I try to think, try to remember. “I don’t know. It’s gone.”
“Astra,” Azur pleads.
“Let’s just keep going,” Ziven says.
Azur waves a finger. “No. What’s happening?”
I close my eyes and try to enter that vision again, but it’s so… horrible. So much hatred, pain, anger. But I have to see it, and it’s clearer now.
“The Witch King is flying over your house, but everyone’s safe. There’s some… Something protecting it.”
Azur exhales. “The wards.”
I’m not sure that’s what it is, but I don’t think it makes a big difference. “He’s weak now, but he won’t be weak for long.”
“I can run and tell them,” Azur says.
I’m not sure it can help. “But he’s high up in the air.”
“I can transcend anywhere,” he insists. “I’ll go, but I’ll come back.”
“What if Astra can transcend again?” Ziven asks.
“Pick me up on the way!”
He bolts, leaving me here with Ziven, who asks, “Are you sure they’re safe, or did you just say it to…”
“They’re safe. Something’s protecting the house, but the opportunity to kill him is now.”
Ziven clicks his tongue and sighs. “At least you’re awake. And alive.”
“Yes.” The memory of being cut and poisoned comes to me in a second. It feels so distant. I remember then that I reached Marlak once, and he came to rescue me. Could I do the same now?
“I’ll try to reach Marlak through our bond. Let me focus.” I close my eyes, and yet I can’t find my husband. All I see is thehouse through the eyes of the Witch King, and I sense his desire to escape and hide.
His unicorn is not obeying him, though. He’s keeping him there. It’s Marlak’s chance—if he can use his fire.
26
MARLAK
The pain’s so strong that I almost pass out, while Mirella screeches and lowers her body.
He’s flying. It’s Astra’s voice.
I know,I try to reply, but I’m not sure she can hear me.
You’ll need to kill him now. Now. I can’t come.Now.
I sense a shift in my body, try to condense some water, and a ball forms in my hand.
“My magic’s back!” I say, but everyone’s too busy tending to wounds to notice me.
Mirella screeches again. “You want to fly and face him?” I ask her.
She lowers her body even more, as if I needed help to climb on her.
“It’s going to be dangerous,” I say.
