An answering shout came from the light beyond the tents. The bridge.
One of my chains tripped me, and I crashed to the ground in front of Aiden. Some of the precious powder spilled onto the ground. I swore loudly.
Aiden snatched it from my hands. “Get a weapon!”
I staggered to my feet—my knees and hands scraped and bleeding. But I hurried back to the table, dodging the vicious fight between brother and sister.
Nikella shoved Korvin into the fire, and he howled. He tossed a handful of embers at her.
There were no weapons. No weapons on the table. Only our bombs. Our weapons were in a different log, and Korvin was using the only other blade I could see.
“Fucking Four!” I shouted, frantically searching.
The guards raced toward us, their spears gleaming. Aiden was still shaking the last flecks of powder onto Maz’s chains while Ruru wrenched apart his crusted shackles.
I seized one of the bombs, trying to remember what Nikella had said about them. But I had no time.
“Run!” I screamed, cocking my arm back.
Aiden’s eyes widened when he understood my intention. He grabbed Ruru by the collar and flung him away from the fire. He and Maz threw themselves behind a tent just as I tossed the can into the fire in front of the soldiers.
I raced in the opposite direction.BOOM!
An invisible force lifted me off my feet and hurled me into a tent. Heat seared me from behind. I crashed into a heap of canvas and broken wood. Screams rose in the night.
I lay still for a moment, panting. Something warm dripped down my leg. I ignored it, trying to swim out of the tent that had swallowed me.
More screams rose, and the clash of weapons.
I thrashed harder.We will not die here.
I slowly crawled to freedom and found a gruesome scene. Several soldiers lay in twisted, molten heaps by the blown fire. Aiden, Maz, and Ruru battled the remaining three with stolen swords and spears.
Aiden ran his opponent through and spotted me, his face twisting with relief. “Find Nikella!” he shouted, then turned to help Maz and Ruru.
I unsheathed a dead soldier’s knife and stumbled in the direction I’d last seen Nikella and Korvin hurtling.
I found them down a grassy hill, still at war. Their movements were slower, as if they were wearing out.
“You can’t defeat me,” Korvin shouted, slashing at Nikella. “We are the same. Monsters, the pair of us. Born of the same monster. You can’t defeat what you are.”
I flipped the knife and caught its tip, ready to aim it at Korvin’s throat.
“No, Kiera,” Nikella said sharply.
I hesitated.
Korvin used her distraction to stomp on her lagging chain and trip her.
My heart shot up to my throat. My grip grew sweaty on the blade. I didn’t care what she said. I’d kill him before he killed her.
But Korvin didn’t go in for the final blow. He stopped, wheezing for air. The sweat pouring down his back glistened in the moonlight.
“Admit it,” he said. “Admit we are the same monster, and I won’t draw out your pain for too long.”
Nikella slowly rose to her feet with the aid of her spear. “You are the monster, Korvin. And you’re a liar. Because I am something you never chose to be.”
“What? Good? Kind?” he sneered.
