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All at once, the buzzing ceased. Faded.
The Aether pulsed softly again, returning to its previous order, but James didn’t feel any relief. He wouldn’t until the Book was in his hands and Esta’s power was under his control.
“Come on,” he told Logan, and set off toward the Garden once more.
Outside the entrance, he looked up toward the rooftops. If Josef Salzer’s information was right, the ritual would be held there. His own destiny would unfold there as well.
The Aether seemed to approve.
“Is Esta inside?” he asked. He needed to be sure.
Logan hesitated before confirming she was. “She’s in there. I can feel Ishtar’s Key.” He frowned. “They’re close, and… something else. Another of the artifacts?”
The Pharaoh’s Heart. Right where he’d wanted it to be.
“And the Book of Mysteries?”
Logan looked up to the roofline, where otherworldly flames sent their fragrant smoke into the air. “It’s there.”
The Aether danced in anticipation, pushing him on. He tested the possibilities and found the one that assured his victory. And if the faint unsettled hum was still present? It no longer signified. It was time.
Suddenly a crack of thunder split the night, and an impossible light flashed through the darkness. James lifted his hand to shade his eyes as he squinted against the glare of the brightness. Magic crackled and cold power brushed along his skin, beckoned and threatened all at once.
He felt the Aether lurch, and he turned to see that Logan was walking away from him. He was heading toward the entrance of the building.
Because Logan believed Esta could still save him. James had sensed this possibility for days now. But he’d come prepared for this eventuality, even if he had hoped Logan would have been smart enough to choose otherwise.
It was a shame, really. The boy could have been so useful.
Taking the silver gorgon from within his shirt, he focused his affinity through the ring on his finger and pushed them both through to the magic that lay within. He could feel its connection to the newly inked mark on Logan’s wrist, and he sent a small pulse of power through.
Logan froze, but James could sense the boy struggling against his hold.
“What were you planning to do, Logan?” James stepped toward him slowly. He pressed his affinity through the ring, through the silvery topper, and Logan turned. He tried not to. He struggled against the hold that James had on him, despite the pain he must have been feeling, but he turned just the same.
“Did you think you would run to her?” James asked, tightening his hold on Logan’s mark—on his will. “Did you think she would save you from me?” He laughed softly.
“You think I don’t know what you want? Do you think I’m not aware of what you’ve been planning for, even as you pledged yourself to me and took the mark? Esta was never going to take you back,” James told him truthfully. “That possibility has never existed. It was never an option.”
He pushed more of his affinity through the silvery snakes, shoved his power through the mark, and Logan screamed. He was still frozen, unmoving, but blood was beginning to drip from his wrist.
“Please—”
James was unmoved by the desperation in Logan’s eyes. Desperation made people weak, and there was no place for weakness in the world he would build.
“I gave you a chance to choose differently,” he told Logan. “Even after I knew you went to Esta and Darrigan, even after I knew you’d promised to betray me, I gave you the opportunity to turn from that path. I tried to make you see the truth.”
The boy was clearly straining from the effort of fighting against the hold of the mark. But there was no possibility of fighting against that magic, not when the Delphi’s Tear was snug on James’ hand. He focused his affinity through that ancient stone and sent another command through the Aether that had been his guide for so long.
Logan struggled against the compulsion, but he never had a chance. Bloody tears streaming down his cheeks, he knelt there before James.
“You could have been so much more,” James said, feeling only the hint of regret. Such a useful tool.
Then, with another sure push, he used the mark to tear the magic from Logan’s very soul.
Logan collapsed, a bloodied heap on the ground as another crack sounded and another arc of light shot through the sky overhead.
James looked up to see the flames in the cauldrons rising and great beasts beginning to form themselves from the smoke.
