Naima. Cas. Margot. All screaming his name. The crowd takes it up. A chant. A plea. Arlo's hand trembles. Something flickers behind those empty eyes. Horror, maybe. The horror he'd feel if he could feel anything at all.
"Please," I beg. "Please, Lo. Don't do this. Don't?—"
Constantine waves his hand. "Release."
The arrow flies.
Bastian doesn't have time to scream. One moment he's standing. The next, he's falling backward, an arrow buried straight through his heart.
Margot howls.
The amphitheater erupts.
My sigil burns. Brighter than it ever has. So bright I think it might split me in half.
A scream rips through me as I dig my hands into the sand again.
And then I hear Constantine's voice again. "Get her up! Arlo. Your next mark."
When I lift my head, he's pointing the arrow at Margot's chest, and something inside me hollows.
I look up and see Mal fighting off guards near the tunnels. Kage's shadows are dimming, thinning from overuse. Then I feel it through the bond. A stab of pain. I look back at Malachi. Seethe gleam of ivory protruding from his side. He sways. His eyes lock on mine.
I tug the bond. Pour everything I have into him. Strength. Love. Whatever's left. A scream tears through me. My fingers dig into the sand. My sigil burns with the unfairness of it all.
It burns at Constantine's voice. At Naima's screams. At the sound of Veritas residents fighting their way out of the tunnels, joining the battle around Kage and Malachi.
I close my eyes and I open myself to everything. Every emotion buried in this ground. Every memory I helped erase. Every scream I helped silence.
I don't reach for a weapon. Don't reach for Malachi or the bond or the gifts I've spent my life hiding. I reach for the anguish. For the anger.
For every memory stone beneath this amphitheater. Every suppressed sob. Every swallowed scream. Every woman in Lunaris who bit her tongue until it bled because the sigil on her chest told her anger was forbidden.
That silence was safer. Every time she was told to follow rules without questions. Every time she smiled when she wanted to scream. I take all of it, until I feel like I'm burning inside.
Until the skin on my chest feels like it's splitting open and something is clawing its way out. And all that rage contained, that I've never been allowed to have, bursts.
The ground shakes. Cracks. I hear screaming. The crowd. Me. Something older.
"What is she doing?" Constantine's voice. Distant. Afraid. "Stop her! STOP HER!"
But no one touches me.
Deep in my chest, something ancient stirs. I feel the Shroud. Feel it lifting. Shifting. And then it's too much. Too much grief. Too much sorrow. Lifetimes of it.
Menace.Malachi's voice. In my head.
Mal? How?
The bond.He sounds tired. I try to open my eyes to look for him, but my eyes are burning.Ada, you need to stop. You're taking too much. You'll drain yourself.
I can’t! I don’t know how.
The ancient thing inside me stirs again. My eyes pop open. I look up and see shadows floating. And then my body rises.
Menace?He sounds drained. Wary now.
I try to find him in the crowd. I can't.
