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Idonea gritted her teeth. Liar. Coward.
The daemon locked its eyes on her. It smelled her power, her blood, her will. It lunged.
Idonea flung her palms forward.
Current exploded from her hands, a blast of molten force that lit the trees in a blinding arc.
The daemon staggered, shrieking.
A vine whipped out blindly and wrapped around Alcaeus’ throat.
“No!” Idonea screamed, stumbling forward.
The vine yanked him off his feet, slamming him into the snow. Green venom hissed where it tore his skin.
Another blast of Current erupted from her palms, driving the daemon back.
Its vines curled inward. Its body shuddered. It crashed into the tree line, and vanished into the dark.
The blast she'd given it had severed the sigil burned into its chest. Without the anchor sigil, a Lesser Noble couldn't hold a stolen form. It couldn't stay on the mortal plane. The Leshak's body would've collapsed back into an ordinary guardian tree somewhere deep in the pines.
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Idonea crawled to Alcaeus, hands shaking. His breath was shallow, veins darkening, his skin pale with creeping poison.
“Idonea…” His hand brushed her cheek, weak, trembling.
She pressed her fingers against his neck. The poison pulsed under her fingertips. The sight of him punched straight through her chest. Not him, not now.
Kitsa dropped beside her, eyes wide with horror. “He’s dying.”
Idonea’s breath came ragged, her head throbbed from the strain. Blood streaked her nose. “Leshak venom. We can mend flesh — but poison…”
Kitsa shook her head, frantic. “No.”
The Grand Templar loomed above, flanked by armoured Templars. His face was shadowed, unreadable.
“Take Brother Alcaeus,” he commanded, gesturing to the Templar. “Bring him to the Templar house. There, he will be treated in safety.”
Idonea’s arms tightened around her father. “No.”
The word was sharp, feral. The Templars froze.
“I won’t let you take him.” She glared up at the Grand Templar, her teeth bared. “I’ll deal with him.”
The Grand Templar’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t press. His men shifted uneasily.
Behind her cloak, Idonea’s hand brushed the tiny bee pinned to her sleeve. She whispered a word of activation. The charm buzzed faintly, carrying her signal into the night.
But the moment she drew her hand back to Alcaeus’s chest, metal clamped down on her wrists.
She gasped, twisting, but two masked Templars forced her arms behind her back. A third shoved her to her knees in the snow. Her breath punched out of her lungs, hot against the icy air.
“Restrain her,” the Grand Templar said coolly.
Idonea stared at him. Half the men around him would be dead if she hadn't arrived, and still he looked at her like she was the threat.
Kitsa screamed, lunging towards Idonea, but another Templar grabbed her by the collar and yanked her backward. She hit the ground hard, a thin cry escaping her throat.
