I drag my gaze away, the beat still hammering behind my ribs, to where Ryven is hauling himself up from where the blast threw him. No limp, no shake, not even rattled, just pissed. Like I’ve gone and kicked a hornet’s nest and now the swarm’s coming straight for me.
Shit.
“You know that Spice tax wasn’t for nothing, Bloom.”
He’s still somewhere behind me, but Talen’s voice slips through again—smooth and taunting at my ear, crawling under my skin like an itch I can’t reach.
Distraction. He’s messing with you, don’t rise to it.
Still, my shoulders tense, breath catching tight in my chest. I try to shake it off—ignore him, focus—but the more I push it down, the louder he gets.
“Paid for the new wing of our estate. Lovely view from my room...”He pauses; my jaw tightens. “...You should visit sometime. If you survive. Beautiful in spring.”
“Get out of my fucking head!” The words tear from my throat before I can stop them, raw and too loud.
In front of me, Ryven freezes. Confusion flickers across his face, then his head tilts, and his mouth pulls into a thin grin.
“I’m not in your head,” he mocks. “But my fire can be. If you’d like?” His arms flex and fire slams into my chest before I can move.
The blast knocks me clean off my feet, air torn from my lungs in a single, broken gasp. I hit the floor hard, ribs lighting up with pain as I slide across the wooden platform, heat and pressure tearing through skin, through bone.
Can’t breathe. Can’t move. Chest crushed under the weight of it as I slide to a stop at someone’s boots.
Get up.
Get up.
Get up.
Every breath slices through me.
I dig down, heat thundering through me, fingers twitching and reach for something—anything. My Threads flicker, there, then gone. Catching only for a breath, then twist away again. Wild. Refusing me. Not obeying. Just reacting.
Fuck.
Vision swimming, lungs working too hard, I blink up—Talen’s standing over me.
“The Treaty should’ve wiped the Outerlands clean.” He taunts. No magic now, doesn’t need it, he’s close enough for me to hear. “Letting you all crawl back from it? That was the real mistake. I’m glad the Spice tariff’s bleeding you all dry out there.” His mouth curves, lazy, cruel. “Means fewer of your kind to crawl in here.”
Something tears as he steps away.
Not outside. Not visible.
Inside.
Rhiann’s son, burning with fever while we begged for supplies that never came. My mother’s journals in Merrin’s hands. The weight of this uniform, of this fucking deal. Every Innerlander who’s looked at me like I don’t belong.
Talen’s voice.
Ryven’s fire.The fire...
It slams into me all at once.
Years’ worth of fury, fear, injustice rising like a wave I can’t hold back. Don’t want to hold back. Magic surges, hot and wild, stronger than it’s ever been, thrumming through my veins, pressing against my skin like it’s ready to tear free. So close. Close enough I can taste it—feel the air shift around me, but when I reach for it—really reach—it still slips.
Ryven steps over me, eyes gleaming as he sees it, sees me grasping for power I can’t quite pull.
“Oh, can’t quite access them, can you?” he coos, voice thick with delight. “Oh dear.”
