“No,” I croaked. Teivel’s punch to Alex’s gut, cutting off my earlier scream, had broken at least two ribs. “You figured out it wasn’t me. Took you long enough.”
Cayden gritted his teeth. “How do I get this off you?”
“We need Teivel’s magic.”
Cayden nodded. I suspected that was the entire reason he had put the man to sleep instead of killing him. The rune mage pulled the huge body snatcher to me before drawing in the air.
Quinn’s scream ripped through the roar of the crowd. I wanted to tell him to hurry, but this was Cayden. He was already going as fast as he could, probably while cursing my existence.
Cayden grunted and stuck his hand into the rune he’d just drawn. A spiked forest-green glove covered his hand. “This is going to wake him up. I suggest you scurry back to your body fast.”
‘I don’t scurry’ was on the tip of my tongue, but before I could say a word, Cayden grabbed Teivel’s hand in his spiked magic and slammed it forward… except his physical hand didn’t move, only a dark outline. Teivel groaned in pain, and Cayden pulled the outline to my neck. The latch on my collar clicked and popped open.
“We’re going to talk about whatever that was,” I promised.
Cayden scowled. “I’m going to Quinn.”
Teivel groaned again, but both of us were already running in our own ways.
Quinn fought for her life. ‘His’ Quinn. In Alex’s mind, she was nothing but womb and salvation, the only thing left that mattered.
I approached my body carefully to keep the element of surprise on my side, though the closer I got, the more I felt. Alex babbled to Rowan, who guarded my body, while Quinn’s Majekah split Chancellor Morgen into two.
Tears, Alex’s, not mine, streaked down my face.
This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Quinn was supposed to be safe. Teivel lied. They always lied. Alex was just as locked out of his body as I was mine. Powerless, broken, and alone.
Quinn pulled herself to Chancellor Morgen’s body and rocked, while the leader of the Westwaters stood over them, injecting meaning into the meaningless. The crowd roared, far more people upset by the danger in this trial than by the results. She could have died. Silas and I were going to have words.
In a flash, Alex pulled himself out of his misery and noticed me. We hovered, two minds crammed in one skull, each waiting to see who would lunge first.
‘She’s hurting,’Alex said.
‘I’m a fool.’I repeated verbatim what he called me.‘I agreed to let her take these tests because I thought it was the easiest path. I thought no one wanted to hurt her. I should have fought for her.’
Alex still hadn’t returned to his body. In his own confused way, he loved Quinn. I took a chance.
‘We should have fought for her.’
My body tensed, still clearly under Alex’s control. I didn’t want to fight him to get it back, but I would.
The Westwater’s voice boomed off the walls. Outrage and agreement crashed back from the stands, a wave of noise that swelled higher with every word. People, some not even my allies, asked why I’d even let them fight if I genuinely had power over their free will.
It was a great question, and I leaned into Alex.‘Free will or not, I would have put a stop to this the minute Morgen appeared, but I couldn’t.’
Rage burned the air around me. The Pit’s noise rose to a deafening pitch. Men had charged in. The army Alex hid from me. I didn’t have time for this.
Alex tried to move my body, and Rowan loomed over us, clamping our wrists down on the chair. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but this is a fucking ambush. I need orders, sir.”
Suddenly, Alex vanished. I dropped into my own body.
“Drop the fucking ‘sir,’” I snarled, flexing my fingers in Rowan’s grip to assure myself I still had them.
Rowan released me, and I stood, only to stumble back into my seat. Voices filled my mental ears, making it hard to focus.
‘What the fuck happened?’ Teivel demanded, his speech still slightly slurred.
‘The Architect broke the collar,’ Alex wheezed. ‘And forced me out, we need to run… there will always—’
