Riley turned her attention to the swooping, slashing birds with their lethal beaks, cutting them from the air in clumps. She had to stop him before he could escape. But Gordon was pouring everything into his violent creations. He was a hurricane of blue-black Shadows and evil birds that never seemed to stop.
Gordon grunted, his stone knife held high and bleeding dark Shadows. His eyes were wild, unnatural power pulsing through him.
A raven made it past James, climbed high to escape Riley’s scythe, and then bombed down toward her, brutally raking its claws into her scalp. Everywhere it touched her, it burned. Pulsing and slithering, she could feel the Shadow worming its way over her skin as she screamed.
“You. Don’t. Touch. Her!” James roared out in fury, his rage so potent that she could almost taste it.
He turned his fingers in an intricate spiral, pulling shuriken from the air and launching them one after the other, almost too fast to see, shredding the birds where they flew.
Once again, James stalked forward, putting himself between her and Gordon. Betweeneveryoneand Gordon.
Behind him, Kay and Zach helped Riley to destroy the last of the evil birds. Until finally the mist was contained, the brambles shriveled, and the ravens obliterated.
Gordon was only a few steps from the exit when the room fell silent. He lowered his hands, violent fury written in every line of his face.
The last of the Shadows frayed and faded, slipping away like smoke. Nobody moved except to gasp for breath as the two sides watched each other across the marble.
Eventually, David broke the standoff. Still focused on Gordon, he crossed the room, coming to stand beside James where he held his defensive position, his body a barrier protecting the rest of the Circle.
The few Council members on their feet backed away. Their faces were wracked with their defeat, their gazes turned away from the intense rage pulsing out from Gordon.
Riley breathed in a shuddering breath as around her the London Circle lowered their weapons. They were still standing, and the Council was not.
“You think you’ve won?” Gordon asked bitterly, his eyes on David.
“We have won,” David stated. He glanced at Emma, who dipped her chin in agreement. “By now the entire Order knows the truth of what you did to Finn. You and this Council are finished.”
Gordon’s lip twitched into a sneer. “You think you’re so clever.”
“No. Not me,” David replied solemnly. “I let you get away with far too much. Your defeat—” He waved his hand toward the humiliated Council. “—was the work of Kay, Zach, James, and the men and women of honor fighting beside them. They deserve the credit.”
Gordon nodded slowly, his gaze settling on James. “This whole debacle really is all your fault,” he muttered. “If you’d just dealt with Kayleigh like I told you to—” His fingers tightened on the hilt of the stone dagger, violence shimmering in his Shadows. “—I’d already control the Order.”
Riley eased in closer to James, needing to stand beside him. Her Shadows reached out to link with his, to protect him from the threat that hovered in the air.
Gordon’s eyes flicked toward her, tracking the movement, and beside her, James grew deadly still. His muscles were bunched and hard, his jaw clenched as his sky-blue Shadows coiled tighter around her waist.
“You think you’ve taken everything from me.” Gordon’s voice was dangerously soft as he took a long step backward, bringing himself even closer to the door. “But you don’t know where I came from. You don’t know how much I suffered to get here. Or what I’m prepared to do to get it all back.”
Without even pausing to take a breath, Gordon lifted his hands in the air, one palm open, the other holding the dagger. Inky-blue Shadows twisted and coiled over his wrists and hands, and his eyes were as pale and cold as ice in a stormy ocean. “Watch me as I take away whatyoulove.”
Riley lifted her hands, frantically spinning Shadows. She merged with James, effortlessly finding his Shadows, and through him to his triad. Together, they formed a massive protective net, billowing out to cover them all, creating a shield
For a breathless moment, she thought they’d done it. They’d fought the monster and won.
But it wasn’t a Shadow that Gordon hurled through the air. It was his stone knife, dark with blood and tainted with evil. It turned over in the air, cutting through their Shadows like butter. Flying straight toward James.
Everything moved in slow motion. Riley’s Shadows surged out of her, only to be shredded in the air as the blade spun.
Kay bellowed in outraged horror. She flung her twin Shadow daggers into its path, but it split them into nothing more than smoke. And James….
James put out his hand. Not to stop the blade in its terrible journey, but to push Riley away to safety. She heard the crunch of bone—a terrible grunt of agony. And she spun back, already desperately calling her Shadows to her.
But it wasn’t James falling to his knees on the cold marble, the stone dagger embedded in his chest down to the hilt as Gordon turned and fled through the door behind him.
It was David.
Elizabeth screamed, and a door slammed somewhere in the distance. But all Riley could see was James launching himself to catch David before he could fall and lowering him gently down to cradle him in his lap.
