Tiberius, Sophie, Graham, Harrison, Dahlia, Milo, Maurice, Warren, mother.
I felt the corruption welling up within me, begging to be released, a tiny ball of fury spinning and spinning inside my chest, growing heavier until I thought it might weigh me down so I couldn't move. It became a physical pain with every life I took, calling out to me, pleading with me to release it and be done with them all, to blow this whole battlefield to pieces I could pick up later.
Tiberius, Sophie, Graham, Harrison, Dahlia, Milo, Maurice, Warren, mother.
Small tendrils of black smoke started to leak from my fingers without my commanding them to. They curled around my wrists and arms, around my blade, helping me wield it, making me swing it faster than before, my aim truer. They ran down my legs, bolstering them, giving me the strength to run harder, farther.
I screamed and screamed but no one seemed to hear me. Maybe because they were screaming too. The men I fought now bore wide eyes before I even reached them. They stared at the black smoke encircling my body. I saw the moment they accepted defeat. It happened right before I plunged my sword through them and delivered death.
Tiberius, Sophie, Graham, Harrison, Dahlia, Milo, Maurice, Warren, mother.
This was madness and we were lost.
Then I saw her.
The only being flying in the sky without sitting on the back of a Zver. Her raven hair glistened in the sun as she lowered herself gently to the ground behind the brokenPavosianline. She surveyed her side’s failure but only smiled.
A growl I hadn’t known I was capable of tore from my throat as I stepped toward her, swinging my sword and killing men to clear a path. She watched my approach, wicked smile remaining on her lips.
“Adrian!”Gryfonshouted after me but I could hardly hear him through the rushing in my ears, through the only thought in my head.
Tiberius, Sophie, Graham, Harrison, Dahlia, Milo, Maurice, Warren, mother.
Hugh.
I saw that moment in the clearing again. Her men slashing my friend's throat, leaving him bleeding and gurgling in the mud, holding me back while I tried to reach him, to heal him.
Kane, Roxy, Zya, Darius.
Hugh.
I was going to kill her.
“Chassina!” I screamed, stepping out from behind the line where her warriors were busy engaging mine. No one was paying any attention to us. No one saw us at all. “Come and fight!”
Her smile broadened.
“I’d rather let them do it for me,” she cooed sweetly, raising a finger.
I followed her pointing and turned around. My heart sank. The tide had suddenly turned in the battle we'd been winning.Chassinahad not come alone.
“Shit,”Gryfonmuttered beside me. When had he reached me? How had I not noticed? “Form up!”
He was shouting at the others but it was in vain. The battle was too loud for his warriors to hear him. The shrieks of the dying and the squeal of metal on metal made it nearly impossible. We had no line and they would fall upon us in moments. I glanced down at the nearest corpse and saw one ofZya’sknives sticking from the fallen soldier’s eye.
“Surrender,”Chassinawas calling out to us. “And I’ll let the traitor general live. I’ll let all your men live. Come with me toPavos, Adrian. You’re the one he wants anyway. The rest of them can survive.”
“Don’t listen to her, Adrian,”Gryfongrowled. “They’ll slaughter us all regardless.”
He was by my side now, sidling up next to me in a show of protection. But I didn’t need his protection. I didn’t need anyone’s protection.
I pulled my arm back and threw, watching as the blade went spinning through the air towardChassina’schest. She screamed. There was a flash of light and a flurry of wings, but I wasn’t watching. In the same instant I let go of the blade, I raised my hands, screaming the names I'd been whispering in my mind while releasing the little ball of darkness I'd been holding onto with every death I'd wrought upon thePavosianforces.
The shadows encasing my limbs shot out, pulling a dark mass from the center of my chest along with them. It went hurtling toward Sanctuary like a cannonball and, for a moment, I worried I’d gone too far. Then it reached the wards, an invisible barrier of shining light that became solid only for the exact moment the darkness struck it.
The wards shattered.
I fell, gasping. My back slammed against the hard, compacted sand below. There was another flash of light from somewhere beyond and more flapping wings, the shrill cry of a woman, and then eyes.
