“Whatever the next part of your grand plan is,” she called, whipping her staff in front of her, drawing darkness into a protective barrier around herself, “now would be abrillianttime to execute it!”
My focus shifted back to Aleks.
He moved with inhuman speed, closing the distance between us. Grimnor flashed in his hand, arcing toward my throat.
But I knew that blade too well to be so easily cut down by it. With little effort, I sent a stream of shadows toward it, braiding them into its familiar energy and then tightening my hold, jerking Aleks’s swing off-balance.
He retaliated with a snarl, grabbing hold of one of the shadows with what looked like his bare hand at first; there was a rune glowing on his palm, I realized. It flared violet as he seized my magic and crushed it. I should have been used to the pull of him draining my power by now, but it seemed stronger than ever before, leaving me feeling like I’d been kicked in the stomach.
I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
Lorien was there in the next instant, light blazing around his hands. “If you aren’t going to truly fight him, thenstand the fuck back,” he growled at me, and then sent a lance of pure white magic toward Aleks.
Aleks deflected it with Grimnor, scattering the light.
But the deflection still gave me time to wake up. To shake off my shock, and then to summon more shadows and join Lorien in his next attack. We moved together as if guided by the collective memory of all the Vaelora who had come before us. Where my shadows struck, his light followed, a seamless barrage thatshouldhave overwhelmed any opponent.
And for a few moments, we had Aleks on the defensive, driving him back across the clearing.
But all around us, the battle continued to intensify. My brother was locked in combat with three different Order members, his sword flashing as he fought to keep them from overwhelming him. Thalia had drawn a circle of shadows around herself and was driving spears of darkness at anyone who came close, but I could see the strain on her face. Phantom tore through enemy ranks in his massive shadow-hound form, his jaws closing around throats and limbs, but there were too many. And they kept coming.
We were far past outnumbered.
I was sure Bastian had already signaled for reinforcements; I doubted they would arrive in time to make a difference.
Lorien and I divided, sending streams of magic toward Aleks from both sides, forcing him to try and defend from two directions at once. Grimnor deflected what it could. The powerful void Aleks summoned handled the rest. He stood far too easily in the eye of our storm, his magic continuing to drink ours in, distorting the air all around him.
Lorien’s gaze met mine across the chaos, and though he didn’t growl any commands at me this time, I could hear his words snapping through our bond.
End. This.
I hesitated for an instant too long, trying to decide how to orchestrate that ending.
Aleks was suddenlythere. He spun, and Grimnor came down in a brutal overhead strike that I barely blocked with a shield of solidified darkness. The impact sent shockwaves through my arms, dropping me to my knees.
He raised the blade for another strike.
With desperate focus, I reached out for Grimnor’s essence, for the bond we’d forged.Come back to me, I commanded, rising to my feet.You’re mine. Not his.
The sword trembled in his hands.
Aleks’s expression flickered with doubt. He put distance between us as he gripped the hilt tighter, fighting to maintain control. But Grimnor was responding to my call, the ancient magic within it recognizing its true wielder.
With a surge of determination, I yanked it toward me with only a thought.
The sword flew from Aleks’s hands and sailed across the clearing, landing perfectly in my grip. Power raced through me as our connection reestablished, shadows pouring out from both me and the blade like a burning house belching smoke.
For a heartbeat, I thought we’d gained the advantage.
Then I saw Aleks smiling through the darkness between us, and I was reminded of the cruel truth: that he didn’t need a weapon to destroy me.
His hands began to glow with that cold light, and before I could react, he was upon me again. One hand locked around my wrist, the other pressed flat against my chest, and I felt it immediately—the pull. The drain. Grimnor fell from my hand. Shadows still rushed from it, desperate to protect me, but they weren’t enough.
Aleks simply devoured them, pulling them into his body like they were nothing more than air, like they promised life rather than death.
Lorien raced to my side, summoning a sphere of brilliant white light that he thrust toward Aleks’s chest. Aleks countered bysummoning his own sphere of void magic, violet and cold. The powers collided, remaining immovable forseveral heartbeats, neithergiving an inch.
