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Stole…magic…decay…your fault.
Oh gods. The bastard was telling Anaria the truth we’d been keeping from her. We’d kept it from her because we’d known this would lay heavy on her heart, weigh her down with guilt, even though this was not her fault.
Carex inched closer, his devouring gaze fixed on the woman I loved, his taloned hands flexing compulsively. Faster than should have been possible, his hand shot out and swiped a brutal, deadly arc through the air, straight across Anaria’s throat.
I screamed a warning, my magic howling to get out, to protect the woman I loved, to erase this threat that wanted her dead. I flew forward, and though Anaria shuddered, there was no splatter of blood.
She exploded.
Magic filled the air in a roar, sending everyone stumbling backwards, fear painted on their faces as the magic enveloped those of us who were closest, the soul sucking coldness thundering through us, as cold as the emptiness between the stars, as vast as the cosmos and just as deadly.
The iron collar repelled most of the blast.
The others around me…were not so lucky. Some died instantly. Some sprouted the unnaturally shiny black vines and thorns as Solok…and now the king.
The nulling spell was a double-edged sword, I realized, as the rumble of her magic shook the floor beneath me, the ceiling above, those closest to me screaming as the entire Citadelle rocked.
I didn’t know if from her magic already being inside me, or the iron collar, or the gods smiling down upon me, but when the wave of white sucked back into her, when everything went still and quiet, I was the only one left on my feet.
The king—what was left of him—convulsed on the stone floor, hardly anything Fae left in his visage or his body. He was little more than a mass of black, writhing vines and thorns, shiny as if he’d been soaked in fresh pitch, his one good eye glaring balefully up at Anaria.
But she wasn’t looking at him.
She was staring straight through the rioting crowd to the white-haired female bearing down on her with predatory intent. The Mistress kept up those slow, stalking steps, and Anaria stayed frozen in place as if she’d forgotten how to move.
“Anaria,” I screamed, but my voice was swallowed up in the vacuum of silence the explosion left behind. Then finally,finally, she whirled and ran.
Straight into my arms.
Her face was pure white, the red furrow across her throat shallow.
So close. She’d come so close to dying just now, and there was nothing I could have done to stop it because of this fucking collar.
“Tavion’s halfway out of the city by now.” I grasped her arm and pulled her along, her feet dragging on the floor, the glass, sliding through the blood. She tried to turn, to see behind us—if the Mistress was still following—and I hauled her against me.
“Keep moving.” My voice was harsh, but no good could come of her seeing that. “We have to get outside these walls before Carex locks down the gates.”
“Raz,” she gasped, her fingers trying to peel my hand away. “I…What did I just do?”
“What was required,” I told her. “Carex was going to kill you. His guards would have tortured you. Fighting back was your only option.” I would not allow her to blame herself for this outcome.
“Were those…Did I hurt anyone else?”
Refused to let her regret what she’d done, to regret any of this.
All around us, chaos reigned as prisoners shattered windows or ran for their lives, along with servants, and a handful of soldiers tried to keep order. One glance behind me showed thick smoke billowing out of windows on the higher floors, and standing on the steps, the Mistress locked eyes with me.
She drew her finger across her throat, then pointed at Anaria.
I didn’t look back again.
Neither of us spoke as we rushed through the streets. We finally left the frantic crowd behind, aiming for the eastern gate, my eyes peeled for any sign of Tavion’s billowing blue cloak, the fragile female in his arms. The sounds of fighting grew closer—the clash of metal, screams of the wounded, the thundering of feet charging.
When we reached one of the streets that overlooked the battlefield, we both stopped in our tracks, gaping.
“There are so many,” Anaria whispered. “More than…”
Her frightened gaze caught mine, and I nodded. “More than the Oracle warned us would be here. She knew we’d be outmatched, that no matter what we did, this would be a slaughter.”
