Page 373 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

“Then I will gladly be weak. I will kneel by your feet if it means you will look into my soul and tell me you don’t remember me. But I call bullshit. In every lifetime, we’ve found each other, Alvara.” Something flickered behind those emerald eyes, and I took a hesitant step forward. “And I will come back for you in every life after this,” I vowed. “There is no realm—no life, no kingdom—where they can hide you from me that I will not find you again. Moros has tried and failed to part us for centuries, and he will not win now.”

With my empty hand extended, I took another hesitant step forward, but she countered it with a jerky movement. Her eyes stayed trained on my outstretched fingers, her lip curling back in disgust.

My mate.

My everything.

My twin fucking flame—looking at me as if she’d stepped on a slug and meant to rid her boot of the slime left behind.

“I was with you the day you were killed, Elizabeth. I fought my way through that crowd as they beat you and Rhiannon to death with fists and stones. I was holding you when Adrastos—your twin—found us and ascended in his anger. You were his trigger, Ally. You’ve always been his trigger.”

Her scowl deepened, those eyes darkening. “Was there a reaper? The day Rhiannon and Elizabeth died, was there a reaper?”

“I don’t know,” I breathed, narrowing my eyes. Glass cracked beneath my boots as I took a cautious step forward. “We never made it that far in the reading. Come home and we can find out together.”

“Interesting,” she drawled.

But my heart was fucking breaking. This couldn’t be fucking real. Ally was… Ally was the goddess of battle, the Angel of Death.

A worm like Moros could not break her.

But I watched in real time as her gaze glazed over, my heart leaping into a sprint as, somewhere over the calamity of combat and the baying of beasts, that goddamn music box chimed.

And then she was moving, each strike guided by invisible strings, her eyes distant.

A puppet pulled by a master.

The song. Moros must use the song in lieu of a trigger phrase.

A kernel of information for later. Right now, our survival depended on me moving.

With every duck and dodge, I realized two things: we were so fucked, and she’d been sparring with Bellpost because she moved like her goddamn brother.

With a quick snap of my fingers, lightning crashed down beside us, sending her diving for the pavement to clear it. She rolled just as quickly, glaring at me with renewed ferocity, but her eyes were still distant—far away, as though trapped in the other.

With ghostly efficiency, she thrust her sword forward, and I spun my hand out, sending lightning crackling across the blade.

With a scream that broke my fucking heart, she shuddered, the blade clattering to the street.

I snapped my hands up and clamped one around her wrist, sending her short blade flying before she could recover.

But Ally was faster.

She’d always been faster. But this was… this was next level, even for her.

With unnatural speed, she whirled, my ears catching the telltale shnick of a blade freed from its sheath. And then her chest was against my back—my hands scrambled for skin, but she wore gloves and gauntlets—her blade at my jugular as she yanked me onto her shoulder. My back screamed in agony, pain shooting down my legs.

How many times had she pinned me like this?

How many times had I sworn as she bitched at me for not moving fast enough?

What I’d fucking give for her to snarl at me—tell me to move faster, to focus, to accept my fate.

Panting, we both steadied as the others shifted on their feet. “Move and he dies,” she warned.

“Read me,” I demanded. “Read me, Ally.” I raised a shaking hand up beside us, but she pressed the steel into my throat, the sting telling me she’d broken skin. I pressed my energy forward to jump her out of here, only to collide with a wall of rock-solid magic. Goddamnit.

“Shut up,” she demanded, the words harsh, almost irritated. “The king wants you. That’s the mission. I’ve warned you countless times that your hand at his side was always the goal.”