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The gem that once topped Morkai’s cane.
The stone she took from the battlefield.
The object she’d tried—and failed—to clear. To break. To destroy.
Until she was trapped…in a realm of blinding white light…
Before she could remember anything more, he thrust the stone into her hand, closing her fingers around it.
“Take this, but don’t look at it. Just…just go now. Keep the crystal in mind and write this all down before it makes you forget. It’s been enchanted to be as indestructible as a unicorn horn. You must find a way to break it, but don’t let it come within sixteen inches of my body—” His voice cut off in an agonized shout. “Gods, he’s fighting me. I can’t hold him off much longer.”
Cora’s heart slammed against her ribs as she tried to take in everything he was saying. It was almost too much to comprehend. And what about Teryn? How the hell had Morkai taken over his body? It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. And yet she felt the horrible truth of it. Felt the dreadful possibilities hidden in the palm of her hand where the crystal pulsed with that strange energy.
“You have to go,” Teryn said, his voice barely above a whisper. He closed his eyes again and stumbled forward.
Her eyes went wide as they fell on a lock of silver hair beside his temple. No, both sides were now shot with a thick streak of white. “Teryn, your hair, it’s…”
He lifted his face, teeth bared in a grimace.
Cora’s stomach bottomed out as a crimson stream trickled from his nose. “Take this,” he said, squeezing his hand around hers and reminding her of the crystal once more. “Run. Write everything down. Find a way to break the stone as soon as you can.”
“I can’t leave you like this.”
His knees buckled, and he slid to the floor. “It’s all right. You can. You must. Just go, and know that I—”
He winced again and tugged his hands from around hers, severing their physical connection. “Run.”
That was the last thing she heard before his body went motionless, slumped to the side on the floor.
Everything inside her wanted to go to him, to help him, to ensure he was still alive.
But his words rang through her head, echoed by the pulsing warning that blared from her gut. She had to do what he’d said. She had to run.
Biting back an anguished cry, she ran for the door and tugged it open—
The door slammed shut just as fast. She froze, eyes locked on the hand pressed against the door, fingers splayed out, arm trembling either from weakness or rage. A lump rose in her throat, and the back of her neck prickled with fear. She felt the heat of the body caging her in from behind more than she felt any emotional presence. She couldn’t turn around. Refused to. There was no way she could bring herself to look into the eyes of the man she loved and find Morkai’s hatred—or even his false affection—looking back at her.
“Do you want him to die?” The voice was too close, brushing against the shell of her ear. Worse, it was Teryn’s voice. His tone. Yet there was something wrong with it. Something she hadn’t heard when the sorcerer had been acting under pretense. He must know now that there was no use pretending anymore.
When she made no reply, Morkai spoke again. “Teryn may think he’s found a brilliant plan in getting you to take the crystal away from his body. Distance will certainly tear my soul from Teryn’s body and make it impossible for me to control it. But what the prince doesn’t understand is that the same goes for him. If I can’t reenter Teryn’s body due to physical distance, neither can he. Without a soul, the body will die. Teryn will have nothing to come back to even if you manage to break the crystal.”
Cora’s lungs constricted as she took in this new information. What was she supposed to do? Fight him off? Take the crystal and run, killing Teryn in the process? No answers came, only growing anxiety. She curled her hand so tightly around the crystal, it sent pain radiating up her arm.
Cora!Valorre’s voice cut through her fear.Danger. You’re in danger.
Yes, she sent back, unable to form anything more complex than that.
“Besides,” Morkai said, voice deepening as he pressed in closer behind her, “the crystal is unbreakable. You haven’t managed to sever a single one of the enchantments I’ve placed on the crystal, despite your best efforts. You will forget about the crystal as soon as your mind slips down a new train of thought. And when you next lay your eyes on it, it will take your soul instead.”
Run away, Valorre said.Please come here. Now.
An image shot through her mind, of the castle wall, blanketed in shadows and a sliver of moonlight. Valorre was showing her where he was, just outside the hidden crevice on the other side of the wall.
So badly she wanted to simplybethere. Without having to fight Morkai off. Without having to rely on running faster than him. Was there anything she could do to get through the wall before Morkai could catch her?
Her palms tingled in answer, not from the crystal she held, but from power surging from her chest, down her arms, and into her hands. It radiated down her legs, her feet. It was soft yet strong, yielding yet powerful.
Turn inward, her magic told her. It was the same feeling she’d gotten when she’d hidden herself and Teryn under the tree not long ago. Then again when she was locked in the dungeon, her magic smothered by her own resentment. And finally, she’d felt it on the battlefield when she’d been trapped under the horse.
