I’d bled and suffered and this was my fucking destiny.
I dragged the power back, inch by brutal inch, ordering every echoing, ancient voice to obey. You are not my masters, I snarled, you are my godsdamned inheritance and you are mine to command. The molten agony burning inside my head cooled to something heavy and honed—a crown that fit my head because I forced it to.
The Thorn’s hilt curved against my palm like it was made for me, and the voices quieted, turned to blessed silence. The Triune settled into place around me, not as a prison, but as an extension of my will.
I was Kaden Rooke, last of my line—and this power didn’t own me.
I owned it.
50
ROOKE
Silence.
The light faded.
The voices quieted.
I came back into my own body alone in the blood circle, breathing air that tasted of ozone and ancient magic.
The staff was nearly as tall as I was, black obsidian shot through with veins of gold and silver, topped with a circular setting of meteor-gold where the Mirror's surface gleamed like a dark globe, swirling with depths that seemed to stretch into infinity.
Somewhere within those depths, my ancestors watched like vultures.
Their power waiting for me, and me alone.
The Crown had reformed on my head, and I reached up and touched each sharp spike, the bloodstones still warm, the gold around them cooling to the touch. The storm inside my head was quiet, I felt hollow, like I might float away.
But I also felt right.Complete.
The Triune was bound. I was its keeper.
Gravelock was going to die.
I stepped out of the blood circle, over the runes burned into the stone of the floor, magic coating around me likestardust, while outside, dawn broke over the black sands as I closed my eyes and pulled up the magic, crafting it into a perfect image of my memories.
51
LYRAE
The next step I took forward felt like stepping into a nightmare. The ice creaked again, a sharp, splintering sound that sent my heart racing. My mind flashed back—drowning in icy waters, the numbing cold stealing the breath from my lungs, pulling me down, down into the darkness.
No.
The past was the past, I wouldn’t let it hurt me.
Ryland’s shoulder brushed mine, then he pressed close enough to block the wind. “Are you good? Var’s not wrong; this isn’t your fight, Lyrae. You didn’t sign up for this.”
“I’m good.” I tightened my grip, gauged the closing distance between us and the army, trying to pick Gravelock out from among his soldiers. If I could end him quick, this would be over before it even started.
“Let’s do this. You and me, just like old….”
“Holy fucking gods, Lyrae. Rooke must have used the Mirror.” Ryland’s whisper filled with awe. “Look behind you.”
I turned my head and my heart stood still.
Amazing.That was the only word I had for the illusion backing us. Just the briefest mention of my Dreadwatchsoldiers, and Rooke had done an impressive job at recreating the fighting force I commanded back at the Citadelle.
