“Look at what you have done!” he shouted. “This is because of you! You should never have come here! You have ruined everything.”
His everi moved through me in shockwaves. I stared at him, disbelief clawing at my mind; he was crying.
“I don’t understand,” I said, careful to move closer slowly. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to hurt Corinya. Whatever you think I’ve done, I swear to you, I never wanted any of this.”
I’d never seen him so broken. His stoicism surpassed even Blake’s and as I saw his expression shatter, I didn’t know what to do. He shut his eyes, pain shattering his mask as he ran the blade across her throat.
I flinched as Corinya hit the floor.
“You should have left when you first realized Cody was missing,” he said, his voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear him. “I blocked the mind curse for you, leaving you unaffected. I letyou figure it out. You had every chance to run, yet here you are. You are a fool.”
The room was starting to move. What was he saying? He blocked a mind curse?
“You mean it never affected me like everyone else? But Isabella… she remembered them too,” I said.
Everson shook his head, unrecognizable to me in his grief. “No, she could not have. I only shielded you from the memory curse. I did everything I could. And as if Malakai wasn’t threatening enough to you, I framed him for the disappearances,” he said. “I even ensured one of my guards slipped it to your friend so you would be convinced the Realm was not a safe place. So you would leave.”
“The cuff link?” I asked. “You?—”
The image of Malakai with his forearm against Everson’s throat came to my mind.
“You took it off him,” I muttered.
Everson’s eyes narrowed. “I did everything I could to get you out of here. To stop this. But I underestimated the lure you were for the Aurkai. They coveted you, protected you, and gave you the false impression that you were safe.”
I clenched my fists, my confusion blurring into anger.
“What does any of this have to do with me?” I shouted.
“I made an Oath to help fill the stone in exchange for passage to the Realm,” he said quietly. “I was a fool to make a deal with those who had already betrayed me once. You see, I was Selected once, just like you. Then they rescinded my invitation to the Realm. I was too dangerous to be allowed to return home so they forced me to stay here.
“What does that have to do with the Initiates? What stone?” I asked.
“I do not know anymore,” he said. “All I know is that you cannot be allowed to live because it is what they want.”
Everson’s eyes flashed as he launched himself at me with a battle cry that only drew my everi from my veins faster. There was no one around us to swoop in and save me and fear paralyzed me. What could be so threatening about me that he was willing to kill Corinya to get to me?
The crushing power of his blade snapped me into action. He came at me with his sword head-on which I roll-dodged to the right, knocking his feet out from under him along the way. He went down, his large form and weight making him slow to rise. I didn’t wait for him to recover and gathered everi into my fist, striking his side ribs where his armor was the weakest. It knocked him back but also made him angrier.
He sliced horizontally through the air and I jumped backward, narrowly missing what could’ve been a terrible cut across my midriff. He came for me relentlessly and I twisted and turned with agility he didn’t possess, but I couldn’t do this forever.
Sensing someone behind me, I dropped to the floor. Another blood mage was attacking me from behind. Everson was there over me and the blade came faster than I could dodge. I blocked with my blade but he was stronger than me. The other blood mage kicked my hand, knocking my blade away.
I watched as Everson’s blade came down for me.
I pulled at the everi within, summoning it with all my might and felt it pooling into my hand.
A strange feeling overcame me and I heard a whisper in my mind.
It was her—it was my mom’s voice.
“For my daughter, the only light I’ll ever need.”
I watched as the silver bracelet on my wrist glowed—the gift she never got to give me. My everi threaded around it as it expanded into the sleek blade Derrick made for me. I stared at the bejeweled blade, feeling its weight in my hand.
Calm. Control. Focus.
I braced myself, holding the blade over my head as Everson’s clashed against mine, the steel ringing loudly in my ears. The air thickened as our everi bled into the blade, mine a golden glow, and his a dark red mist.
