And then it slipped through my fingers once more.
With the limits placed on our power by Rusul’s crown I couldn’t do enough.
Reza had orchestrated an ambush, knowing this would be the last chance we had to attack him, and he’d been successful.
The one advantage we’d had, destroyed. If we didn’t take the crown today, we would lose everything.
I tore off after Yaseema, chopping down soldiers in my wake. She was remarkably good at dodging attacks, but I wasn’t letting her go after him alone. She shouldn’t be running after him at all, but now she was, I was going to be beside her.
Her feet pounded into the earth, and I used my magic to call on her life, to stay in tune with where she was. Her heart was beating so fast, but it was not from fear or exhilaration.
Rage.
Good. We would both need to channel that anger right now.
This wasn’t just about the crown for her, nor her torture at his hands. She was tearing down the side of the pass with an unholy vindication, as if it were righteous wrath fueling her veins.
Reza was just below her now, and he raised his head to look at her. His mouth curled into a smile I knew too well, even from this distance. I swore, raising my sword high, my own rage flooding my veins.
I wasn’t going to let Reza take one more thing from me.
My other hand summoned my magic, the vines bursting from the ground spearing the Salt soldiers around me through the heart.
Years of stilling my blade, freezing my hand, and turning my head while the abuses continued, while I worked against Reza in secret, smiling to his face. Years of beingcontained, being his dog, his tool.
And this was the first time I’d truly allowed myself to fight back. The satisfaction was intoxicating.
Now, I unleashed my fury.
Yaseema wove through the battle, and I struggled to keep up as every Salt solider homed in on me as soon as they caught sight of my silver hair.
I cut them down swiftly, keeping my focus on Yaseema’s own wild hair, feeling her thread of life in my own heart, keeping my steps quick and efficient.
One of Reza’s soldier’s rose up behind Yaseema, his curved scimitar raised, poised to slice it across her neck. Black anger spread across my vision, my power rising toward the surface with the vehemence of my emotions, every instinct in my blood screaming at me to protect her.
I shouted a battle cry, rolling forward and tackling the soldier to the ground before staking him to the earth with my sword. Then I rose up without waiting a moment, ripping my sword out of his armor and continuing on.
Yaseema had stopped, however, and was staring at me with her mouth slightly open.
“I didn’t know you were behind me,” she said, taking in my appearance.
I looked down at myself, the blood soaking into my tunic, and wiped a hand across my face. It came away wet.
“I’ll always be behind you when you need me,” I said, simply. The battle raged around us, and yet it was her eyes I was locked onto, her face the only one I wanted to keep watching. She lifted a hand to my cheek, brushing a smear of blood from it.
“Thank you.”
“Next time, let me know before you start running down the gorge. Especially when the entire Salt army is here.”
“He’s got my mother’s bangles.” She pointed to Reza, who was moving closer to the bottom of the Mountain and through the pass. “I want them back.”
“He won’t let us get near him and we don’t have surprise as an advantage anymore.”
“Can you use more of your magic?”
I shook my head. “I am doing the most I can. And if he touches the vines, they’ll wither. I have no ability to get near him.”
“Not with life magic, you don’t.”
