“Where is he?” she asked, her voice low and scratchy. “Where’s Scarven?”
“He’s here. Somewhere. I don’t?—”
“He’smine, Nox.” The very air around us seemed to crackle with her newfound vengeance. “Scarven ismine.”
I swallowed hard. “You can’t kill him, Vera. Not yet.”
“Watch me.”
“No, I mean—he did something. He has someone else. Someone I—someone I love.” I imagined my sister burning him alive with her phoenix fire, and watching Devora burn with him.
“What are you talking about?” she growled.
“He cursed her. Everything you do to him will happen to her too,” I said, and she blinked as understanding dawned on herfeatures. “I’ll explain everything later, butpromise meyou won’t hurt him,” I pleaded. “Not until I can get her safe.”
I could’ve sworn my sister’s fingers sparked. There was such endless hatred in her eyes as she held my stare. For a brief moment, darkness flickered there. I wondered if she wouldn’t care. If her years under his hold had dimmed some of the humanity that once shone so bright.
I didn’t think I could blame her if it had.
“I wouldn’t be asking if it weren’t important to me, Vera.” I gripped her shoulders. “Please. Wait just alittlebit longer.”
That thin, sharp jaw clenched. Her nostrils flared as she glanced behind me, then back again. “Fine,” she gritted out. “But when it’s time,I’llbe the one to do it.”
76
Devora
Words caught in my throat at the sight of Rose and Leo. “What—how?—”
“Nox,” Rose said simply.
Her eyes scanned the darkness behind me, and she raised a chunk of herbs to her lips, whispering a string of spells. A fierce wind tore through the field. The toxic smoke around us rippled then blew back, spiraling upward like a cyclone as Rose held her arms out wide. With a thunderousboom, a second magical blast of wind cleared the smoke completely.
Gasps rang out among our numbers as we could finally see again. Motion flickered in the corner of my eye, and I whipped around to see one of the mutated snake Shifters grip Tessa by the throat. It reared back, ready to sink its elongated fangs into her neck.
With a faint shimmer of light, none other thanChazappeared next to her. He drove his long sword into the Shifter, shoved the body aside, then whirled toward us with a quick wink.
“What’s evenhappeningright now?” I mumbled in awe. “How did you know to come?”
“Nox sent Arowyn to us a couple days ago,” Rose explained. “Told us he was preparing for something big and to be ready.”
“It nearly took her out to stride that far again, but it gave us time to get things in order,” Leo added. “And not a moment too soon, it looks like.”
“Finally!” a tired voice said behind us. Arowyn threw her hands in the air. “Fates, it took you long enough. Hey, you. Strider.” She jerked her head toward Chaz. “I need your help.”
“Hello, there,” he said, a smirk stretching across his dark features. “I’m all yours.”
The two of them blinked out of existence. Around us, at least ten more creatures appeared with gnashing teeth. They snarled, their muscles grotesquely stretched and veins glowing.
“Whatarethese things?” Rose asked, her face screwed in disgust.
“Scarven’s experiments. It was worse than we thought.” I quickly explained the fatesprig mutations, and how it made them all stronger and more bloodthirsty, completely beholden to Scarven.
As I spoke, the remaining snake Shifter with wings landed at Rose’s feet. Leo jumped into action. His tail flicked out to wrap around its front leg, yanking it forward. Leo gripped the hilt of his sword and swung it in an arc at the Shifter’s neck.
“Wait! Don’t kill it!” I rushed out. Leo faltered, his sword hanging in the air as the beast’s serpentine head reared back to strike. With fast reflexes, Rose put something to her lips and muttered a spell, and the snake froze in place.
“Don’tkillit?” Leo repeated, pointing at the poison dripping from the frozen snake’s fangs. “Seriously?”
