He refused to get me any closer, claiming that if Tezya saw me, he’d lose his focus, which I couldn’t deny.If Tezya knew what I planned on doing, he wouldn’t allow it. He’d find a way to make me stop, but I was close enough now that I could manage it from here. With my heightened sense of sight from him, I could see everything perfectly, and as long as he didn’t look down, he shouldn’t notice me, and even if he did, I’d be too far away from him that he wouldn’t be able to stop me.
Brock was instantly putting everything he had into healing the injuries Tezya had. He was covered in blood. His cut across his chest had reopened, soaking through his shirt as he was slowly bleeding out. There was another cut across his face and a dagger embedded into his calf.
Brock’s healing powers couldn’t keep up. The King kept attacking, kept coming after Tezya without a break for even a second to breathe.
My enhancement felt Brock use his other ability as he tried to take away the King’s senses, but he had an air shield surrounding himself.
Nothing was breaking through it—the only ability that could penetrate the kind of power he was using was Tezya’s fire through the ring. It was different than any elemental ability I’d felt before. It could burn through anything, so I focused on it until it was all I became, and I didn’t stop until I felt like I was burning alive too.
I put everything I had into his fire, enhancing it with my own reserves. At some point, my hands started shaking. Then my legs gave out, and I could only manage to slowly crawl up the slope. Then came the sweats. I was drenched, making navigating upwards nearly impossible. There was nothing to hold onto, no boulders or rocks embedded into the mountain. It was all small pebbles and loose stones that sent me tumbling anytime I tried using them as leverage.
I was approaching the bottom of my reserves. I could feel it.I started crawling again, laying flat on my stomach and slowly inching higher using my elbows and toes for support.
I glanced up at the ruins. The King was using ground magic, sending hundreds of vines toward Tezya, trapping him to one spot. Tezya was burning through them instantly, one after another, after another, but it wasn’t enough. He was stuck in place because the moment it all turned to ash, the King was making more.
Fire was everywhere—the stone ruins were starting to collapse, and the smoke was so heavy I could barely see through it. My own lungs were burning from the inhalation, and I was pretty sure it was so thick I wouldn’t be able to speak if I tried.
I squinted, trying to get a better look. The King had over a dozen daggers strapped across his chest, and one by one, he was sending them flying toward him. Tezya burned through the metal each time, but whenever he did, more vines wrapped around him. They were at his throat now.
Another dagger came flying at Tezya. I could feel his fire start through my enhancement, but then he swore, and I felt the pain for myself.
The King sent electricity toward him at the same time, and I watched in complete horror as it debilitated him—as it debilitated me too, and all I could do was watch as the blade went straight for his heart.
The smoke was too thick and too high. It was blocking my view, but Tezya’s pain had my adrenaline soaring. It was going to kill him—
I forced my legs to move, forced myself to stand on shaking limbs, finding the strength to run the rest of the way up the slope. I was closer now, somehow managing to make it to the top. I expected to see Tezya laying on the ground. I imagined our bond breaking abruptly, but he was still being held up by the King’s vines. Alive, he was—
I screamed, but it died on my lips because all I saw was black and red.
Black hair in a pool of blood.
Sie was on the ground before Tezya with the dagger embedded inside of him.
SEVENTY-FIVE
TEZYA
I couldn’t move.I was still trapped by the vines. Distantly, I could feel more tighten around me, but I didn’t care. I was numb.
Sie was face down in the rubble before me, bleeding to death. He jumped in front of the blade to… save me.
The world stilled, and all I could hear was his heartbeat. It was fading fast. From the angle and all the smoke, I couldn’t tell where the dagger pierced him, but he was rapidly losing blood, and he wasn’t moving…
Then everything came back to speed at once. The King was laughing. Brock ran toward Sie and started dragging him away, and Rumor… she was standing before me, screaming uncontrollably.
Rage consumed me.
I promised myself when I came to this mountain, my siblings would be spared from the King. Sie and I didn’t exactly get along, but he was still technically my brother, and the idea of the King taking away another family member was paralyzing. He didn’t get to do this. He didn’t get to take anyone else from me.
It had to end now.
My eyes met Scotlind’s for one moment, one moment long enough for me to open up our bond and say,I love you,before I blocked her out again. I didn’t wait for her to respond.
I turned back toward the King and burned through the rest of the vines entrapping me until there was nothing left.
Distantly, I felt Brock trying—and failing—to heal Sie. Scottie was standing in front of them, screaming and completely drained, but I couldn’t focus on her, not if I wanted her to live. So I burned everything down except for them. I kept pouring and pouring my power toward the King.
Abilities hit me like a brick before I burned through each of them too. Glimpses of agony came crashing into me as the King tried to fight off my flames. Wind would push me back a few steps, water hit my body with such force that it took my breath away, new vines and roots would appear from the rubble, attempting to hold me down. But I destroyed them all.
