Her Circle was still alive. They filled the air with their vitality. And threaded through the very rock around them were the ancient Shadows. Healing. Love. Protection. She opened her arms and embraced it all.
Her Shadow ivy sped across the floor, up legs, and over torsos, binding hands, pinning arms.
Emma’s hand landed on her shoulder, and gray-and-mulberry Shadows wound through Riley’s, boosting and supporting them, helping them to spread even thicker and faster.
Gordon growled out his annoyance and raised his hand, his fist clenched around the stone blade. Shadows crawled down his arm like dark mercury. And then he started to slice through her vines, shredding them like they were nothing more than mist. He laughed, smug and cruel, as Diedre came to stand beside him, flushed with their success and calling commands.
Zach and James renewed their attack. Their faces were gleaming with unnatural sweat, twitching as their muscles spasmed. But as wooden as they were, as hard as they fought against themselves, they were formidable Guardians who had undergone years of rigorous training—and their blades spun ever closer.
What would it do to James to know that he had wielded the weapon that killed her? It would destroy him completely.
“Come, Emma,” Gordon demanded. “Come with me now, and I will leave your friends here.”
“I’m not leaving them here to die!” Emma spat, stepping back from Zach’s inexorable approach, a slim Shadow blade coalescing in each of her hands.
“They don’t have to die,” Gordon answered smoothly. “They just have to fight until the Shadows release them.”
“And when you become Archdderwydd and Shadow strip them all?” Emma muttered as she backed further into the tiny crypt.
No one answered. There was no need.
And that was when James attacked Kay. Their blades battered against each other relentlessly as they stabbed and parried.
James was hampered by the war he was waging within his mind. His muscles shivered, and his face was drawn into a horrified snarl of despair. But he was still bigger and stronger than Kay, and he knew her fighting style inside out. And Kay was exhausted. Riley could see it in the way her twin blades dragged, the lines of pain around her mouth.
It was easy to predict how the battle would unfold. Soon, Gordon would grow tired of waiting, and he’d order Diedre to join James and Zach—three Guardians to one. Kay would fall. Zach would be ordered to grab Emma—to hand the woman he loved to the man who’d tortured her—and then the two men would fight to the death.
Riley would watch them die. One after the other. Knowing Gordon finally had everything he ever wanted.
For the first time, Riley felt true despair.
She wasn’t a Guardian. She had no real fighting skills. Gordon had everything. He had the stone blade. He had his last blood Shadow controlling James and Zach. He had time. In a few minutes, he would walk away with two captives and all the blood he could ever need.
All thebloodhe needed.
God. Sudden clarity rushed through her. That was the answer.
“Kay, stop fighting! Emma, we need a shield,” Riley shouted as she focused everything on pouring her Shadows into a swirling barrier. “Get into the chapel alcove!”
Kay didn’t question her—or hesitate—she simply acted. As if having faith in Riley was the easiest thing in the world. She spun, delivering a brutal roundhouse kick that sent James staggering into Zach, and then she and Emma turned and ran.
Together the three of them dived behind the small stone altar. They huddled together, pouring Shadows into a thickening wall between them and everyone else. Using the small space as a sanctuary.
“All you’ve done is trap yourselves.” Gordon sighed as if they were truly too stupid to bear. “You’re not all Guardians. You’re not even a triad. It’ll take me less than a minute to cut through and get you out.”
He was right, but she only needed a few seconds. “Do you trust me?” Riley whispered frantically.
Footsteps clicked across the floor, hidden behind the churning Shadow wall as Kay and Emma both murmured an unequivocal, “Yes.”
Riley twisted the fingers of her free hand to form a tiny Shadow scalpel. She dragged the blade down her palm, letting the blood well and run down her wrist before holding her hand out to the others in a silent offering. “We haven’t known each other long, but we’ve learned so much about each other. I trust you. I respect you. I admire you both so much. Will you stand beside me as blood sisters?”
“Of course.” Kay lifted her lethally curved dagger and sliced her palm. “I would be honored.”
“And so would I,” Emma agreed as she pulled a viciously sharp paring knife from the air and cut into own her palm.
Riley held out her hands, and Kay and Emma each took one, reaching for each other at the same time. They gripped each other wrist-to-wrist-to-wrist, holding fast.
She’d never realized before, but their joined hands formed a trinity knot. So simple. And yet, so strong. And beautiful.
