The seconds stretched on in silence. The beating of her heart was so loud, Kay would have sworn Ethan could hear it where he stood. More long moments passed. And then, finally, James strode forward, emerging from the misty Shadows.
James dragged a shaking hand down his face as he glared at them. “Fuck. What am I going to do with all of you?”
David stepped out, watching James carefully. “Let me help you, James.”
James shook his head. “You can’t. This ismysacrifice.”
“Why, James?” David asked, stepping closer.
James blinked heavily. “We’re freeing our people. We’re going to be heroes. This is… this is….” He seemed to lose track of the thought.
“Let’s go back, James,” Zach said. “Let’s sort this out. You, me, and Kay. Our triad.”
“Yes,” James agreed vehemently. “That’s what I’m saying. Come with me and we’ll be the Guardians on the new Council under Gordon as the Archdderwydd.”
David and Bryn both flinched, but Zach lifted his hands, ocean-blue Shadows pooling between them. “No, James; we can’t do that. We can’t be part of Gordon’s plans. Fuck, James, Gordon brought blood Shadows back into the world. Butyoucan come withus.”
James’s face twisted. “This is exactly why he told me not to tell either of you. Because he knew that you wouldn’t understand. That you wouldn’t be able to see how important this is. The norms have killed our people and taken the world from us again and again, and they’re ruining it. People are dying! They need Healers and Seers and Guardians.” His voice rose. “We are doing this to save them from themselves. And to save our Order from being lost. And I am trying to saveyou. Fuck it all. I. Am. Trying. To. Help. You.”
Zach shook his head, his usually stoic face grim with horror. “Can you even hear yourself? This isn’t liberation…. This is an abomination.”
The words seemed to push James over a dark edge. The bruises beneath his skin swarmed in a fury as he shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
Zach started to argue, but James cut him off. “There is no choice.” With a final snarl, James slid a second blade from a holster at his ankle and pulled up his decaying Shadows. “Elizabeth, you’re with me. Kay, kill the norm. Both of you—attack now!”
As he spoke, James launched forward, dragging Elizabeth up with him, her arms weaving and shuddering as she helplessly shot out the blood Shadow.
The others broke apart in a disjointed mass as they all fought to avoid the blood Shadows and defend themselves. The four men struggled desperately to avoid hurting Elizabeth while also trying not to step into each other, the Healers getting in the way of the Guardians.
James dodged, using Elizabeth as a shield as he hurled Shadow shuriken after shuriken in swarms of spinning blades, his physical knife whirling as he slashed, following the Shadows with sharp steel.
Behind him, Kay’s body forced itself up into a crouch, hunting knife balanced firmly in her hand as she fought against the Shadows in her mind.
The blood Shadow from Elizabeth’s hand wrapped itself around Zach’s neck and he tumbled into Bryn. All three of them fell, Bryn and Elizabeth tangled together as James launched another volley of brutal shuriken.
“Zach—take David down!” James commanded, and Zach lurched back up, controlled by the blood Shadow around his throat, and flung himself directly into David’s path.
David retaliated with a flurry of kicks and punches, and the two Guardians threw themselves into a brutal battle of twisting, churning Shadows and vicious blows.
James stepped closer, hurling a steady stream of Shadow blades, alternating between flinging them at Bryn where he lay trying to cover Elizabeth, and at David as he battled Zach.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Light gleamed on whirling blades. Cruel Shadows swarmed. Sweat dripped down James’s face as he launched another attack. Elizabeth huddled on the ground while David fell back under Zach’s onslaught.
God. They were losing.
Even as the thought spiked through her, Kay settled onto the balls of her feet, the knife lifted in her hand, her eyes tracking Ethan. He had leaped back when the other men fell, and now he circled Zach and David, staying clear of their Shadows, avoiding James, and working his way round to her.
Bryn rolled Elizabeth onto her side, sending his Shadows in swathes of emerald to form a shield that covered them both as a swarm of blood Shadow throwing stars flew toward them.
There was nothing Kay could do to help them. She turned away, focusing entirely on Ethan.
Shuddering waves rocked her body as she fought with everything she had to reject James’s commands. Every cell in her body howled as she slowly lifted the knife and focused on the man she loved.
His face was drawn into a taut mask in the wavering light, but his body was relaxed, settling easily into a loose fighter’s stance. His dark eyes staring into hers were so full of love that it hurt.
Her breath rasped in and out of her chest, her fear for what she might do to him thick in the air, but the knife was rock-steady in her fist between them.
Kay drew on every ounce of strength, every moment of training, every molecule of determination in her soul, and held herself back, sweating with the agony of simply staying still as her body tried desperately to launch into attack.
