Alaric and Callum had cornered Horace, whose sword did nothing against the surge of shadow magic. He used his blade to block Callum’s spinning arrowheads, slashing and weaving it through the air faster than I thought he could move, but it didn’t stop all of them. Already, small cuts littered his cheek and neck, blood dripping from the thin red slits. He seemed to be throwing illusions at both the challengers, for Alaric and Callum would occasionally roll to the ground or duck below some invisible force I couldn’t see.
Horace saw me enter the fray and lost his concentration for a split second. “Get out of here, girl!” he bellowed, missing a step as he swung. An arrowhead sliced deeply across his neck.
I cried out, and Callum glanced back at me with a wicked smirk. In an instant, he bounded toward Horace who staggered to the ground as blood poured from the wound. Callum’s hands circled Horace’s throat…and squeezed.
Horror shot through me. Images of both my father and Horace lying flat on their backs, blood spurting from their necks, flashedacross my vision, blending together in a fog of red. My heart pounded in my ears as my feet moved of their own accord. Suddenly, I was behind Callum, my dagger in my hand.
“Let go of him, Callum!” I screamed in warning.
“Only six of us get out, Feywood. What about this don’t you understand?” His hands remained tight around Horace’s throat. The guard’s ruddy face turned an alarming shade of purple, his eyes bloodshot as they rolled back into his head. Blood bubbled from his lips.
He was dying.
I didn’t think. I shoved the dagger into Callum’s back, feeling every inch as the blade tore through skin and muscle with a sickening squelch.
The shadows around us disappeared.
Pulling the dagger out, I stumbled backward, putting a hand to my mouth.I just killed?—
“Nice try,” Callum’s voice sounded in my ear. I jumped back with a shriek.
“No, no, no, no, no…” My plea was breathless and shaking as I slowly turned to face my victim, lying face first in the dirt.
Alaric.
“No!” I ran to his side, flipping his heavy body over to find the blade had pierced through his heart, deep red blooming on the left side of his shirt. His eyes were glassy and unmoving.
Horace was nowhere to be found. It was a trick.Another trick. One I kept falling for, over and over again.
But this time…I wasn’t in a dreamscape, where none of my actions were real. I hadkilledAlaric. He was dead because of me. I’d stabbed him through the heart and taken away any chance he had at getting out of here. At seeing his family again.
And he knew my uncle…Fates, I’d killed Ragnar’sfriend.
I killed a man.
A choked sob left me. I gripped my dagger and spun to face Callum.
This was his fault. It was supposed to have beenhimbeneathmy blade. Maybe I didn’t want to kill him, but he was a poison on this world. The spell Leo and I had found in my father’s Grimoire blossomed behind my eyelids. My vision shook with rage, my peripheral going gray as adrenaline and wrath pounded in my skin, my bones, my blood.
Magic swirled within me like it had that day in Gayl’s lair. Every cell vibrated with a bloodlust that begged to see this man on his knees, praying for mercy, pleading for my forgiveness.
I stalked toward him and slit my hand on the blade.
I may not take his life, but I could try and take his magic.
“Phyxie,” I said before he could conjure an illusion. My voice was distant, unfamiliar. Cold. Instantly, the breath left his lungs, his lips already turning ashen with loss of oxygen. My blood made the spell stronger than normal.
Good.
I fisted his shirt and dragged my dagger across his collarbone until a line of blood bloomed to the surface. The siphoning spell only required that I?—
“Rose,stop,” a voice said behind me. Leo’s hand wrapped around my upper arm, but my gaze stayed focused on Callum.
“It will have a price, sweetheart,” Leo urged.
“You didn’t seem to care when we planned to use it on Gayl,” I said icily. Callum had precious seconds left.
“If we have to face consequences, let it be againsthim. Not this poor excuse of a challenger. He’s not worth it, Rose.”
