Romie screamed as one of them jumped right at her throat.
Emory reacted without thinking, drawing on the only magic that would be quick enough to save her friend. The fox didn’t even have time to cry out in pain before it fell dead at Romie’s feet, eliciting a broken cry from Tol—as if he’d felt the beast’s pain as his own.
Romie’s wide eyes met Emory’s, shock and gratitude and fear warring on her features as the weight of what Emory had done settled.
She had slain the beast. Killed it with Reaper magic.
Blood pounded in Emory’s ears as her breathing came in quick, shallow successions.Shehad done that. Had killed a living thing without blinking, had felt its heart in the palm of her hand and silenced it without an ounce of hesitation. Remorse didn’t come, not as another fox pounced toward her, and again she reached for the Reaper magic that could end all of this right now—
“No!” Tol shouted, coming between Emory and the fox.
Heart jumping to her throat, she pulled the death magic back just in time, letting it fizzle out inside her. The beast’s teeth closed on Tol’s forearm, black flames blaring around its maw. Tol grunted in pain and tried to shake it off, finally managing to send it scurrying away with a yelp.
“Why did you do that?” Emory snapped. “I had it!”
Tol whirled on her, face full of anger. “The eldritch aren’t our enemy.”
“They’re trying to kill us!” Around them, the other prisoners were fighting for their lives against the beasts, two of them already dead. With a cry of triumph, one of the prisoners managed to hurt a fox, which fell to the ground, its leg broken.
Tol stumbled and grabbed hold of his own leg, as if the pain were mirrored in him. “There has to be another way to do this,” he lamented.
The earth shuddered as the gate the eldritch had come out of blew off its hinges.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd before they erupted into cheers again as beasts of all kinds charged into the fighting pit, each more terrifying than the last: feral boars and horned wolves and three-eyed deer, and more of thosecorvus serpentesthat took to the sky.
Following in their wake was another sort of horror, one which Emory knew all too well.
A dozen umbrae slithered out of the dark. In their midst was the demon wearing Keiran’s face.
The arena devolved into utter chaos as the eldritch monsters attacked the guards and whatever prisoners remained ran for their lives to escape the umbrae. The crowd broke into genuine screams of fear now, realizing this wasn’t part of the fight; thecorvus serpentesswooped over them, grabbing whoever they could in their talons.
Two frightful words swept the arena like a tidal wave:
Night Bringer.
Something clicked in Emory’s mind as she looked to Keiran—who was heading straight for Tol, those blazing eyes flaring bright with murderous intent. And she knew then, without a doubt, that Tol was the key.
And the demon would rip his heart out.
Emory unleashed herself. A blast of light surged out of her with a deafening boom, blasting back eldritch and umbrae and the demon himself, yet leaving her friends and the draconic guards and the remaining prisoners untouched. Dark satisfaction seized her as she watched Keiran’s body hit the arena wall, as he pulled himself slowly to his hands and knees, visibly hurt.
She could end them all right here. The ley line burned through her, crackling seductively as it lent her its strength, powered her up as it sought to make herinvincible.
“Em.”
Romie stared at Emory’s arms, the silver rippling in her veins.
Around them the beasts had already recovered from Emory’s blast, and they wereangrynow. They mauled the remaining prisoners and jumped into the stands to have their fill of spectator blood.
Keiran drew himself up and set his murderous gaze on Emory, the umbrae swirling around him like a protective second skin. His focus was torn by Tol as the draconic picked up a discarded golden sword and arced it down on the demon. The demon was quicker. He sidestepped the blow with lethal speed and produced a shadowy sword of his own, blocking Tol’s next attack.
“He’s going to kill him,” Aspen said, staring horrified at the dance of gold and shadow.
Emory grabbed hold of Romie, pretending not to see her friend flinch as the silver in her veins flared brighter. “You have to go. I don’t want to hurt you, but I—I can’t—”
All that power whispering in her ears, illuminating her veins, searing through her soul… It was a swelling river inside her, and she was a dam bound to break. There was nothing she could do to stop it.
“Emory! Romie!”
