Page 69 of Fallacies

“I’m here.”

“Cin!” I shout after her, but she doesn’t even look my way. Doesn't even flinch.

“Let her go,” Lucina says softly, hands raised and empty. Fucking empty. I gave her her knife back, and she has a sharper weapon in her veins, but I don’t sense any of her magic in the air.

“Please,” she begs as Alaric slowly turns to face her. “Please, let her go.”

“There you are,” he purrs, his voice grating and slimy as it crawls over my skin. “Come across this fire, and I’ll let her go.”

“Don’t you dare.” My demand carries through the space, loud enough that anyone in a fifty-foot vicinity could hear me, so I know she did.

Lucina takes a step forward anyway.

Rushing towards her, I drop my hold on the fire. “LUCINA, DON’T⁠—”

She steps through the break I unintentionally supplied her, both of her booted feet crossing into the circle of flames.

Pure terror rushes through me at the sight.

Only a few lousy feet separate Lucina from the man who started all of this. The most vile thing to walk this planet.

My Lucina.

Her hands stay lifted in front of her. “I’m here. Let her go.”

With the snap of his wrist, Kimber falls, piercing the sky with a scream as she does. Pax rushes forward, but there’s no time to do anything but watch, and when she collides with the ground⁠—

It catches her. In a way that’s…unnatural. Dirt softening around her body, bowing at her weight, absorbing her into the suddenly soft earth.

Lakelet magic.

One glance at the line of bushes beside her confirms it as I meet Selene’s fearsome eyes, sharp with concentration.

When the ground hardens, Kimber pulls herself up to her elbows, the white ribbon in her cinnamon hair coming undone as she crawls back to her friends. Gemma snatches her arms as soon as she’s close enough, pulling the Diviner up to her knees and yanking her into a tight hug. Gemma’s relief lasts only a heartbeat, panic seeping back in when she looks over Kimber’s shoulder and sees Lucina.

And the monster prowling towards her.

I cross the space in a matter of seconds. I don’t have a plan. All I know is that this will not happen to her. I refuse it. She doesn’t deserve it, and I won’t survive it.

I’m close enough now that I can see the whites of Lucina’s eyes. I can see her grim expression. “Lucina⁠—”

Shadows burst through the space between us, darkening the already black night until I can’t see those in the Yard. I can barely see her through the smoke. I whirl around and meet putrid yellow eyes through the sudden darkness. Alaric’s pupils narrow to thin lines.

“Don’t. Move. Captain.”

Sensing the severity of the threat, I freeze. My heart pounds in my ears.

When I remain motionless, the shadows clear, but when they do, there’s a smoke-laced dagger poised right over Lucina’s heart. It looks sharp enough to slide right through, taking everything I love in this world with it.

Alaric sees it—the moment I run out of options.

The King of Rogues cocks his head, daring me to take another step.

“What do you want?” I rush out instead, chest heaving, my clothes suddenly feeling too tight on my skin. “I’ll give you anything you want.”

Lucina doesn’t blink, shadows dancing up under her chin as the blade inches closer to her chest, mere centimeters from slicing through that dress I love so much and plunging into the beautiful heart behind it.

My chaos. I can’t take the threat of losing her. Can’t stomach it. Not again.