“Lord Fine, youcan’t,” she said. “We know Sebastian will be surrounded by fire. You will have no protection, and Mercier will roast you alive.”
Wesley’s gaze stole past her. The mime with the painted face hadn’t run away yet, staring wide-eyed at the smoke rising into the sky.
“How fast can you draw?” he said, an idea finally forming.
Chapter Sixteen
The voices came as if from a great distance.
Why isn’t he dead?the first one said, impatient and stressed.
He will be,said the second, a posher voice, cold and dismissive.
The first man snorted.Not soon enough.
Speed it up then,the second voice said.I got what I wanted, what do I care about him now? Cremate him alive if you like, I’ll be drinking my fill at the gate.
The fair was in danger. Sebastian needed to get up.
He tried to stand, but his body wouldn’t obey. This time, it wasn’t a blood terror; it was as if his blood had no life left in it.
Footsteps echoed on the black-and-white marble tile. “You should be dead.”
Get up, Sebastian. Get. Up.
Mercier’s face filled Sebastian’s sight. “Look at you, trying to move. You shouldn’t even be breathing.”
As if in answer, the lion tattooed on Sebastian’s wrist throbbed.
“Perhaps you somehow kept the tiniest spark of life, because you’re you and you always have to bespecial,” Mercier went on. “But it doesn’t matter. You’re going to die now, bymyhand, and trust me, you’re going to wish Blanshard had just finished the job.”
“Jack,” Sebastian breathed. “You need help.”
“Blanshard helped,” Mercier said coolly. “He figured out how he could steal an aura and use the brooch to put it in mine. Helped me see that I could get past Zeppler, past the Puppeteer, by fully embracing all the beautiful destruction magic can cause.”
He leaned forward. “I wonder. Once you’re nothing but ash, how far do you think the fire will spread?”
Sebastian swallowed. “Jack, don’t.”
“Have you seen how busy the fair is?” Mercier continued, with an unsettling sort of glee. “All these pretty buildings, built just to show off. People think they’re so important. But everything burns.”
Sebastian’s voice cracked when he spoke. “I will stop you.”
Mercier threw back his head and laughed. “You don’t have enough magic to stop a fly. Don’t you get it? The brooch lets Lord Blanshard’s magic work on other paranormals. You don’t have an aura, so he drained your life force and your magic. You’re not a paranormal anymore.”
No magic?
But the cuffs on his wrists didn’t burn anymore where the lead touched his skin. There was nothing to reach for in his blood. The loss seared him, so profound it sent new pain through his already-aching body.
Sebastian forced it away, forced his chin up so he could meet Mercier’s eyes. “I will still stop you.”
“Oh, I’m Sebastian de Leon,” Mercier said, in a mocking imitation of Sebastian’s accent. “I’m from my special family with our special legacy to protect all the precious nonmagical from the dangerous paranormals.”
And suddenly they were ringed in a tight circle of flame, the heat close enough that Sebastian’s skin screamed.
“I’ve already set one fire to that little paranormal pavilion. You could have put it out, but not anymore. All those people are going to burn, and the ones here as well,” Mercier said, in his normal accent again, as the flames began to slowly but surely creep inward. “And the ones that don’t will be eaten alive by Lord Blanshard. Your legacy will be that your magic freed the last of his chains and let him loose on the world again.”
Mercier stepped backward, through the circle of fire, and stood, unharmed. The flames closed in, forming a tighter and tighter ring around Sebastian. Distantly, he could hear the revelers at the world’s fair as his skin broke out in sweat.
