“Avalon?” I whisper-shouted, but no one answered. Had Bach been wrong?
Worse, was he working with his father to capture Avalon, to capture me? Had I blindly trusted the wrong person? I tried again, but still no answer.
Bach was shaking his head. “No, I know she’s in there. The message was clear.” He felt around the edges of the door.
“The wards prevent sound from traveling. I’m sure your sister is in there, screaming her little bitch heart out,” a gruff voice said behind us.
I whirled around, and the slimy face of Roman Halhed was in front of me. I must have been more injured than I thought, or he still had some stealth, because I hadn’t heard him approach.
Bach stiffened. “What have you done, Father?”
“Raised the standing of this Line for the first time in a century. Refilled the coffers of Rewill. Take your pick, you ungrateful little fuck.” He gave me a sharp smile. “You aren’t looking very good there, Heir Vylan. I’m sure your father will have the best surgeons to fix you right up, though. He should be here any moment.”
Fuck. Fucking fuck.I tried to reach for my powers, but the residual magic of whatever was inside that room, or maybe my injuries, made it hard to grasp.
I could tell the moment Roman Halhed thought he had the upper hand. Pulling a long sword from his side, he pointed it at me. “If you’re so anxious to be with my daughter, you can join her.”
I needed him to drop the wards, so I waited until he opened the door. As soon as the ward was broken, I’d attack.
Instead, I saw Avalon’s terrified face. She’d been crying.
Anger pulsed through my veins. Anger at my shitty father, and hers, and the hand the Goddess had dealt us both. Rage bloomed in the place where my power was sputtering, then flowed through my veins and down to my fingertips. With a growl, I reached out with my magic and grabbed Roman Halhed around the throat, lifting him in the air.
I squeezed. I squeezed with just enough force that I was rewarded with his look of panic. I wanted to make demands,wanted him to release the wards, to set them free. But there was nothing but rage inside me now.
“Release the wards, Father, before Vylan takes your useless life,” Bach spat, picking up the sword Roman Halhed had dropped as I raised him into the air. The Baron’s face was growing purple, but he was still stubbornly silent.
I looked into the eyes of the man who had tormented the love of my life for so long. “Today, you’ll die. But I can do it quickly, or I can boil your blood inside your veins until it feels like you’re being seared on a griddle.” I raised the warmth of his blood just a fraction, and he instantly began to sweat and gasp. It was a terrible way to die; I’d seen my father do it to political opponents many times.
Like the coward he was, he disengaged the warding, his eyelids fluttering as he clung to consciousness. The trigger for the wardingtalsmust have been on his body somewhere, and the urge to tear him apart to search for it was only trumped by the desire to pass out.
My magic roared back at me full force, and I couldn’t hold onto my own consciousness. Dropping Roman Halhed, I fell to my knees.
“Vox!” Avalon was there as I tipped to the side, holding me upright.
I reached up and cupped her cheek in my hand. “Run.”
Then I lost my battle with the darkness.
Two
Avalon
Vox’s eyelids fluttered closed as he fell to the side. Hayle grabbed him quickly, laying him down at my feet. I looked up at my brother. “What happened?”
Bach shrugged. “We found him stabbed in the back alley behind Ren’s house. I patched him up and told him to get out of here, but he wouldn’t leave without you.”
Lierick checked Vox’s pulse, then lifted his shirt. The bandage over his stomach was soaked in blood, and still actively bleeding. “He’s alive, but his pulse is weak. He needs a doctor, or at least a healer.”
Bach shook his head. “Not here. Baron Vylan is almost at the gates, and you need to be gone before he arrives. Otherwise, you’ll all be dead.”
I looked between Lierick and Hayle. What did I do? I still couldn’t feel my powers. I couldn’t take us back.
Hayle bent down and scooped Vox into his arms with a grunt. “Holy Goddess, this fucker weighs a ton.” He gave me a carefully blank expression, like he knew how close I was to losing it. “Which town has the closest healer?”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t take my eyes off Vox. He looked dead already. “Uh, most people come to Rewill. There was an elderly lady west of here, but I think she died.”
Hayle nodded. “We’ll head that way. Maybe she had a protegé.” He gave me a small smile. “It’ll be okay, Avie. It would take more than death for Vox to leave you.”
