Kassandra has moved, and so must I.
Now,she says.
I spring to my feet, looming over Dominik, who sleeps on his back. My eyes flick to his lover—Rose Tunes—face slack in deep sleep, magenta hair slung over one shoulder.
He’ll wake,I say.
Be quick, then.
I place the letter opener between my teeth. With trembling hands, I grab his shoulder and hip and heave. His body rolls onto his side, facing away from me. He startles, snores halting. His body twitches, a grunt escaping his lips.
This is the only warning she’ll get.He’s waking.
I rip the letter opener from my teeth and, with all my strength, plunge it into the base of his spine. Dominik’s body spasms. He grunts, sluggish.
I push it in farther, his legs twitching, spine arching, body convulsing. Rose stirs. Her tonic may still be in deep effect, but his wears off as the injury registers. The lord inhales deeply, his back expanding, lungs filling—a throaty wail building.
Open your mouth!Kass screams, my tongue pinching with pain.
I have to trust her. I do not have a choice.
I open my mouth as a slippery, shimmering, ashen magic tumbles out—a voice so rich and full, so true in its nature, even I believe he’s in the room. I believe it to be Maxian.
“Do not forget yourself, Dom,” the king says—I speak—Kassandra spins.
Dominik shudders beneath the Illusion unlike any I’veexperienced before, the wail dying in his throat. I part my lips again, leaning just above his pointed ear, and let the king, let Kass, finish.
“You can clear the House, but never forget who owns the land.”
I twist the opener, something snapping in the column of his back. He lets loose a high-pitched keening. Then I am backing away as his entire body convulses in pain, the golden crest blurring in the air.
I stumble into the shadows. My genius stretches outward, scrambling under the balcony doors, tumbling over the edge.
“Wha—” a muffled voice starts. Rose. She shifts in the bed, groaning.
Now,I shriek in my mind.Now, Kass—
My genius expands beyond me, almost out of me, stretching, reaching, screeching as I push it down down down to the maiden in the garden below. Her silvery magic shoots upward like a spout, and suddenly the two are crashing, smashing into each other, the remnants of the oily, unnatural power fading away.
Lace!Kass screams.Lace!
My mind cannot stretch any farther; I am in the lord’s bedroom, I am on the bench below, I am in the air between. It is time to let go, like we practiced, and I do.
I trust Kassandra with my life, and dissolve into nothing.
As my body breaks down to the smallest form, I fly under the doors, my essence elongating like putty, over the balcony, and in a moment, it is snapping together like a rubber band and my body slams into the brick wall beside me, an emptiness in my ribs.
I collapse to the ground in a heap, gasping. Before me, Kassandra sits on her stone bench, back to me, air shimmering with an Illusion that flickers. She turns the page in her book.
“Stand,” she rasps. “Please, stand up.”
My legs feel clumsy, but I grip the wall for support.
“You can let go,” I tell her when I’m up.
The Illusion drops. Kassandra slumps forward, dropping thebook. On weak legs, I circle the bench and kneel before her, picking it up. She keeps her face buried in her hands.
“Shall we retire?” I ask, throat dry.
