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I should have worn fucking pants - Khione and I were going to have words about the wardrobe.
“Cade,” I gasped, rolling over to his motionless form. But I’d no sooner grabbed his pale cheeks in my hands than the pain of ice magic shot through my body.
My muscles spasmed as the blood danced in my veins, following the rhythm of the music Merden was humming as she strode toward me across the garden.
“Do you likemynew spell?” she cooed, twisting her fingers and sending me flying into the air.
“Blood magic,” I managed, and she cackled.
“Of course it is, my stupid little niece. It’s so delicious... and you’ll never, ever know.”
You can’t kill me yet,” I gritted out as my spine arched painfully. The mist might have stopped the third Trial ten days short, but the rules still applied.
“Oh, I’m a patient woman.” Merden let go of my blood without warning, and I flopped down onto the ground, scrambling to my feet as she grabbed Jax, who had been nearest. She tutted in disappointment as I stepped closer.
“Let them go,” I hissed, knowing it was futile. I could see more guards already running this way across the gardens, and I readied my ice magic. I could toss a spear into her shoulder without killing her, but then she’d hurt Jax.
“I like to hold onto my pets, don’t you remember?” Merden said, looking down at Jax with revulsion on her face. “But you never did turn out to be much of a trainer.”
She palmed a knife, bringing it to Jax’s neck, and I lunged for my friend.
Shrieking with laughter, Merden dropped Jax and hurled the knife at Cade instead. I pivoted in time to see it sink deep into his stomach, his eyes barely blinking with the impact.
It was barely a single second before I turned back to Merden.
But by the time I had refocused on her, she’d already ripped open Jax’s throat.
I screamed as the blood poured down my friend’s robe, flying at Merden with ice magic pummeling her mind, but the damage was done. Jax was limp in Merden’s arms, their head hanging backward at an unnatural angle, and the guards were only seconds away.
“See you soon, little princess,” Merden said, dropping Jax unceremoniously and making a move to grab Cade.
I roared a curse at her, flinging a knife with one hand and grabbing for my whip with the other. She ducked in time to miss the knife, but my whip caught her wrist. I yanked, and she stumbled, snarling as the skin on her wrist opened and blood dripped onto a patch of snow.
We’ve got him, princess.
Kas’s voice lanced into my mind, and I suddenly zeroed in on Rush’s energy signature behind me. I couldn’t scent or hear either of them, but my magic knew they were there, hidden behind Rush’s magic.
Snapping the whip at Merden again, I angled my body just in time to see Cade vanish, and I straightened. He was safe. My fae and my thief had him.
Cade was mine again, and the world suddenly looked a lot better.
“Gobbelin got your tongue, Merden?” I asked as she gaped at the spot where Cade had just been. Probably still was, just hidden beneath a blanket of glamor.
She moved toward the spot again, and I snapped the whip at her legs, ripping the skirt of her dress.
“He won’t live long,” she sneered, recovering. “None of you will.” She gestured back to the palace, where the lights were still blazing in half of the windows, candles left burning by careless nobles. It would be a beacon for the gobbelins when they arrived.
“Perhaps the whole city needs to be purged,” I murmured. “Starting with the Queen.”
Striding forward, I kept cracking my whip at her until she began to retreat, fury on her face as she saw the mist rising at my back and creeping along the ground on either side of me. She couldn’t hurt me - she knew it.
“See you in the next Trial, auntie,” I promised as the guards reached us and enveloped Merden in their ranks. What a fucking coward. I stared after them for a long moment as they herded her toward a waiting wagon.
“It’s too much to hope that a gobbelin will eat her in the mountains, isn’t it?” I asked, turning around and hoping my men were still there.
The glamor dissolved as I knelt next to Jax, tears forming in my eyes as I closed theirs. They’d had so much hope, even after all the horrible things Merden had done to them. So much love left to offer.
“You didn’t deserve this,” I whispered, dropping a kiss on their forehead as the mist swirled in to take them home.
