"She's very brave." Marcus's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "Foolish. But brave."
I didn't look for him. I didn't need to. I felt him woven through every particle of that place, his power the foundation that held the broken dimensions together.
Elias? I reached back along our bond, needing his strength.
I wasn't able to hear him, but his presence wrapped around me, warm and furious and terrified.
I grabbed Alex's thread, the electric blue strand that connected him to Kenya, to Alice, to the world he belonged in. It pulsed weakly beneath my touch.
"I'm taking my cousin home," I told Marcus, still working on Alex's chains. "Your plan failed."
"Did it?" His laughter rolled through the cavern. "Did you really think I needed those binding points for power?"
I froze.
"I needed them destroyed, little Threadwalker. Needed the barriers weakened between dimensions. Needed the collective focus of both covens on those four locations." His form suddenly materialized in front of me. Tall and lean, brown eyes gleaming with ancient malice. "While you were all so busy playing hero."
The first chain around Alex dissolved under my touch. Three more to go.
I just needed to keep him distracted. I didn't know why he wasn't trying to stop me, but I was going to take advantage of the time I had. "I know exactly what you're doing," I told him. "You wanted me here." My hands shook as I reached for the second binding. "You wanted me to anchor myself to this dimension."
"Of course I did." Marcus tilted his head, studying me like a curious predator. "Your power really is remarkable, Talin. All that potential, wasted on doubt and fear. You could remake reality itself, given time and training."
"Not interested."
"No?" He stepped closer. "Not even to save your mate? To give yourself the body you think you deserve? To become powerful enough that no one would ever dismiss you again?"
The second chain of shadows snapped. Alex gasped, his body convulsing.
"Don't listen to him," he rasped. "He's lying. It's all lies. Get yourself out. Leave me."
"Not happening." I grabbed the third binding, feeling the magic resist. This one was darker, older. Djinn magic wound through it like poison through veins.
Marcus's voice softened. "Such loyalty. Such determination. You're so much like her, you know."
"Like who?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what he'd say.
"My Alice." A tone of sorrow entered his voice. "It's been so long since I've seen her."
"Your Alice is dead," I said flatly. "You killed her. You killed your brother. You destroyed your own family for power."
"I destroyed them for love." His voice went cold. "But you wouldn't understand that, would you?"
I yanked on the third chain, pouring more power into it than I should have. The thread realm around us rippled.
Careful, Elias warned through our bond.
I smiled at the sound of his voice. So much closer to me now.
I know.
Marcus moved closer still. "I can give you what you want, Talin. A new body. Perfect symmetry. The kind of beauty that makes men fall to their knees."
"I don't want?—"
"Don't you?" He smiled, reading me far easier than I would've liked. "Every day you look in the mirror and see what cancer stole from you, and no matter what he says, you wonder if Elias truly wants you or is just accepting his fate because he really doesn't have a choice. You could have certainty. You have men falling at your feet. I could make you whole."
The third chain shattered.
