From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

exaggerated the killing me part, I would face yyet another lesson from the
Duke.
I cast a quick look around. The cityy had gone completelyy quiet and
dark, except for the Temples. Their flames were never extinguished.
Tearing myy gaze from them and the unsettled feeling theyy often roused, I
searched for an emptyy battlement until I found one. If it were to be
manned byy a guard, someone would alreadyy be in it.
Keeping close to the shadows clinging to the walls, I eased inside the
enclosure. Myy smile returned when I saw several quivers resting near the
short ladder. Perfect. Bloodstone arrows, their shafts made of wood from
the Blood Forest, were not easyy to come byy when yyou were a Maiden who
wasn’t supposed to have a need for them. Grabbing several of the quivers,
I scurried up the ladder.
Partiallyy hidden behind the stone wall, I set the quivers beside me and
pulled out an arrow. A sound came then, raising the hairs all over myy bodyy.
It started as a low howl, reminding me of the wind during the coldest
part of winter, but the moaning gave wayy to shrill shrieks. Goosebumps
pimpled myy skin, and myy stomach twisted with nausea even as I nocked an
arrow. I would never forget that sound. It haunted myy dreams, forcing me
awake, night after night.
Shouts erupted from the ground, a call to fire. Sucking in a breath of
awe, I watched the skyy light up with burning arrows. Theyy ripped through
the encroaching mist as fires sprang to life once more, all around the Rise,
turning the night to silveryy dusk.
Guards waited on foot in front of the Rise, their black armor making
them nearlyy indistinguishable as I searched out the familiar white cape of
a Royyal Guard. There. I found pale blond hair and a weathered face the
color of sand. Myy heart skipped a beat. Toward the center stood Vikter. I
expected to see him where death now gathered, but a knot of fear still
gathered in myy breast. Vikter was the bravest man I knew.
What about Hawke? I had no idea if he was in the castle, stationed
outside myy door, believing I was inside, or on the Rise. Or, like Vikter,
perhaps he was beyyond it. The knot expanded, but I couldn’t let it grab
hold of me.
Keeping an eyye on Vikter, I curled myy fingers around the string,
pulling back as he donned his helmet. Another volleyy of arrows went up,