Atop her favorite spot on the walls before the sun came up, Leah handed the letter back to Hook. He looked at her questioningly, then lowered his dark eyes and to read it in the torchlight for himself. Worth watched with a questioning look.

Though the sun had not even risen on this day, crews had already been hard at work for hours. Cimon Endrus was orchestrating the digging of trenches running through the former plantation fields along the western edge of the city. Until a few ...