“Ella,” she said, “we need to go somewhere else and talk.”
“No. I have to finish what I started.”
As Ella walked to the transmitter, Beatrix cried, “What? No! I don’t understand why you’re doing this! It’s mass murder!”
“I’m protecting Lydia. I’m stopping the wizards. It’s the only way.”
“Of course it’s not! Lydia’s work?—”
“Lydia won’t be allowed to succeed, youknowthat. It’s the reason you came up with Plan B.” Ella had her back to her. “And we all know what happened to Plan B, don’t we, Omnimancer? It’s time for Plan C.”
“Ella!Ella, you can’t use this weapon. Your father wanted it. He’s the wizard pressing the Army to make the blast area bigger and bigger. You said you renounce everything he stands for, and?—”
“And I’m going to use it against him and everyone like him.”
“But all those innocent people,” Beatrix cried, feeling the futility of this argument even as she made it. Hadn’t Peter said the very same thing? “This would be an evil even the magiocracy hasn’t stooped to!”
“It’s just a matter of time. No one makes a weapon they don’t intend to use.”
“Stop this for me, then.” Her voice broke. “For our friendship.”
“I know you may never forgive me,” Ella murmured. She shook her head and said in a firmer tone, “But I must. For Lydia. For us. What happens when the wizards are decimated? We’ll still need magic, and there will be no choice but to train women.”
“Call on her Vow!” Peter said.
Good heavens, yes. The Vow. “Ella Ruth Knight, do not set off this weapon or you will harm Lydia and all her efforts with the League! You must stop!”
Ella paused. Then she turned, walked toward Peter and bent down. Beatrix couldn’t see what she was doing—givinghim an antidote? Her heart leapt. But then Ella stood, and Beatrix saw the charcoal in her hands and the marks on Peter’s forehead and palms. TheEarrune. Death.
“OhGod,” Beatrix sobbed.
“See, this won’t harm Lydia or the League,” Ella said. “I wouldn’t be doing it if it would.”
“Or the Vow can’t kick in because you signed it as Ella Knight,” Peter said bitterly.
Beatrix called on her Vow again, this time using the name “Marbella Draden,” but that too had no effect. What was left? The Vow, arguments about morality, appeals to their friendship—none of that worked. And try as she might, she could not break through Ella’s magic.
In desperation, she begged, “Please—pleasedon’t kill Peter.”
Ella waved this off. “You’ll be free, Beatrix. That’s what you want—freedom.”
“No.” She took a deep breath and tried to tamp down the hysteria because she had to say these next words with utter calmness. “I love him. I?—”
“Honestly, Beatrix, this is the Vow talking. I’m sure it’s making you feel terrible at the moment, but just hold on for a few minutes, it will pass, and you’ll befree.”
She lost her fingertip hold on calm and screamed, “No, listen to me! Listen tome, stop making assumptions, you don’t get to say how I feel!”
Ella paused, staring up at her.
“It’s not the Vow,” Beatrix said. “I’ve fallen in love with him.”
Ella looked at her with such pity that Beatrix, wincing, glanced at Peter to see if he believed her. She couldn’t tell. And, in fact, she didn’t know if what she was saying was true, but it couldbe, and she let more possibly true words rush out: “I would have fallen in love with him anyway—I can see that now—it would have taken longer, I wouldn’t have been as certain of his intentions and feelings because I wouldn’t have had access to them, but it was inevitable.”
“Oh,Beatrix,” Ella said.
“Look at the difference between him and Garrett! Garrett saw an injustice and kept working for the perpetrator. Peter realized what he was doing was wrong—this weapon you’re trying to use iswrong—and upended his life in an effort to fix it!”
Ella glared at him.“Yourlife! He upendedyourlife.”
