“Found you,”it whispers in my ear.“We knew we’d find you.”
I try to shake it loose, but it crawls around in my head. It licks at my memories like it’s searching for someone. I lose all focus, drawing my fingers to my hair like I can scratch it out. Hazel seizes the moment, taking full control, wrapping her magic around me.
Panic swells, and I can’t tell if it’s Wilder’s or mine as I flail to break free.
Greer cuts at the weaving snakes of darkness, but it does nothing. They continue to come for me.
Eat at me.
Drink me.
Until it suddenly stops.
My head quiets, the darkness shrinks back in on itself. I shake my hair off my shoulders, and there are still goose bumps prickling my skin, but Hazel’s magic is gone.
I look up to see what happened and freeze when I spot Callum.
He’s standing behind Hazel, his hair blowing with the breeze. One hand is at her throat, and the other is on her arm.
He’s touching her, taking her magic for me.
I take a step forward but then falter, watching as her shadows shrink back in. Hazel’s fingers find the back of Callum’s hand, and they crawl over his skin, but he doesn’t flinch. His magic doesn’t so much as flicker.
Her dark eyes meet his, and the air pauses. If it weren’t for the fighting around us, I’d swear time froze.
Callum holds onto Hazel, countering her magic? Or accepting it?
“How?” Greer stops at my side.
“I don’t know.”
Chapter 55
Wilder
Malachi hasmy sister at the edge of the courtyard, slowly inching closer to the Arch. Selia’s gaze cuts to where the vines meet the dirt, and I sense their plan to shatter the base. I’m still shocked it’s holding—that it worked at all with the instability in the Ley Court. Or that there was time to secure a stronghold on the other end.
Thankfully, my court was ready when Atlas went back to Vaelier a final time last night to prepare them. He’s been slipping in and out of the palace for weeks now, using an Arch outside Ruse Village that was still mostly stable. His ability to burn memories and alter thoughts has helped him go unnoticed.
Now, as the ground shakes, I wonder if any Arch will be stable when this battle is done.
Rior grunts, slamming his fists into the ground to send a shockwave at the guards coming for us. The wave is a fraction of what he’s capable of inflicting.
“There’s something tempering my magic,” he huffs out.
Atlas waves a hand and burns the eyes straight from theremaining heads, while Perame takes out three that snuck up on us from behind with her daggers.
My focus stays on Malachi, twisting the orb between his fingers.
There’s something otherworldly about it. From another place or time. I’d never seen it before he started wearing it, but it pulls my magic. It calls me to it.
“There it is again. That block… what is it?” Rior flexes his fist, frustrated.
“Malachi has barriers all around the palace. They temper and twist your magic,” I tell him.
It’s been a pain these past few weeks as I’ve tried to prepare for this moment.
“You’ve got to appreciate him putting up a good fight.” Rior shakes his head, moving for his sword when something blocks his next attack.
