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“Don’t argue with me!” I shoved him, a little more firmly than I’d meant to.
He staggered back, his complexion pale, his eyes awash with remorse and horror and grief. “I can’t...”
“Youcan,” I insisted. “You didn’t listen to me before, but you can in this one thing. This is all I want you to do.Please.For me.”
My eyes darted toward the clearing clouds, lifting enough to give us a better view of our enemies—but unfortunately, it also gave them a better view of us. The entrance to the catacombs was clogged with piles of bones, the remains of the corpses Preston and Nerissa had animated, and already demons were pressing through it. I knew Garrick waited for them on the other side, that he would do everything in his power to hold them off. Even still, it wouldn’t be easy for Charles to run past them.
“Before you lose your chance!” I begged.
Across the room, Nerissa prowled away from one of her former guards, dropping his mangled body. Blood smeared her mouth and chin, a clear sign she’d been consuming his flesh to feed off his life, and the urge to vomit pummeled into me. I stood my ground, fisting my one good hand as my mind screamed at me to gather enough energy to draw on the light flowing through my veins. The light that would be enough to not only repel the demons ravaging through the living, but to also stopher.
But Nerissa was faster, her magic quick to respond. With a flick of her fingers, her bloody gaze latched onto Charles. The snap of bone pierced the air and my half-brother crumpled to the stone floor. He gasped, too overcome with misery to even cry out as he clutched his contorted leg.
I shrieked as Nerissa strolled forward, passing demons and fae mid-fight as if they were nothing. A dagger sliced through the air and lodged in her neck, but she didn’t pause as she wrenched it free, leaving a bloody hole behind, one that swiftly knit itself back together. She discarded the blade carelessly, herfocus single-mindedly on Charles and me. I stepped between the two of them, pouring every ounce of my fury into my effort to call forth my magic.
An icy breeze tugged through my hair, tiny snowflakes grazing my nose.
Dismay clutched my chest.Thiswas what was left of my power? I’d hoped after the avalanche I’d unleashed mere days after learning I had magic, that the time I’d practiced in the castle with forget-me-nots would have rendered me a little more adept and granted me more endurance. But my mind was fractured with agony, guilt, and fear.
Worse, I sensed the ice I’d encased Preston within was starting to dissolve, the way I could sense my own body’s movements. My mind was releasing the magic I’d crafted, its strength shattering.
And perhaps that was why the demons surrounding us didn’t even bother to approach—because they knew that Preston and Nerissa were both able to dispatch of the only person who was a true threat to any of them.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Preston converging on me, his strides as assured as his sister’s. Neither made a move to use their death magic yet, and I knew why. They were drawing out these final moments, relishing the pain and terror that was doubtlessly etched across my face. They were enjoying their vengeance as they rained their bloodthirst and hatred on the one surviving member of the family they so despised.
Then they were mere feet from me, staring me down with their cold, death-like gazes. Nerissa flicked her wrist. The bones of my right hand fractured, each flare of red-hot fire making my stomach twist with nausea. I couldn’t hold back my ragged cry, my throat raw from my animal scream.
Vague sounds informed me that Charles was attempting to rise, still trying to fight for me when all I wanted him to dowas lie down and stay out of the siblings’ notice. To survive. I caught sight of Aspen in her larger form grappling with a skeletal-looking creature, dodging adeptly to avoid its strikes. Prince Holden was calling upon vines to entrap demons as they charged. Princess Elle and Prince Fitz were back-to-back, holding their own against a group of guards who remained loyal to Nerissa and Preston, as well as a cluster of oncoming underworld creatures.
And rebels—rebels everywhere, fighting, bleeding, dying.
Somewhere outside, Garrick and other rebels were doing their best to hold back the tide of creatures flowing from the room. There was an unending stream of them emerging from the yawning entrance. Who knew how many thousands of furious, tormented souls and ravenous demons had been awaiting a moment like this for millennia?
I was alone against Preston and Nerissa, their fury, and their immunity to death itself.
With shaking fingers, I lifted my good hand, still clutching the knife Garrick had gifted me, and sliced open the palm of my mangled one. Scarlet bloomed across my pale skin as I ran the broad side of the blade through it, layering it in my blood. My strongest weapon.
Preston sneered, but Nerissa realized my intention a moment before I hurled the blade. She darted to the side. It was Preston who received the full brunt of it, the knife striking his forearm. He flinched away as if burned, and light flared. My light.
Hope blossomed, but only for an instant. The knife skittered across the floor, and with an angry hiss, Preston lifted the edge of his cloak to smear the blood off his skin, as if it continued to sting as long as it touched him.
But seeing both my light and my blood reminded me of what I could do. And somehow, I didn’t think I’d have to touch themto hurt them...not if I commanded the full strength of the light glowing within me. I’d been born to command and chain these creatures. Born to protect this world. Born to hold these forces at bay and force them to yield to my will.
I just needed my weary mind to concentrate on that, and not on the throbbing sensation running through my wrist and fingers, or the nausea dancing along my tongue.
With a cry, I lifted my hand, palm out, willing my light to shine. To flare. To overpower every ounce of darkness in this room.
Preston laughed and snapped his fingers. I choked on a sob and collapsed, my ankle twisted unnaturally beneath me. “We could do this all night,” he taunted. “Break every bone in your body. See how much pain you can endure before you succumb to death...or before you beg for it.”
Another snap. Another flash of pain. More bones in my leg splintered. A keening sound mingled with the shouts of battle and groans of agony as others died around me, and it took me a moment to realize that the noise was coming from my own aching throat.
With every piece of strength left in me, I forced the agony away, shoving it to the back of my mind. Lifting my hands, I called on my winter magic, imagining countless daggers of ice raining upon the siblings, shredding them until even their undead bodies collapsed, too broken to be useful in this world. Too ruined to be a threat ever again.
Agony roared through my body as Nerissa gestured and broke another of my bones. I choked on a sob.
“Starlight.” There was a growl of pure, animalistic rage as Garrick—in his wolf form—launched forward, canines flashing as he charged for Nerissa.
My mind screamed at him to run, even if I couldn’t blame him for rushing out to my aid. I wouldn’t have been able to holdmyself back either if I’d seen them tormenting him, heard him scream as I had.
