Heliconia stretched out a hand. Frost curled around Callan’s boots again. “Speak the words,” she hissed. “Give me what you promised. Give me your throne.”
Callan’s face contorted. His mouth opened—against his will.
Aurelia faltered. “Callan—” she gasped.
I grabbed her arm. “Isn’t dying on my watch.”
We sprinted—cutting through the chaos, ducking between columns, weaving through clashing blades. Frost lashed out at us in jagged arcs. My shadows met them midair, cracking the ice apart before it touched her skin.
“Behind you!” Slade yelled again, flashing into existence for half a heartbeat to yank a terrified Autumn guard out of a frost wave.
Thorne held the southern end of the room, ley-line magic roaring beneath his skin like molten gold. He carved a barrier line across the floor, cutting off an entire swell of soldiers from reaching Aurelia’s back. Each pulse of his ability made the stones glow.
Ahead, Heliconia was stepping toward Callan.
She lifted her hand. “Speak the vow. Name me your queen, and I will make your death quick.”
Callan’s throat seized. He tried to fight it—his jaw trembled, but frost tightened up his legs, his chest, his arms. His lips, already blue and trembling, shaped the first syllable.
Aurelia’s breath stuttered.
“No!” she screamed and threw herself forward, but I got there first.
I slammed into Callan, tearing him sideways off the dais. Heliconia’s magic screamed in fury as her grip on him shattered into ice shards.
Callan hit the floor with a grunt.
Aurelia was already between us and Heliconia, Dorcha raised, her stance low and deadly. Flames of furyfire licked across the marble at Heliconia’s feet like predators scenting blood.
Heliconia’s face twisted with the first true sign of fury I’d ever seen on her. “You insolent wretch,” she spat at Callan.
“That’s King Insolent Wretch,” Callan wheezed behind me. “Show some respect?—”
“Callan,” I growled. “Shut. Up.”
Aurelia didn’t turn, but her voice clipped sharp as a blade. “She wants him to say the words. She can’t take the throne without consent?—”
“I know,” I said.
Heliconia’s eyes flared. “Hewillgive it.”
“Over my corpse,” Callan muttered, dusting himself off.
“Not happening,” Aurelia said.
She and I shared one look—one of those looks that lasted no longer than a blink but contained a thousand unspoken understandings.
We weren’t winning this fight.
Not today.
Not like this.
I turned toward the shadows, toward the one person who could change everything in a heartbeat. Slade materialized out of the smoke at the far end of the room, dragging two terrified nobles behind him.
“Slade,” I roared.
His head snapped towardme. I jerked my chin at Callan.
