A whisper of wind touches the back of my neck. A prickle of lightning gives me goose bumps.
“Baelen.” I choke-whisper his name a split second before he wails through the opening to the springs, a burning torpedo as he spins upward into the high ceiling. His eyes burn, full of flame, just like before he healed. Full of wrath. There is nothing gentle about him now.
“You.” He points at Grayson who releases the ropes from around me. “You will die first.”
Grayson scoffs. He splays his arms at his sides. “By all means, you can try.”
Baelen shocks me by flying straight at Grayson and plucking him from the ground beside me, shooting back into the air with him. He dangles him above the water while his fist connects with Grayson’s surprised face. Grayson jolts backward, ducking Baelen’s follow-up fist, freeing himself at the same time.
How is this possible? Baelen can’t touch Grayson without being killed.
And then I realize… and it seems so simple… Baelen is cloaked. Elise has cloaked him. I close my eyes with relief because not only is Baelen safe to fight Grayson now, but it means that Elise is alive and safe too. The cloaking spell is difficult to create and wears off, but it will last long enough to protect Baelen for this battle.
Elwyn keeps hold of me, spinning me so I’m facing the fight, wrapping one arm painfully around my throat and the other across my stomach. I draw on my power. I’m ready to fight, but Elwyn hisses in my ear, “Don’t try it. I’ve already cursed your friend to drown. I only have to release the spell.”
I grit my teeth, quiet my power, but keep it waiting. Ready.
Grayson and Baelen remain in the air. They don’t bring their fight to the ground. They don’t use their power. Neither of them can afford to damage the springs or the walls around us, either by crashing into it or blasting it with their power. This is a fight the old-fashioned way. Grayson spins past Baelen, fist shooting out but Baelen grabs it, twists, and Grayson flips over in the air, flying right back with another blow.
The two males are evenly matched. Scarily so. There aren’t many males who can fight Baelen and remain conscious for long. Llion once did it and I was glad I never saw that fight. This one has my heart in my throat.
Baelen finally lands a dizzyingcrackagainst the side of Grayson’s head, almost knocking him unconscious. Grayson hunches, tries to steady himself, but drops toward the water before catching himself above its surface. Somewhere in the middle of the fight, his mask has disappeared and now he is… darkness… rage…
He flies back at Baelen, fakes a hit to Baelen’s stomach, while his other hand wraps around Baelen’s throat.
Something changes.
The air charges with a force I haven’t sensed from Grayson before.
Baelen’s skin crackles and the fire dies in his eyes. It’s so sudden and so terrifying that I lose my footing, slipping under the weight of dread. Their fight has brought them closer to us. I could run three paces and leap to reach them, which means I can see and hear everything.
Grayson snarls, “You thought you could cloak yourself against me. People have been coming after me my whole life. I figured out long ago how to defend myself. I figured out long ago how to break a cloaking spell.”
No…
Anothercrack. Anotherpop. Flames light up along Baelen’s shoulders, down his arms, making his armor glow. He grabs Grayson’s arm, grips his hand, pushes with all his might, roaring against the power Grayson is pouring into him. His grip on Grayson’s arm would have crushed an ordinary male’s bones but not Grayson’s.
Grayson roars, “Everyone lives at my mercy. Everyone!”
Baelen’s eyes are half-closed, but he isn’t looking at Grayson. He’s looking at me. “What do you want, Grayson?”
“I want what you have.”
Baelen gives the smallest shake of his head, the barest movement he can make within Grayson’s grip. “What I have is earned, not taken.”
Baelen jolts as he tries one last thing: thunder. It washes over us, over the pond, freezing the waves, freezing Indira, silencing the wind whistling through the cavern.
But not the Elven Commanders. Not Grayson.
Priscilla chuckles softly, her breath tickling my neck as she leans in to me, pressing up against Elwyn. “The beauty of sorcery is that it learns. We figured out how to beat your little trick after the arena. There’s no saving your precious love now.”
I wrench out of Elwyn’s hands but she’s right. If I release my power into Grayson, I will kill Baelen too. I can’t see a way through this. I can’t see a path that keeps Baelen alive.
Grayson says, “You have three seconds before I destroy the cloaking spell and you die, Baelen Rath.”
Baelen’s hands slide away from Grayson’s arms. His skin is on fire now, burning, crackling, acid rain running in rivers from beneath his armor, dripping into the water. Wide, crimson rivers.
Baelen’s eyelids droop but he forces them to remain open, his eyes meeting mine. His chest rises and falls. A final smile lifts the corner of his mouth and everything he ever said to me, every time he loved me and protected me shatters my heart.
Until death.
Grayson drags his hand down Baelen’s face and closes Baelen’s eyes.
