“Ah, you see, there’s just one slight problem.” He brandished a hand. “It looks as if the only Alchemist whocouldbreak the curse is nowhere to be found. How unfortunate.”
I closed my eyes. Milo told us only the original caster could undo a curse, unless they died. If only Everett had finished the job.
I quickly switched tactics. “You’re out of plays, Scarven. You’ve lost your Alchemist, and I’m done being your pet. There’s only one way this ends.”
He raised an eyebrow and looked around him. My attention strayed to the weapons and magic flying, watching as Kieran battled a mutant levitating on a cloud of shadows, to Everett fending off both a Lightbender and a Shifter, to a group of our refugees slowly being surrounded by half a dozen mutants with dark, swollen veins.
All their faces bore the same expressions: exhaustion. Fear. Grim resignation. Even as they fought for their lives, forourcause, they were being overcome.
My heart sank.Just hold on a little longer, I wanted to plead.I have a plan.
“It doesn’t look like I’m the one who needs to worry, does it?” Scarven said. “I am not too proud to admit your little rendezvous at the Guardian Range set things back a bit, but it’s no matter. Tell me,” he took a step forward, a smirk lighting his features, “how is my dear Devora?”
My lips peeled back from my teeth as I let out a snarl. “Stayawayfrom her.”
He moved closer, and my arms shook from the effort it took not to unleash my dragon on him. He lowered his voice. “And what are you going to do about it?” Pushing up the sleeve of his shirt, he shifted the tip of his finger into a claw and pressed it to his arm. “I can do anything I want to her, and there isn’t a single thing you can do to stop me.”
His skin dented from the pressure until a bead of bloodbloomed to the surface. My hand whipped out to grip his wrist, wrenching it away without breaking bone.
He smiled in triumph.
I released him. Hopelessness surged through me, cold and numb. It always ended up in the same place—with me back beneath his feet.
“You truly care for her, don’t you?” Scarven asked, that inquisitive, cunning gleam back in his eyes. Slipping a dagger from his pocket, he twirled it between his fingers. He tauntingly slid the edge along his own throat, down his chest and back up again. My muscles clenched with every motion.
“How far would you be willing to go for her?” he asked.
A million thoughts penetrated my mind. He and I have had this conversation before.How far would you be willing to go to save your sister?
Flashes of the people I’d hurt, the blood I’d shed, the lives I’d ruined came back to me in a rush. The myriad of things he would ask me to do. The paths he’d force me down to keep Devora unharmed.
Everyone was always in awe of the all-powerful dragon Shifter. The first in two centuries, the impossible miracle. But what they didn’t know was how utterly powerless I was. I never had a choice—not with my sister, and not with Devora. I loved her with my entire being.
And love made me a monster. It made me aweapon.
I hated myself before the words even left my mouth. “What do you want?”
“From you?” He hummed and leaned away. “Nothing, brother. You’ve outlived your usefulness. In fact, you’ve been nothing but a thorn in my flesh these last few months. I simply wanted to remind you of your place.”
I went on instant alert. What was he planning? Why go through all of this just to let me go?
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” He put the knife back andsteepled his hands in front of his face. “I’m going to kill every single one of your friends. I’m going to make yourpreciousempress watch as I drain her people of magic one by one until they have no choice but to bow at my feet.” Every word was enunciated, each one lighting his eyes with glee. “Magic is not abirthright, brother. It’s aprivilege, and only those loyal to me will be able to wield it. But do you want to know the best part of it all?”
His smile widened as a wave of heat rushed over the space. The sound of powerful wings flapping behind me made my heart turn to stone.
“You won’t be alive to see any of it.”
I slowly turned to find bright orange, yellow, and red wings burning through the tree line and heading straight toward me.
My sister landed in a crouch among the dirt and leaves, fire licking from her sharp, brilliant wings and into the sky. She clutched a sword of lightning in one hand and shadows in the other. Her golden eyes blazed with power as she faced me.
She was alive.
And she was aiming straight for me.
“Vera, listen to me. I know you’re in there,” I said, raising both my hands in a sign of peace. I was acutely aware of the small bulge in my pocket where the blood bead Rose made rested, the one that could break Scarven’s compulsion on her. I just had to get close enough.
Vera tilted her head and swirled the lightning sword in one hand. “I don’t know you.” Her voice was hard, but it was stillher. My sister. She was in there somewhere.
