Page 100 of A Thread of Breath and Bone

It’s been in front of me the whole time. She is the balance.

My twin sighs, as if I’m inconveniencing her. “Not the reunion I was expecting.” She flicks her fingers. “No matter.”

She takes a step forward, and I take a step back. She frowns, then rolls her eyes. Another presence moves in the mist. My stomach drops before I even see her. A familiar face—one I hate more every time I breathe.

Behind me, our friends gasp in horror. Ryker growls, stepping impossibly closer. Kellan makes a strangled sound—pure horror—and the word rips from him like it hurts. His face goes white. Like every memory he’s ever buried, just clawed its way up his throat.

“Sienna…” he breathes—disbelief first, then shame, then rage. “No!”

Sienna strolls to my sister’s side like she belongs there.

“You?” I spit, the accusation tearing from me.

My twin pinches the bridge of her nose like Sienna is an irritation. “Yes. She was eager.” A cold glance. “Pathetic, but useful.”

I can feel the betrayal thick and heavy around us. Sienna is helping…them.

Sienna grins wickedly at me. “I tried telling you I’d get what I want,” she says in a sing-song voice.

My twin glares at her.

Kellan looks like he’s been punched. Not by Ryker—by reality. His face turns red, and his hands curl, then go slack, like he can’t decide whether to run at her or collapse.

My twin’s eyes slice to Sienna. “Keep your mouth shut. Go watch the dog like I said.”

Sienna’s smile falters. “The king has lost his grip on reality.” She waits for a moment before she huffs, “Yes, Morana.” She vanishes into the mist with a swish of arrogance and spite.

My twin exhales like she’s running out of patience. “You know, Soraea, this goes smoothly if you just listen.”

My whole body trembles. “What will?”

Screams erupt from the palace above. The sound carries down the cliff like the world is tearing open. We all shift, looking for a way out of the hold my twin has around us. There’s no way to get back unless we’re willing to risk the mist.

My twin—Morana—smiles slow and delighted. “I need you to hand over your magic. And I’ll leave you and your friends alone.”

My light presses against my skin, ready.

Her eyes narrow. “Now, now,” she croons. “If you don’t…this ends badly.”

More screams sound from the palace as my heart races. Clara cries as Trysten lifts her into his arms. Morana’s eyes settle on her for a moment before moving back to mine.

Ryker’s wind hammers at the mist, but it replaces itself faster than he can clear it.

Morana watches him with amusement. “How cute.” Her grin widens. “You’ll have to do better than that, Stormborne.”

And then the shadows come.

Not darkness—a thing. Slimy hands against my skin. Whispers in my head. A chorus of hunger.

“Give it to us.”

“Give us the light.”

My friends curse, gag, stumble—fighting their own minds. Ryker groans, jaw clenched, pulling air around us like he’s trying to build a storm wall with bare hands.

I look down. Not at my arms, because I can’t see anything, but within myself. To that innermost part of me where my magic dwells.

The shadows can’t have me. Because even in the dark, I carry my own light.