“No,” I rasp.
But I’m fading. I have to end it. End him, even if it means that I go with him. His soldiers won’t allow me to escape.
I don’t shape blades this time, as I always have. As he’d expect.
I shape a spear. Long, and heavy, and I hurl it at him with every ounce of rage I have. My father raises a shield of luminth. A perfect, curved barrier that catches the spear and shatters it into sparks.
But the sparks aren’t random.
They’re mine, and I want them back.
I reach out and pull the scattered pieces of luminth back to me, drawing them into the air around his shield. They swirl like embers from a fire.
And then they tighten, forming a net. A lattice of light that wraps around his barrier, clinging, tightening. I pull moreluminth free, throwing it across the space to strengthen it, keeping some that connects to the net like rope.
My father’s eyes widen as he struggles. His arms are pinned. He can’tcast,not like this.
I yank on that rope.
The net constricts. His shield strains, the edges trembling as I press down on him. His snarl echoes from beneath the flickering light as he focuses on breaking free, his attention distracted for a brief moment.
And I slide in. Not from the front, but from the side. Low and fast, sliding across the mud we’ve built into a slick, slippery mess. My right hand shapes a dagger. My left stays open, ready.
Commander Vaelion pivots to meet me, his blade sweeping. Not taken in by the trick as the net breaks apart. I come up inside his reach, too close for his long blade to be comfortable.
And as I slam my left palm against his breastplate, I let everything I have left go. Every bit of power I have left inside me, I push into his chest. My lumintherupts.
His mouth falls open. We stare at each other, both of us breathing heavily.
Beneath my hand, his armor cracks. Splinters, spiderwebbing across the flawless gold and directly through the crest he wears. In his eyes, I see something I never expected.
Fear.
He bares his teeth. “You willnot—”
It’s a killing blow, and we both know it. But the Lightbringer healers are skilled.
I pull my hand back, driving a luminth blade into his thigh. It burns through the armored seam and he grunts, his leg buckling as he drops in my arms.
Behind me, there’s a shout from the ring of soldiers. A flare of movement—
“Do not interfere!”
It doesn’t come from him. It comes fromReena.
As he drops, I risk a glance over my shoulder. Her eyes are wide now, face pale. Her hands twitch as if she wants to lift them. As if she wants to help him. As if she wants to stop me, and our eyes meet.
She mouths two words.
You promised.
I promised her that I would come home, when it was done.
Commander Vaelion of the Lightbringer forces hits the ground with a grunt, his armor clanging.
And nobody moves.
He’s never been below anything in my life.
