council lied."

His fingers tightened. "You know that how?"

I looked at the console instead of him.

The iron box was built into the fortress wall, blackened by smoke and sealed with three bands of red metal. The main gun sat beneath the floor, pointed straight at the eastern pass. If it fired, Lucian's army would lose its center column before it reached the city.

If it failed, the barrel would stay locked. Worse, the old charter would force the city gates open for three seconds.

Three seconds was plenty of time for an enemy army to turn a defense into a massacre.