“I will not be your weapon,” I say through clenched teeth.
“With you, we could fuse what the world has so far kept separate. We could end rebellions in a single season.”
“Fusion is not yours to keep,” I snarl. “I’mnot yours to keep. Toforceinto submission.” Hot, angry tears fill my eyes.
Madness, collapse, death—the old stories snap through my head like warning bells. The fates of those Magicks who came before me. The fate that could be mine if Thorne has his way.
He shakes his head, almost mournful. “You don’t have a choice.”
“There is always a choice.” My teeth bare on the words.
A pause. A breath. His voice turns deathly quiet against my ear. “Don’t play games you can’t win.” He says it like the outcome’s already been decided. Like I’m some foregone conclusion. My future already written down in a file somewhere.
My skin prickles.
The air changes—pressure dropping, light bending?—
Not Thorne’s air. Not my water.
I watch as the shadows around me start to stretch like they’ve been holding their breath. A smile tugs at my mouth, sharp and involuntary, not because I’m safe… but because I know, in this moment, that Thorne no longer is.
And somewhere in the trees, darkness explodes.
“Let. Her. Go.” The growl comes from the shadows of the woods, from the boulders by the lake. Everywhere around us. Mist snakes in as darkness tightens its vise-like grip.
Gavrail.
He emerges slowly, hands at his sides, face carved from stone. The dark around him writhes and twitches. Two creatures—black, spined, and low to the ground—glide beside him, their eyes glowing violet.
“You’re not part of this,” Thorne says, tightening his grip.
“Wrong again.”
Gavrail sends the beasts forward in a surge of shadow. Thorne releases me to face them, sending out a whirlwind so sharp it howls. One of the shadows is shredded in midair; the other melts into smoke and reforms behind Gavrail.
“The prodigal son here to do what his father could not?” Thorne shouts into the darkness. “Gavrail, you know as well as I do what Neron would do with her if he had her.” The shadows still. “She’ssaferhere with us. With me. If I were you, I’d bethankingme for reuniting you two and keeping her out of his hands.”
Gavrail appears in the shadow of the boulder to my right, catching my eye for just a heartbeat before giving me the slightest nod.
I drop to my knees and sweep my arms wide. The water answers like it’s been waiting for centuries.
Thorne races toward Gavrail, compressing the air into a landing, stepping over my water and unleashing a needlestorm: thin spears of wind coming from every direction, all headed for the same target. But none reach it—the second shadow monster swallows them all with an angry breath. Thorne backtracks, this time waving an arm overhead, kicking up plumes of dirt and jagged rocks, forming a cloud of compressed dark air—but it’s not aimed at Gavrail.
This one is headed straight for me, and I don’t have enough time to react.
I close my eyes, bracing for impact, only to find myself encased in shadow—a soft, velvet shield, covering me completely.
Gavrail’s eyes are on me. Only me.
It’s exactly what Thorne wanted.
A distraction for just a breath, because that one second is all Thorne needs. He’s already windstepped to Gavrail’s side, clenching his fist—Gavrail grasping at his throat, the air being stolen from his lungs.
I scream as I run toward him.No, not like this.First my father. Now Gavrail. This willnotbe the end to our story.
Thorne holds up a hand toward me, stopping me with a gust of wind as he speaks. “Work with us willingly, let us train you toreach your full potential, and no harm will come to either of you. You will have my protection. I promise you.”
Tears are falling now, ice crystals cutting tracks down my cheeks, mixing my blood with water. He holds Gavrail off the ground, an impenetrable shield of air around him as Gavrail struggles to breathe. He tries to wave me off, but even the most powerful shadow magick still needs air to live. Thorne has us.
