CHAPTER 57:
The blade hovered an inch from Gareth’s throat, trembling not with his hand, but with the force of the will that drove it. Morgrath’s voice thundered in our minds, cold and absolute. Submit, or he dies. Then the next. Then all of them. You cannot save them. You can only surrender.
Cole started forward, his hand outstretched, but I caught his arm. “Wait — if we fight him, we play right into his hands. He wants us to choose between violence and surrender. There’s a third way.” I stepped past him, walking straight toward Gareth until the tip of his sword pressed against my chest. “Morgrath feeds on division. On us against them. On them against themselves. What if we refuse to be divided at all?”
I reached out, not for the blade, but for Gareth’s free hand, wrapping mine around
