This wasn’t happening. I couldn’t lose one of them. Dread rushed over me, sweeping down my spine and curling in my gut.
“We have to get him out of here,” Tessa said as she bolted to our side.
“Take—the sword out,” Kieran said with a gasp. “I’ll—heal.”
“Not if it’s too deep, Kieran. You’re not immortal,” Tessa argued.
Kieran ground his teeth together as he slowly pulled on the handle, his grunt muffled and nostrils flared wide. It came out of his stomach with a sickening squelch, and blood poured from the open wound.
“Nox!”
I whirled around to see Devora’s terrified face, right as Vera surged toward me again. A spear made from lightning crackled in her grip. She drove it at my chest, but with a growl, I wrapped both hands around the end before it broke my skin. The light magic jolted through me with fervid force, sizzling over my flesh.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Vera,” I grunted out. “You’ve got tofight it. You’re stronger than this!”
The golden light reflected off her eyes, hard and merciless. Whoever this was…it wasn’t my sister.
“She’s not yours anymore,” Scarven said, his voice rich with satisfaction. “Her magic belongs to me.” I caught his eye over Vera’s shoulder, and he smirked back at me. “As does my newpet.”
He rattled the chain tied around Devora’s neck. She flinched, but her eyes held mine, those bright blue-green orbs shining with determination even in her suffering.
He could never beat the fight out of her. My fearless, obstinate, darling Devora.
I’m coming for you.
Resolve and rage flitted across my skin like sparks, making my vision go red. With a burst of Shifter strength, I gripped the lightning sword tighter and shoved it back at Vera. She lost her balance and stumbled as the sword disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Vera,” I said, then summoned my dragon fire and shot a steady stream of it at her feet. She jumped to get away and slammed into the sidewall, where I caged her in with a circle of fire.
It wouldn’t hold her off for long, but it was good enough. I broke into a sprint down the tunnel, aiming for Scarven and Devora.
“Behind you!” Kieran’s weakened voice sounded. A split secondlater, his dagger ripped through the air beside my head, still coated in his blood. I reached out mid-stride to snatch it.
Scarven grinned as I drew nearer, but right as I launched the blade at his chest, he took a step backward.
“Till we meet again, brother,” he said smoothly. “Unless your sister finishes the job.”
The air around him shimmered, and he vanished into a portal. I watched as the dagger clattered to the ground in the empty space where he’d been.
“Nox,” Devora breathed out, rising shakily to her feet.
I ran to her and crushed her to my chest. Her fingers clenched my back, tremors racking through her.
“I’m here,” I whispered into her hair. “You’re safe, darling.”
“I knew you’d come,” she murmured. The world around us faded as she looked up at me, those big eyes swallowing me whole.
I cupped her cheek, gently running my thumb over the tracks of her tears. “I told you once, I willalwayscome for you.”
Something thrummed in my chest at her nearness, atfinallyhaving her back in my arms. I didn’t understand what she’d become to me until the thought of losing her made it feel like I couldn’t breathe.
It was dangerous. It went against everything I’d sworn to myself. Her ties to me had already gotten her almost killed.
But in that moment, I didn’t care. All that mattered was that she wassafe.
Devora went rigid, and my heart dropped to my feet. I twisted her behind me to shield her as my sister stalked toward us like a beast released from her cage. A sword of lightning was gripped in her hand and one of shadows in the other. Both dragged the ground as she bared her teeth. Fire licked up her arms and legs, encasing her in an otherworldly glow.
But I knew that wasn’t my dragon fire.
