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It’s too late for him. I’m not going to let him kill Kai or Finn.
I shut my eyes briefly, then imagine slicing his leg off. A second later, a flash of black cuts into Edgar’s flesh and his legs sloshes to the ground. He throws his head back and laughs.
Kai vomits behind us. Raine doesn’t wait to see if Edgar will retreat. His Shadow dragon sucks in air and a blinding light forms in its mouth. Not a fraction of a second passes before it unleashes its fury. It douses Edgar in a powerful assault, the strength of which causes the wind to lash around us violently.
I shield my eyes and sturdy my stance. My heart is wearing a hole through my chest.
The light vanishes, and Edgar is still standing. My chest sinks as I stare at his bleeding leg. He easily shielded the attack from Raine and dismissed the remnants of it with the flick of his fingers.
“No fucking way,” Raine growls between gritted teeth.
My brother lifts his hands once more and aims for Finn. It’s now or never, I tell myself as I instinctively pull Finn out of the way. Edgar’s attack makes a snapping sound but is invisible to the naked eye. Remember what Arthur taught you.
I take a long, deep breath and link my fingers with Finn’s. He looks at me, those amber eyes flashing with affection and fear.
“Do you trust me?” I ask as Raine’s dragon collides with the ground and shakes the earth beneath us. Kai clings to Corvus as he unleashes his massive flying Shadow.
Finn looks at me steadily, unwavering. “Completely.”
I siphon his Shadow into me. The space it takes burns like fire inside my flesh. Finn sucks in a breath and winces against the dust that surrounds us. His flames wisp around his body as if the phoenix is dancing at our power. My clock etched in the air in turquoise shines brightly with Finn’s flames.
“Together,” Finn says through gritted teeth.
The pain that burns inside me is agonizing but I smile weakly at him and nod. “Together.” Then I shut my eyes and sever the Shadow perfectly, leeching Laphia from Finn.
The burning ceases and the dust clears as Edgar guts Raine’s dragon. The Shadow cries out and withers away. Raine falls to his knee and looks a moment away from passing out. Sweat clings to his brow and his jaw clenches tightly.
“Edgar.” I say his name not with rage, but with gentleness. His hate-filled eyes lift to me and I hold my hand up with resolve. The power inside me is strong enough to destroy him completely, but I hesitate.
He looks relieved when he sees the flames and time marks lingering above my head. He wants me to finish him.
But how can I?
He sees my hesitation and lunges for me, his Shadow emerging from his spine and crafting into a truly horrifying creature, a decrepit, bony person holding strings like a puppet master pulling at Edgar’s limbs.
Amser roars inside me. Now or never.
That snaps me back. My jaw trembles but I crush the last remnants of our bond and let my Shadow loose. Amser erupts from my veins, cloaked in fire, bearing four tails and a vixen appearance as it descends on Edgar. It takes the strings of his Shadow between its teeth and severs them. Then it turns on my brother and ignites his entire body into an inferno.
The sight of his body going up in flames makes my knees give in and I fall to the dirt. Finn clutches me and helps me back to my feet, carrying me over to Raine. The three of us stand together, watching the flames in silence.
Amser looks at me for a moment and a flash of black strikes through its torso, sending it back into my vessel. I clutch my chest painfully and wince. Edgar lies on the ground with his arms spread out. He’s burned badly, but his skin is already repairing itself. He slowly stands, lets a low chuckle out, and spits blood.
“Fine. I’ll leave your precious friends alone, dear sister,” he says coldly.
Edgar’s skin completes its healing, leaving behind the cursed wounds that remain bony, and sways his gloved fingers over his leg. The blood vessels come to life on the detached portion of his limb and reach back up to his body in greeting, connecting with all the corresponding pieces. His bone aligns as he walks away from us without another word to find another crowned student.
We don’t try to stop him.
“He’s—” I trail off.
Finn bends down next to me, setting his hand on my shoulder and taking a deep breath.
“Let’s just be grateful he took pity on us. I can’t say I’ll do the same for them,” Raine says with disdain and I look up in time to see another group approaching us. They want our crowns.
“Raine, we?—”
Corvus gives me a grim, understanding glance. “We have to, Terra. They aren’t really giving us a choice and I want to get the fuck out of here in case Edgar has a change of heart.”
