My daughter gave her life for this, but none of us can speak it.
Mavis’s note was tinder to the flames raging in my body. I wouldn’t give anyone my power. But I would destroy Orin’s.
“Zeverin...”
Lightning struck the spines of Orin and Rorik, and they stilled. The word was barely a whisper on my lips, but the power of it filled the air with tension.
Orin’s grip on Rorik loosened. “What did you say?”
“...Ignatus...”
“Edira, what are you doing?” Orin took a step toward me.
What was I doing? Whatever was necessary so I could carve that everjewel from his neck and end his sorry existence.
“...Embergrave.”
The sound of metal clanking against metal sang through the air, as if shackles had been cast off and thrown against stone. A swell of electricity bubbled between us and then exploded. It rushed outward in a gust of wind that knocked everyone off their feet, and an eerie quiet settled over the estate.
“You removed the evervow.” Orin scrambled to his feet first. “How?” He stared at me with unbridled wrath, and I couldn’t help but smile. Good. Let him feel loss. Let him lose control of everything he cherished.
“Mavis.” I pulled myself up and bit back a curse at the pain. “You’re far from beloved, Orin. I can’t wait to watch you fall.”
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” Orin bristled at me. Then his gaze shifted to Rorik, and he stilled.
Murder filled Rorik’s stare, and he stood slowly. He rolled his head from side to side, then flexed his hands. Behind him, his wings flared out, stretching wide before settling against his back. He raised one hand to the air, as if grazing the invisible currents of magic still lingering around us. A smirk tugged at his lips.
“Who would’ve thought,” he murmured. “Mother, you actually did it. You outsmarted Father. Yourlover’sname.”
Something fierce flashed in Orin’s eyes. “He isnotyour father.”
Rorik’s grin was pure evil. “I know.”
And then he lunged. He closed the distance between them in a breath and slammed his fist into Orin’s face. Blood spurted from Orin’s nose, and the sickening crunch of a broken bone filled my ears. Orin tumbled backward but was upright in a matter of seconds. The earth rumbled as roots began to erupt through the soil at his feet. A thorny branch burst from the ground and speared Rorik’s arm. It went clean through, but Rorik didn’t falter. He only broke it off with a sweep from his hand and cast it to the side.I hardly recognized the Ever standing before me. His features were sharper, his gaze violent and full of hatred. Rorik was a predator unchained. The evervow that had bound him to Orin’s will, gone.
Rorik moved with lethal accuracy as he slammed into his brother again. Orin went flying until his back cracked against a pile of debris from the manor. But he was strong, too, and he whipped around after securing a slab of stone and hurled it in our direction. It blocked out the sun as it arced toward us. No, not toward us. Toward me.
Time slowed as I watched it fall. It’d crush me with ease, and I didn’t have a chance to escape.
At least I’d be done with this family. This mess.
Rorik jumped in front of me and braced his arms across his face. The slab crashed into him, and debris showered around us. He stumbled back and fell to one knee, just inches away from me. His shoulders rolled forward as he caught his breath. I could hardly stand to look at him. It didn’t matter that he’d just saved me from death. All I could see were my brothers’ sick faces, their blight-ridden forms. It may have been at Orin’s command, but Rorik was responsible for Noam and Nohr’s condition. He alone delivered blight straight to their veins. He was why I was here.
“I don’t want your help,” I said, my voice a deadly whisper.
He didn’t look at me. “I know. But I’m giving it anyway. Tell me where his everjewel is.”
My brows drew together. I hadn’t expected that response, but I would take it. I would take an opportunity for revenge. I stared past him at Orin, and anger swelled beneath the surface of my skin. “In his neck. The tip of the sword. Destroy it.”
“With pleasure.” Rorik lunged like a savage beast and sliced into the flesh of Orin’s side with his nails. Orin howled in response and then ripped Rorik off him. He landed on his feet a few yards away, teeth bared.
They came together like two mountains crashing, and theopen clearing rumbled with the force of their hits. Rorik drove his talon-like nails toward Orin’s jugular, but Orin moved with the fluidity of water. Gone in an instant and then behind Rorik’s back, driving a fist straight into his kidney. Rorik went flying, and Orin tipped his head back to laugh.
“You won’t last against me,” Orin spat as he stalked toward Rorik. Streams of iridescent magic dripped from Orin’s fingers, splashing against the blight and sending quakes through the ground.
Rorik moved like the hunter I’d always known him to be, and rage burned in his eyes as he set Orin in his sights. That look was enough to chill me to my core, but I silently urged him on. Rorik lunged, and this time, he met his mark. His fingers clawed at the soft flesh of Orin’s neck, and with one harrowing rip, he extracted the hidden everjewel and then leaped away.
And then he crushed it between his fingers.
