The vampire lifts his hand. The aether grenade is gold and white. How strange that something so deadly has been crafted with so much care.
The grenade drops in slow motion. Tiernon is still in the air. He’s going to be blown to pieces.
I raise my arm, instinctively shielding my face as I duck.
The ground bucks beneath me. Heat sears my face as I brace for the flames to engulf me.
Tiernon slams into me with a thud. I’m fighting him instantly, attempting to throw him off me, to see how badly he’s hurt.
“Healer!” I’m screaming the word over and over.
“Arvelle.” Tiernon grips my chin, his eyes burning into mine. “I’m fine.”
Tears roll down my cheeks and all I can do is stare at him.
His expression turns strangely tender. “You do care.”
I hiccup. “OfcourseI care, you idiot.”
His mouth covers mine, and I bury my hands in his hair, holding him close. He’s alive. We’re both alive. I don’t know how many of the others are dead. I’m too scared to look.
Tiernon lifts his head, and I make myself peer around his shoulder. A rainbow of shields have been raised between the imperius and the vampire rebel. Micah and Neris slowly get to their feet, and the purple and green shields disappear.
The last shield—a glimmering silvery blue—stays in place.
Impossible.
“It’s a griffon ward,” Micah breathes.
I crane my head, but of course there’s no griffon to be seen. “I don’t understand.”
Tiernon’s gaze drops to my forehead and the muscles next to his eyes tense. “It’syou.”
“What?”
“Your sigil is glowing. The ward is yours.”
“It can’t be.” I’ve never had enough power to shield. The defensibility of a shield is directly related to power. To shield, a sigil has to havegrown—
Wait. It has. Twice now, I’ve noticed growth where there was previously nothing but smooth skin.
Slowly, hand trembling, I reach toward the shield. It’s a cool, calm caress against my fingertips. Itismine. I’m … I’m not broken. The mindpathing wasn’t an accident of fate. I have power. Real power.
Antigrus gave me this power. He wanted me to have it.
“Use it well.”
In the most private part of my soul, where I’ve tucked away the worst this world has offered me, something broken and scarred begins to heal.
Tiernon hauls me to my feet. “Drop the shield. Now. Before anyone else sees.”
Panic grows inside my chest. “How?”
“Close your eyes.” His voice turns soothing. “That’s right, relax. Now picture a pond so still, not even a ripple disturbs the surface.”
Tiernon talks me through it, until the ward disappears. Distantly, I’m aware of Neris and the others murmuring quietly.
“No blood. The vampire escaped.”
