Chapter 18 · Open From the Inside

"Don't."

I grabbed Vittal's wrist before the lever moved. Like grabbing an iron bar. He didn't even blink.

"They have him." His voice didn't shake. That was the worst part. "They have Corin at the base of the wall, Rhys. They're gonna open his throat while I stand here and watch through an arrow slot if I don't pull this."

"So we go get him."

"There's no *we*." Flat. Final. Like he'd rehearsed it in the two minutes it took him to walk from the barracks. "There's the lever and there's my son. I don't have a third option."

Sona was already moving, boots hitting stone. Her hand hadn't left the hilt since the horn sounded. "You've got exactly one lever and exactly one gate and about four hundred of them lined up on the other side of it. You open that, we don't hold the courtyard. We don't hold the *keep*."

"I know what I'm trading," Vittal said.

"No, you don't." She stepped between him and the mechanism. Close enough that I could see the muscle in her jaw working. Close enough that if he shoved her, she'd go down hard on the stone. She didn't care. "Ethlin.