I tore his hand from my shoulder and shoved, sending my commander toppling off the stage and into the crowd below. Shouts echoed around me, and I doubled over, my mouth watering with the urge to retch. I felt ill. My mind raced as it never had before.
I could not gain control of myself.
What is happening to me?
“Stop me. Use your power, and put an end to this.” Harkin’s voice was a whisper in the wind, curling melodically into the cradle of my ear. A glance in both directions made it clear that, somehow, those words had been for my ears alone.
“No,” I gasped.
“Guardian Corso?”
Anger rocketed within me again. I slammed the heel of my palm into the Guardian’s nose, sending them reeling backwards.
The Guardians around me jumped into action, shock and outrage on their faces. They moved to restrain me, but I fought like a wild animal, slashing my daggers and snapping my teeth. Finally, they pinned me. The daggers were wrenched from my stiff fingers and tossed aside. My sword was relinquished from its sheath at my hip.
I lashed out with my bare hands, nails like claws in my desperation. They tore skin and drew blood, and still, I did not stop.
“Come now, Seren. This is rather embarrassing.” Harkin’s voice was light, pleasant—teasing,still. My head snapped to the side, cheek pressed to the ground beneath me. Harkin stood up straight now, but he did not move from his position at the back of the crowd.
I roared, my anger morphing into fury as I screamed at him. “Stop! Stop toying with me! Whatever you’re doing to me, stop!”
The Guardians shouted my name. Hands and feet and weapons pressed against my body. My fear and anger reflected back at me in their expressions, but all I could feel was a surging energy roiling inside me.
Rain pounded against my face as the clouds opened, an angry torrent upon us. Water slicked my skin and soaked into my clothes.
“Stop!” My voice broke as I screeched the word over and over again.
“You’re so close,” Harkin said, pride in his voice. “Just let go.”
With a pained wail, the tightening in my body finally snapped. I gasped in relief at the lightness that filled me. Water rushed around us, pouring from the sky and rising from the earth. An icy tide pulled Guardians away from me and toppled their formation.
The amphitheater erupted into chaos as the ground swelled with the growing flood. The Guardians scrambled back, away from the storm and me, slipping in their haste to flee.
“Rázuri!” They shouted as they beheld me, torn between running for higher ground and running me through with their blades.
“No…” I pushed to my feet, hands splayed to ease their fears, but as I raised them my breath caught. Swirling torrents of water limned in silver light raced along my palms, twining between my fingers. It licked outwards, seeming almostalive.
My hands tilted, raised to the sky. Mágik settled in my palms like a weapon, ready to be commanded. It danced and twirled, jumping in eagerness as the remaining Guardians approached once more.
I didn’t notice them—lost to my shock as I was. I could not wrench my gaze from the unnatural power coming from within me—undulating around me. Tears poured down my face in a mix of anguish and release, salted emotion mingling with the rain that still poured from the sky.
A wet, choking sound tore me from my own mind. The Guardian before me sputtered, and blood dribbled down his chin. The tip of a sword, stained red with blood, protruded from his chest. He had been skewered, stabbed straight through his spine. The blade withdrew, and his dying body was tossed aside.
The mágik was fading now, leaving me exhausted and boneless. When I looked up again, Harkin stood before me, hand outstretched. “You did magnificently. Now, let’s go.”
“You are a fool if you think I am leaving with you,” I spat, head spinning. I bent against the wooziness which threatened to overtake me. “This is your fault.Youdid this.”
“I gave you a push, certainly, but the damage was your own doing.” He stepped closer, voice low. “We’ll have plenty of time to blame each other for this spectacle, but right now, we need to leave. The Guardians know what you are, and reinforcements will come. They will not stop until they have taken your head.”
“I—” I tried to protest—to fight him to the bitter end—but I suddenly found myself willing. My head drooped, neck boneless. I was so tired, so very calm, and I would have done anything he asked.
“That’s it. I’ve got you.” Harkin pulled me close, and we fled into the night.
Chaptertwelve
Harkin
The feeling of her fingers twined between mine was unsettling. Seren’s hands were frigid and slick with water from the mágik she had wielded, but the limpness in her grasp was unnatural. Her face was smooth and expressionless. Fiery eyes dull and lifeless. Her freckled skin was pale in the cold, or perhaps from the shock. Blood speckled her clothes and armor.
