“Do you know my brother once took something that belonged to me?” Tristan’s words are spoken slowly, and with every passing second, I notice that the nix within the waters wade closer to us. A few mortals fight off the nix terrorizing the coast line. Not many, only a dozen, and none of them are winning. The nix slice their talons right through the men, feeding off of the fallen in growing herds.
I nod slowly to Tristan, my grip tightening on the hilt of my sword.
“Do you think it’d be fair for me to take something from him in return?” With speed so fast I don’t even see it, he slams his body into mine.
The air is knocked from my lungs. I blink back the stars of pain and slam my sword hard through his abdomen. His body tenses over mine, his weight held above me.
Another wide smile slashes across his face as his magic shakes off of him and through me.
“You’re really not nearly as smart as I thought you’d be.”
Fury fumes through me and I shudder away from him.
I land on the shore, my boots stomping through the gray foam as I stumble back from the ship. The frames of the ships creak with every passing wave that pushes and pulls against them.
With flashing speed, he stands before me. Nix climb with clawing limbs from the waters. Their quiet cries grow into a building sound of terror. I can’t bring myself to look back at the mortals dying behind me.
Tristan looks slowly down at my blade lodged in his side. With a jarring move, he rips it from his flesh. The fire of the city flashes across the clean blade as he studies it.
His pale eyes blaze with power and vengeance and dark magic as he brings his attention back to me.
“I knew you’d bring us our salvation, Miss Storm. I just didn’t realize it would be me.” He tosses the blade to the rocks and it lands with a clattering sound. Magic like a blazing ember lights his palm. The light grows brighter and brighter with every passing second.
With raw power shaking through his hand, his eyes aglow with rage and annihilation, he’s every bit the Eminence Ryder warned me about all that time ago.
And he isn’t here to restore our world to the beauty it once was.
Ryder approaches quietly behind his step brother. Closer and closer he comes.
“I wanted you here for a reason, Miss Storm.” Tristan’s words are deliberate. As if he’s thought about this moment for a long time. “I’ve recently done a little research on Tomas Storm’s only daughter. My mother didn’t deserve to die. Especially not by the hands of a piece of fae trash like you.” The magic he’s holding burns with vengeance, becoming so intense I can feel the power of it in my own chest. His eyes meet mine, his lips pursed into a thin line. “I think it’s only fair if you feel how I felt. I want you to feel that feeling of hopelessness.” His words drill into me, setting a peculiar frenzy of fear through me. “I know you’ll feel that hopelessness when I take Celeste’s life.”
My lips part, and as my legs lunge toward him, as Ryder’s hands fist his brother’s shirt, as the nix leap from the sea;
Tristan shudders out of our reach in the blink of an eye.
