“What is that?” Vaasa whispered.
Then gold spread like a stain through the pool, extinguishing the crimson. Their connection clamped down on her, and her vision of the dark tomb fractured.
“Get out of my head!” Ozik’s voice boomed.
He slammed his hands against her shoulders and sent her rocking back. Gravel cut into her hands as she landed on her back, and her own magic rose to choke her, black mist smothering the windows and snuffing out the light in the greenhouse. “Ozik,” she called out desperately, gaping up at him.
His eyes were a brilliant gold again.
“You should be afraid, Vaasalisa,” he warned, walking toward her. “We are running out of time.”
“Running out of time for what?”
He shook his head again, clenching his eyes closed, and the cords between them ignited in flames. She kicked her legs at the gravel to back away from him, struggling not to cry out in pain. This was no natural magic. This was nothing of what she’d read in Dihrah.
There was something terribly wrong.
Vaasa eyed the door, prepared to run, but he blocked her exit. There was no way out. Fear struck her and—
Fear.
It was his fear. She felt every inch of it in the room, his rage and terror and grief grown so large they could have cracked the windows.
She didn’t want it. She didn’t want to wield magic this way, to give in to the version of herself that he wanted her to be.
Ozik leapt, and then he was on her. Vaasa slammed into the stones and rolled, his body weight more than she had anticipated. He caught her there, pressing her arms into the small stones beneath her. It was possible he’d drawn blood, but there was no time to tell. Not as he dug his knee into her gut and leaned near her. His voice dropped to a low warning. “There is a part of you that is capable of great horrors to get what you want. If you don’t let her out,I will tear her from your bones.”
Rage curled in the air; it slid along her lips, her tongue, her throat. It joined everything within her. Vaasa reacted upon pure instinct. Her wolf snapped out of her again on a loud howl, and then an ear-shattering wail escaped Ozik’s mouth. He was dragged off her, black oil splattering everywhere as the wolf feasted. Gravel flew through the air as the wolf dragged Ozik farther and farther away, his new fear and pain only giving Vaasa more to feed off of.
She forced her feet beneath her and snapped up to a fighting stance. Ozik screamed in pain, and for a moment, Vaasa worried someone would come for them. But then the sound of his agony filled her with such delight, she couldn’t make herself care. “You may not be able to die,” she snarled down at him. “But youcansuffer.”
Bloodied and pinned beneath the wolf, Ozik… laughed.
Through injuries that Vaasa knew were fatal to anyone else, Ozik shook with a raucous fit. The wolf disintegrated, and Vaasa stepped back closer to the olive tree. Slowly, Ozik turned onto his back, his chest still convulsing with his hysterics. His arm fell to the side and calmed, laughter fading to a chuckle.
He turned his head so his golden eyes met hers. Voice imbued with pride, he said, “There she is.”
She had done it again—had fed upon him instead of herself. Her hands shook.
Vaasa started toward the door, unable to gaze upon his torn skin or bloodied features. The magic snapped back inside her, and as she walked, she savored every moment her power stayed. It was only temporary, she knew. At any moment he would take it back.
As she reached the door, he coughed, and his voice drifted between them. “Good. You must be willing to save yourself at all costs.”
Vaasa stopped. Had she just heard him correctly?
Whatever you do, stay in Mireh and do not unite the other pieces. The price is far too great.
Her magic slipped away like the wind, but when she turned, there was nothing but sprays of blood upon the gravel.
CHAPTER
19
Despite the weariness she felt, Vaasa dressed carefully, strategically, for her task. She tugged on her boots and pulled her cloak over her shoulders, dressing for warmth. She untangled her hair and used a hot iron rod she’d warmed with the fire to twist her hair into a different curl pattern. As she stared into a mirror, a drained indigo stared back. Shadows had grown around her eyes, an incurable tiredness, so she patted cosmetics over them in hopes of counteracting the dullness. She dragged kohl across her lid and darkened her lashes, doing everything she could to seem different from how she normally looked. Finally, she wrapped a scarf around the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Vaasa scurried into the hallway and took one last look at the door she knew a guard stood behind, hoping desperately they wouldn’t try to come inside and speak to her. If they found her missing, they’d alert Roman immediately. Her best hope was that the attendants had all retired for the night and no one would know she’d gone.
She slipped into her father’s office and approached the iron owl statue, letting her hand drift over the cold trinket. She pulled, then pressed, and the door swung open. The eerie, dark tunnel beyond waited. Lifting her lantern, Vaasa stepped inside.
