“Step aside,” Darya commanded again.
This time, Tara and Amahle moved out of the way without hesitating.
“You see? It’s that easy. Now let go of Esme or she’ll get hurt next.”
“No, Seren. Don’t,” Esme begged. “Don’t let them take me again.”
“Why not just bewitch me like everyone else?” My eyes narrowed at her. “Why make this more difficult on yourself?”
Her face hardened. “Gods, you pretend to be Ibarran and know something of spellcraft. You’re such a disgrace in every way. You can’t be bewitched, Seren. Or I would have done it long before now.”
Her goads could do nothing to me now.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I looked over at Ciaran’s dead body. He’d died for me without hesitation. I was already dying, but I wouldn’t leave Esme in her power.
If I could kill Darya, her spell on the bewitched would break. They would all be free.
The sounds of running footsteps provided a momentary distraction, then Thorne roared into the tunnel, a torch in one hand, a sword in the other. “Stay the hell away from my queen,” he growled, running straight toward the Vangar.
The poison in my body had overpowered me, and my arms and legs trembled uncontrollably.
Without blinking, Darya turned toward the Vangar, then pulled a sword from the sheath at her side. Rykr’s sword.
A sword that would kill when used.
I had no doubt Thorne was a superior fighter—stronger and better—but he was going to die, too.
“Rykr.” I reached out to him through our bond, almost as an instinct. Is he still alive?
I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain grew, my shivering so intense now that I couldn’t prevent my body from twitching.
“Rykr.”
Amid my pain, I revisited that moment after I’d met Rykr when he’d been dying and I’d stared at that handsome face, trying to decide whether my damnation was worth the trouble of dragging him back to the territory.
Fate had brought him to me.
And now I would be damned if I didn’t do everything to save him once again.
I drew a deep breath, seeking the wisps of gold in my mind that were Rykr’s spirit. My mother hadn’t taught me how to block or access my power—or his—but he’d been in my mind enough that I recognized where I ended and he began.
Sucking in a shallow breath, I noticed the frost on the floor below me.
As though it had come from my fingertips. Like I’d seen fire shoot from Rykr’s hands, except this was my power with his strength.
I sat straighter, my shaking gone, my heartbeat strangely slow. The clash of swords sounded as Thorne fought his way through the Vangar, not knowing that even if he reached me, he would die.
Esme trembled in my arms.
I had to save us.
Spreading my palm in front of my lips, I blew a cold, icy chill from my fingertips toward Seth. Not the type that would freeze a form, but something that would go deeper inside him. If the ice could wrap around his heart, maybe it would be enough to sever the connection Darya had placed on him.
It might also kill him.
Much as I didn’t want that to happen, it was a risk I wasn’t willing to take on anyone else.
Desperation filled me as Seth stood straighter, a cry of pain leaving his lips. “Seth, please. Darya bewitched you. Everyone here. Please. I need your help, Seth.”
