Almost there.Then there was hope. If we just—
The tree groaned, shuddering.
“Hurry!” Octavian’s deep bellow vibrated through me. And its urgency was terrifying, as if he knew we only had—
Another groan, another lurch of the great trunk—and this one threw my feet out from under me.
I fell down the stairs, the boy still wrapped in my arms—and we were only stopped by the big, immovable form of Octavian, the Mighty Oak, who’d come up the steps to grab us. He gripped me and hoisted me up in a single movement, lifting both me and the boy as if we weighed nothing—
And then somehow we were out the door at the bottom, just as the tree’s great roots were tearing out of the ground, pulled from the earth by the weight of the trunk as it fell. Octavian dropped me on my feet and scooped up the little girl he’d set just outside the door, and we ran, ducking and dodging as the roots whipped past us, clods of soil pattering down on us, splinters of wood everywhere—
When the trunk hit the ground, it was like a clap of thunder right on top of us, and the earth shook with such force that we both stumbled.
Alastor fell into step beside us then, the two girls still under his arms. And we kept running, despite the earth rocking beneath us—until we came to the fallen platforms and walkways, the people bent and broken among the cracked boards and splintered branches.
My arms were about to give out, so I set down the boy before I could drop him. We’d have to climb over to get through—stepping on and over those bodies lying at unnatural angles, some still alive and moaning…
I nearly dropped the boy in my arms.We have to help them. We have to—
“I’m going to stop him.” That was Octavian, his rumble low and lethal. “Before he can hurt anyone else.”
My face whipped toward him.
And Alastor was already shaking his head as he set the two sisters back on their feet. “We don’t even know which one—”
“It’s Mordren,” Octavian growled. “You know it is. This is his way, not hers.”
“I don’t know anything, and neither do you,” Alastor countered. “It’s been ten bloody years. And too much has changed.”
“I’m still going.” Octavian set down the girl he carried, his other hand going to the hilt of his sword. “We brought this upon this town. And I’m going to stop it.”
“Not alone.” Alastor’s fingers had already moved to his weapon, and I swore I could hear the words he didn’t say:Never alone.
But even the two of them together, against such power…
“Let me come, too,” I blurted.
Both brothers looked at me in surprise.
“I’m powerful. You both know it,” I insisted. “If I take off these pearls, I can build up enough essence or whatever to blast him.”
Octavian shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. Even if you knew how to control your power, we’re not going to put you up against one of the Circle.”
“But the two of you are strong enough to face them on your own?” By Octavian’s own admission, their greatest source of power and strength was currently unavailable to them, cursed by the very enemy they were about to go face.
“They won’t be on their own.”
Radven’s voice behind me made me jump, and when I turned I found him gracefully climbing over a pile of splintered wood. Not far behind him, I spotted Talon—and a good portion of his crew, including Ary.
Radven gestured to Talon and the others with a roll of his eyes. “That bastard insisted on following me. Claims his people can help. I told him he’d just get in our way, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“We’ve been protecting Therador for years,” Talon said, catching up.
“And how many times have you gone up against one of the Circle?” Radven countered.
“We’ve picked our battles carefully,” the other replied, not even flinching. “But we’ve never run from a fight, not when the people needed us.Someonehad to do it while you were gone.”
Something flashed in Radven’s eyes, and for a split second I was reminded of the way he’d looked at me on the night we’d met—like a deadly panther, like he was imagining all the ways he’d break me if I turned out to be a threat.
