I swallowed hard. “Give me back my sword, Aleks.”
He looked the blade up and down, as if considering, then shook his head. “Why don’t you summon your ally to help you get it back, as you did before?”
“Lorien and I are not allies. Our destiny may have been written by the gods, but I’m not walking that path willingly. I’m not like Calista.”
“Really?” He took a step closer to me. Then another, and another, until we were nearly face-to-face. He could have reached out and touched me, and for a moment I thought he might.
Hopedhe might.
My body couldn’t tell the difference between this Aleks and the one that had memorized every inch of my skin; all those inches craved his touch. His reassuring closeness. His warmth.
“I find that statement odd,” he said quietly, “considering how you practicallyreekof him.”
I went still.
“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell that his magical signature is all over you?” He finally touched me, then, dragging his fingers over my throat—but only so he could draw shadows from my skin and crush them in a quick, violent display of his rune-forged magic. “Did you think that I wouldn’t know he’s close by, even now?”
I forced myself to breathe normally.
“These chaotic schemes of yours were always going to be the end of you.”
The familiarity in his tone, in his words, nearly made me sink to my knees. My voice shook when I spoke. “I’m not your enemy, Aleks.”
He glanced at the shadows rising defensively around me, the darkness settling against my skin like armor. “Your shadows say otherwise.”
The sounds of fighting grew closer. The situation was deteriorating quickly—too quickly—and I needed to strike.
I knew I needed to strike.
So why couldn’t I move?
“Let’s not waste time on denials,” Aleks said. “I was told you wanted to negotiate. To trade something valuable for peace. I’m just here to make sure the exchange goes smoothly.” His gaze drifted to the grave behind me. “So,” he continued, lifting my own sword and pointing it at my chest, “where is it?”
I didn’t answer, my vision blurring as I stared down at the blade between us.
“Are you going to make me spill your blood?”
“Do it.” The words trembled through my lips. My vision blurred further, hazy from unshed tears. I stepped closer to him,until Grimnor’s tip pressed painfully into my ribcage. “Just do it,” I whispered, shaking my head. “It would be easier.”
His hand gripped my sword more tightly; he seemed to be confused.
It was a short-lived hesitation. Even through the haze, I saw the exact moment the Order’s magic surged through him to steal him back—the markings on his chest beginning to glow beneath his shirt. The way that glow spread up his neck and into his face, turning his expression from something raw and uncertain to something terrifyingly blank. And then came the cold awareness, which was worse.
He opened his mouth to speak?—
A curved beam of light cut through the clearing like the blade of an axe, slamming into Aleks and sending him stumbling backward.
Lorien emerged from the treeline, his hood thrown back, power radiating from him in visible waves as he leveled a glare in my direction. “What the hell are you waiting for?”
My reply didn’t make it out.
Severin appeared on the path leading into the clearing, distracting us. He moved with the calm, unhurried poise I’d come to expect from him.
More Order members surged in around him, spilling into the clearing from all sides.
My shadows rose automatically to meet them all. The dark ribbons seemed sentient, almost, fighting on my behalf while I was still trying to come to terms with what was happening around me, inside of me.
I heard my brother shouting orders, felt the pounding of boots, and then a displacement of air as Thalia’s magic joined mine, dark tendrils of gathered shadows lashing out at the enemies nearest to me.
