Indira circles above, and I can feel Darrius’s shock from where he sits. Darkness takes over his form as he disappears into a storm of shadows and smoke to reappear in front of us in a seething whorl. The azdaha lands on top of a turret, stone crumbling beneath her talons as she settles in place.
“Anahima, what have you done?” he shouts, his eyes narrowing in confusion on his sister. “Release my wife.”
I feel the stares of my former friends. “She poisoned my father and spread the rot,” I blurt out. “She’s your traitor. The one they call the oracle.”
“Now you’ve ruined my surprise.” Anahima pouts and peeks at her brother. “I’m going to enjoy sharing her with my army after you’re dead.” She pats my cheek with the edge of the blade. “I’ll strip her magic, and then they’ll tear your precious soul-fated apart. Brutes, the lot of them.”
I know exactly what she’s trying to do. The king of Everlea’s virulent rage is a palpable thing, and I hear the ominous crackle of bones as the curse rises to the surface. He might have a tenuous truce with his beast, but the precious time he will lose could make all the difference between life and death. His features become leonine, eyes flashing a vicious gold.
“There he is,” Anahima sings. “Let the beast out, brother. He hates it when anyone plays with his toys, doesn’t he?”
“Mate,”Darrius growls in the manticore’s voice like he already has a mouthful of teeth he can’t speak around.
“Only good mate is a dead mate,” Anahima says brightly, then she attacks.
A blast of her magic crashes into Darrius, who lets out an inhuman roar. I feel the curse take hold and echo deep in my gut when a second blast hits me straight in the torso and sends me careening across the terrace to smash into the wall.Fuck.She’s strong. I can feel at least a handful of broken ribs start to mend, but the pain still makes me wheeze.
Darrius starts to shake and shudder at the scent of my blood, his fear for me pushing him to the edge of the shift.
Dare, my love. Please stay calm.His head flicks to me, eyes warring between black and gold, fangs protruding over his lips.She has my father in some floramancy stasis. Don’t kill her. And don’t change, it’s what she wants. I’m not hurt, I promise.
“Finally, some fun,” Anahima says. She whistles, and the griffin we arrived on swoops down low to collect her right as she rips a huge piece of metal edging from the closest turret with her magic and hurls it at her brother. In a blink she wheels around, she and the griffin heading straight for Indira.
I deflect the flying metal with a thought and it lands with a boom several feet away. I run to Darrius; his face is back to normal, but his eyes are burning with a volatile cocktail of emotions. I kiss him fiercely, quickly. “Get Indira and deal with your sister. I’ll handle the king.”
“Are you sure?” he asks as his azdaha takes to the skies, talons out, narrowly dodging more metal projectiles.
“Yes, go before Indira gets hurt. She needs you.”
He disappears into a swirl of shadows, rising upward to reappear on his azdaha’s back. Magic explodes in the sky as the siblings collide. Dare is by far the better warrior, but Anahima is not to be underestimated, and I’m sure this is all part of some distraction... some master plan. She doesn’t do anything without a reason, and though she’d seemed surprised when Darrius had arrived, she’s not the kind of adversary to not meticulously prepare for every possible outcome.
Sensing the weapons pointed at me, I turn in slow motion as silvery runes flare up and down my arms. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I say to the kingsguard, a circle that includes Clem and Hamid. “Your jadu weapons are no match for me.”
“Seize her,” the Oryndhrian king commands.
Eight guards rush me as one, and iridescent ribbons of heat flare from my fingertips, sending them ricocheting backward. I’d rather not kill anyone, if I can help it. I snatch two dropped swords and fend off dual attacks at my front and back, spinning to parry one while thrusting toward another. The clash of steel fills the air, interspersed by the occasional screams from Indira and the griffin—but I can’t look up. It’s taking every bit of memory of my training with the Aspacana raissas to fend off the highly skilled Oryndhrian kingsguard.
“Clem, why are you doing this?” I yell to my former friend when our blades crash. “Blindly following orders.” I shoot a burst of magic out at the two guards creeping up behind me, sending them sprawling to their knees. “You know it’s not him,” I say, crashing my blade into hers hard enough to make her cry out.
“If I don’t, someone else will,” she pants. “Someone more ruthless than me.”
I frown and slam into her side. “What do you mean?”
“At least this way I can save some people.” Clem’s eyes burn as she lowers her weapons, completely vulnerable before me. I blink in disbelief as Hamid does the same. “We’re not all powerless and we control the things we can control. You taught me that.”
They stayed todisobeyorders?
A pained scream from above finally draws my gaze, and I suck in a breath as the griffin’s claws rake across Indira’s exposed belly and she goes into a wild spiral before catching herself midfall. Incensed, she flies at her enemy, talons outstretched to return the favor.
This needs to end.
I let my simurgh fly. The power that rides my fingertips makes me gasp. Luminescent tendrils fly out of me, latching on to every single person, holding them completely immobile. I pick my way through the magically bound guards, until I reach the king.
Him, I study with intensity. All the rage in the world is in those purple-hued eyes, brimming with hunger and hate. Killing him would be a mercy to the world... but if Roshan truly is in there, buried somewhere in the recesses of his own mind...
I made a promise that I would try.
The king’s eyes widen when I reach out. “No, what are you doing?! Don’t touch me, girl!”
